Around 1800, belief in the literal truth of every word in the Bible was almost universally accepted; it was certainly not viewed as the idea of a fundamentalist minority. Scientists, many of whom were clergymen, were confident that learning about God’s works from the book of nature could only confirm what they already knew from the book of scripture.

But, as scientific discoveries accumulated, this coherent picture changed. It is valuable for both believers and non-believers to understand how this history developed.