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Even so, Disseminating Darwinism marks a new departure. Here Darwinism is scrutinized, not science-by-science, country-by-country, or thinker-by-thinker, but according to an original set of canons—place, race, and gender—as well as the old-time favorite, religion. The editors have hit on a fresh guiding concept to boot. Not content with a static structuralist "introduction" (as in Yvette Conry's L'introduction du darwinisme en France au XIX siècle) or a threadbare "reception" (as in Thomas Glick's The Comparative Reception of Darwinism), Numbers and Stenhouse trot out a dynamic "disseminating." Whatever can it mean? A biological —indeed, seminal—metaphor seems peculiarly apt, but this one has deeper roots than Darwinism, harking most memorably (as the editors well know) to the Synoptic Gospels.
"Behold," Matthew 13 records,
a sower went forth to sow. And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up. Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deep ness of earth. And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them. But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
In this parable, Jesus draws attention to the conditions under which his message—"the word of the kingdom"—may spread. He offers in fact a rudimentary sociology of knowledge. "Place" is paramount, as the text goes on to explain: first, the "way side" where one "heareth the word … and understandeth it not"; second, the "stony" ground where one "heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it," but "hath … not root in himself" and so "dureth for a time"; third, the plot of "thorns" where one "heareth the word" but it is choked and "becometh unfruitful"; and finally the "good ground" where one "heareth the word, and understandeth it," and "beareth fruit." In the three abortive cases, place is crucial but not the only factor. "Fowls" descend where there is no understanding—the word vanishes. The "sun" scorches where understanding is shallow—the word perishes under duress. "Thorns" choke where understanding is impeded—the word suffers from competition. Only where the word is both heard and understood does it catch on; only in prepared sites, with the right contingencies, will the seminal message spread.
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