In the United States during the early twentieth century, liberal Protestant scientists and theologians were heavily influenced by Andrew Dickson White’s conflict thesis. Owing to White’s famous two-volume book, A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom (1896), they did not believe that traditional Christian theology had ever had a productive conversation with science, and they agreed with White that the route to progress involved leaving orthodox beliefs behind. This paper briefly reviews White’s version of the history of Christianity and science and shows how White shaped the attitudes and ideas of several major Protestant scientists and theologians prior to World War Two, most of whom were also leading public intellectuals: Edwin Grant Conklin, Harry Emerson Fosdick, Shailer Mathews, Samuel Christian Schmucker, and Gerald Birney Smith.
