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A Devil's Chaplain
Book by Richard Dawkins
Book by Richard Dawkins
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | A Devil's Chaplain |
| image | A Devil's Chaplain.jpg |
| border | yes |
| caption | First edition cover |
| author | Richard Dawkins |
| country | United Kingdom |
| language | English |
| subject | Evolutionary biology |
| published | 2003 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin) |
| media_type | |
| pages | 264 pp. |
| isbn | 0-618-33540-4 |
| dewey | 500 21 |
| congress | QH366.2 .D373 2003 |
| oclc | 52269209 |
| preceded_by | Unweaving the Rainbow |
| followed_by | The Ancestor's Tale |
A Devil's Chaplain: Reflections on Hope, Lies, Science, and Love is a 2003 book of selected essays and other writings by Richard Dawkins. Published five years after Dawkins's previous book Unweaving the Rainbow, it contains essays covering subjects including pseudoscience, genetic determinism, memetics, terrorism, religion and creationism. A section of the book is devoted to Dawkins' late adversary Stephen Jay Gould.
The book's title is a reference to a quotation of Charles Darwin, in a letter to J.D. Hooker dated 13 July 1856, made in reference to Darwin's lack of belief in how "a perfect world" was designed by God (and a reference to Reverend Robert Taylor): "What a book a devil's chaplain might write on the clumsy, wasteful, blundering low and horridly cruel works of nature!"
Reception
Robin McKie reviewed the book for The Observer and stated that the book contained a mixture of touching essays and "the good, old knockabout stuff at which Dawkins excels".
References
References
- This was written in 1856 as Darwin worked towards the [[Publication of Darwin's theory#Struggle for existence. publication of his theory]], and has been related to his memories of [[Charles Darwin's education#Second year doldrums. his time at university]] when an "Infidel home missionary tour" by the Reverend [[Robert Taylor (Radical). Robert Taylor]] warned Darwin of the dangers of dissent from church doctrine. While Taylor was subsequently nicknamed "the devil's chaplain," the term goes back further, and [[Geoffrey Chaucer]] has [[The Parson's Prologue and Tale. his Parson]] say "Flatereres been the develes chapelleyns, that syngen evere placebo" in a reference to [[Placebo (at funeral)]]."
- Darwin, Charles. (13 July 1856). "Letter to J D Hooker".
- [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/feb/10/religion.scienceandnature "Darwin's child"], profile by Simon Hattenstone, ''[[The Guardian]]'', 10 February 2003.
- McKie, Robin. (9 March 2003). "Dawkins versus the priests and New Age shamans? No contest". The Observer.
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