polity
First published in French as L’Impossible dialogue. Sciences et religions © Éditions du Boréal, 2016
This English edition © Polity Press, 2017
Polity Press
65 Bridge Street
Cambridge CB2 1UR, UK
Polity Press
350 Main Street
Malden, MA 02148, USA
All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.
ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-1896-8
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Gingras, Yves, 1954- author.
Title: Science and religion : an impossible dialogue / Yves Gingras.
Other titles: Impossible dialogue. English
Description: Malden, MA : Polity, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017010097 (print) | LCCN 2017011427 (ebook) | ISBN 9781509518920 (hardback) | ISBN 9781509518937 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781509518951
(Mobi) | ISBN 9781509518968 (Epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Religion and science--History.
Classification: LCC BL240.3 G56413 2017 (print) | LCC BL240.3 (ebook) | DDC 201/.6509--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017010097
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If there is one truth that history has incontrovertibly settled, it is that religion extends over an ever diminishing area of social life. Originally, it extended to everything; everything social was religious – the two words were synonymous. Then gradually political, economic and scientific functions broke free from the religious function, becoming separate entities and taking on more and more a markedly temporal character.
Emile Durkheim1