Finnegan, Diarmid A. and Wright, Jonathan Jeffrey
(2015)
Catholics, science and civic culture
in Victorian Belfast.
British Journal for the History of Science, 48 (2).
pp. 261-287.
ISSN 1474-001X
Abstract
The connections between science and civic culture in the Victorian period have been
extensively, and intensively, investigated over the past several decades. Limited attention,
however, has been paid to Irish urban contexts. Roman Catholic attitudes towards science in
the nineteenth century have also been neglected beyond a rather restricted set of thinkers
and topics. This paper is offered as a contribution to addressing these lacunae, and examines
in detail the complexities involved in Catholic engagement with science in Victorian Belfast.
The political and civic geographies of Catholic involvement in scientific discussions in a
divided town are uncovered through an examination of five episodes in the unfolding
history of Belfast’s intellectual culture. The paper stresses the importance of attending to the
particularities of local politics and scientific debate for understanding the complex realities of
Catholic appropriations of science in a period and urban context profoundly shaped by
competing political and religious factions. It also reflects more generally on how the Belfast
story supplements and challenges scholarship on the historical relations between Catholicism
and science.
| Item Type: |
Article
|
| Keywords: |
Catholics; science; civic culture; Victorian Belfast; |
| Academic Unit: |
Faculty of Arts & Humanities > History |
| Item ID: |
6599 |
| Identification Number: |
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007087414000594 |
| Depositing User: |
Jonathan Wright
|
| Date Deposited: |
19 Nov 2015 10:43 |
| Journal or Publication Title: |
British Journal for the History of Science |
| Publisher: |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| URI: |
|
| Use Licence: |
This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available
here |
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