The Pentateuch and Book of Joshua in Face of the Science and Moral Sense of Our Age. By a Physician [i.e. Robert Willis].

Published in 1863, this work by Robert Willis—a physician and librarian to the Royal College of Surgeons—emerged during a period of intense intellectual friction between traditional religious doctrine and the burgeoning scientific advancements of the Victorian era. Written under the pseudonym 'A Physician,' the volume reflects the author's attempt to reconcile biblical narratives with the mounting evidence from geology and biological science, which were beginning to challenge literal interpretations of the Pentateuch.

Willis approached the text with a rationalist lens, critiquing the moral and scientific assertions found in the opening books of the Bible. The work is representative of the mid-nineteenth-century trend of secularist inquiry, where medical professionals and scholars sought to apply the empirical rigor of their respective fields to historical theology. While it served as a significant contribution to the freethinking literature of the time, it also drew criticism from theological conservatives who viewed such scrutiny as an assault on the established foundations of the faith.