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Introduction
Education
September 1977 - May 1983
Publications
Publications (29)
During the first half of the twentieth century, "natural species" played a prominent role in Catholic efforts to accommodate evolutionary biology within the neo-Scholastic theology of the age. Particularly during the modernist crisis early in the century, the most influential figure in this development was the Jesuit entomologist and evolutionary t...
Theological synthesis of religious doctrine with evolutionary science is commonly referred to as theistic evolution. The influential Thomistic school of theology has played a complex role in Catholic contributions to this subject. In the present essay I explore this historical legacy and take stock of recent Thomistic contributions to theistic evol...
Theological attention to the Catholic doctrine of original sin has a history that extends from the letters of Saint Paul through the Council of Trent and Pius XII's 1950 encyclical, Humani generis. The doctrine has traditionally been articulated through the Genesis narrative of Adam and Eve as the first human beings from whom all others descend, an...
As documented in the first installment of this essay (Hofmann 2020b), throughout the first half of the twentieth century, theological conformity to monogenism, the alleged descent of all human beings from Adam and Eve, was closely linked to Catholic doctrines of original sin. Receptivity to polygenism, the more scientifically supported account of h...
This essay is a critique of a version of progressive creation developed by Michael Chaberek, O. P. He holds that there are exceptions to evolutionary descent due to the supernatural production of "natural species," taxa that allegedly do not have biological ancestry, are theologically identified with biblical kinds, and are metaphysically character...
Exploration of theistic evolution within a Thomistic framework has taken on the label of Thomistic evolution. Although the conceptual boundaries of this approach are not precise, a historical trajectory of its scholastic methodology can be traced back to the views of Aquinas himself. An enduring central concept in this tradition has been the idea o...
Molecular clocks based upon amino acid sequences in proteins have played a major role in the clarification of evolutionary phylogenies. Creationist criticisms of these methods sometimes rely upon data that might initially seem to be paradoxical. For example, human cytochrome c differs from that of an alligator by 13 amino acids but differs by 14 am...
Although some creationist objections to evolutionary biology are simplistic and
thus are easily refuted, when more technical arguments become widespread it is important
for science educators to explain the relevant science in a straightforward manner. An
interesting case study is provided by misguided allegations about how cytochrome c data
pertain...
Fallacious arguments are commonplace in creationist objections to evolutionary biology. Some
are quite simplistic and are easily refuted without formal scientific training; others involve more
technical terminology and are not so easily understood. When examples of the latter sort become
widespread it is important for science educators to explain t...
In none of these generally well-written and well-documented essays does the exposition suffer from the lack of a prior consensus on the meaning of “ideology.” Readers simply need to adapt to the usage of each contributor, none of which is excessively idiosyncratic. The one exception is Nicolaas Rupke’s chapter 6 on “Darwin’s choice.” Rupke argues t...
Creationists who object to evolution in the science curriculum of public schoolsoften cite Jonathan Well's book Icons of Evolution in their support (Wells2000). In the third chapter of his book Wells claims that neither paleontologicalnor molecular evidence supports the thesis that the history of life is an evolutionaryprocess of descent from preex...
Darcy's law is a phenomenological relationship for fluid flow rate that finds one of its principle applications in hydrology. Theoretical hydrologists rely upon a multiplicity of conceptual models to carry out approximate derivations of Darcy's law. These derivations provide structural explanations of the law; they require the application of fundam...
Recent work by historians and philosophers has called attention to the complexity of modern experimental physics and its intricate relation to interpretive and explanatory theory (Franklin 1987, Hacking 1983, Galison 1987 and 1989, Pickering 1984 and 1987). One point of general agreement has been that the contexts of discovery and justification oft...
Historians and philosophers of science and technology have devoted considerable attention to the emergence and growth of the engineering professions in the United States. The tight integration of these engineers into the military and corporate structure of their country is recognized as a major theme in modern American social history. Far less is k...
The primary target of this essay is the thesis that the acceptability of a set of guiding assumptions is judged largely on the basis of the success of its associated theories at making novel predictions, a thesis promoted by Imre Lakatos and, subsequently, by Elie Zahar and John Worrall. Ampère's efforts to promote acceptance of his program in elec...
André-Marie Ampère's contributions to electrodynamics came at a late stage in an unconventional career. In 1820, he had reached the age of forty-five and had not as yet done any systematic research in physics. As a member of the mathematics section of the Académie des Sciences, his only significant contributions to the physical sciences had been so...
Reproduction. Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Pittsburgh, 1983, c1982. Bibliography: leaves 473-493.
Questions
Questions (2)
Does anyone know of any biographical information on Ernest Charles Messenger? I have a copy of his 1931 Evolution and Theology and I know the titles of several of his many other books and translations, including a translation of a book by Henry de Dorlodot. In one publication Messenger is listed as teaching Logic and Cosmology at St Edmund's College, Ware, in England, but that is all I have been able to find out about him aside from his getting his PhD at Louvain.
In her book, Influences: Art, Optics, and Astrology in the Italian Renaissance, Mary Quinlan–McGrath uses as one of her examples the Astrological Vault of the Sala dei Pontefici. The original version was commissioned by Leo X and apparently designed by Raphael just prior to his death in 1520. With the Sun located centrally for astrological reasons, the ordering of the remaining celestial bodies is Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn. Does anyone know of evidence as to how the sequence for Mercury and Venus was established in this case? The ordering of the planets with respect to their distance from Earth was under considerable discussion at this time.
Projects
Projects (2)
Historical analysis of the scientific, philosophical, and theological aspects of Catholic interactions with evolution
