The Response of the Victorian Churches to Charles Darwin’s Doubt
Pitch
Contrary to the perception of the Victorian Era as one of the highlight of English Christianity and even morality among societies, the situation was not so behind closed doors. The people were beginning to question the Biblical inspirations and teachings based on Christian doctrines that had otherwise defined their existence and faith for centuries. Accordingly, the sources of doubt were twofold: there was a rapid development of biblical criticism, and the scientific discoveries were challenging cultural norms. Perhaps there was no original sin. Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution presented an alternative for the European societies of the mid-eighteenth century to the opening of the twentieth century. Naturally, the church was not amused but how did the clergy react? In answer, and with the personal fascination of Darwin’s speculations in mind, there is a need to investigate the theorist’s writings on evolution and the ensuing works that responded to the same. (Word count: 150)
Speaker Notes
Slide 2
Foremost, to understand the extent to which Charles Darwin’s work disrupted religious beliefs, there is a need to consider the relevance of the Church to the European communities.
Central to the questions of religion, was the Church’s view of Biblical scriptures (Cody par.1).
Apparently, throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth century, religious teachings made up the societal “doctrine and ritual” as everything about politics, society, and the economy revolved around Christianity and the clergy’s understanding of the same (Cody par.1).
Now, the mentioned facts were inevitable if not expected only because the people believed God wrote the scriptures. Personally
Whether it was by possessing the authors or through his divine power, as it was with the Ten Commandments, it did not matter as the consensus remained intact: God wrote the Bible, the Bible defines the church, what the clergy declares is law.
Naturally, the Christian men and women of the Victorian period perceived religion as one would the history of the world, or his or her country.
For instance, just as the people of the United States know that the Revolutionary War paved the way for independence, Europe regarded Biblical stories in the same manner.
Judeo-Christianity was not a mere belief in a supreme being, cultivated for centuries by missionary work and based on surviving texts from early periods of Christianity; rather, it was History.
For that reason, the Biblical scene of the Garden of Eden and the original sin were, for all intent and purposes, actual historical events in the minds of the people.
Transition: Now that we understand how deeply rooted religion was, let us turn to the scientific assertions that dared to challenge the mentioned norms.
Slide 3 and 4
Naturally, the Victorian Christians were not ready to denounce the book of Genesis.
If one understands the mechanisms of the Bible, denying the Old Testament directly discredited the New Testament, yet the entire Christian doctrine revolved around the latter.
In that sense, there would be no resurrection of a Messiah or the guarantee of life after death. Nobody was ready for such realities.
Still, the glaring problems of the Old Testament, especially in the accounts documented in the book of Genesis, were too big to ignore.
Taken literally, it would mean that the entire world and everything known to man came into being in the span of less than a week.
Notably, creation included the two human beings that set forth the birth of many men and women to fill the earth as per the commands of the creator.
Consider the land and all its animals, then the vast oceans and seas with many more creatures that are different from those walking on land and finally, the skies with all the birds.
All are living creatures with distinct organs to facilitate survival in their respective habitats, and the people were to accept it to be so?
Of course not and thus emerges the concept of scientific knowledge.
Science challenged religion literalism by putting some of the Biblical stories to question.
For instance, geologists argued that the flood of Noah was “hardly more than the thickness of ordinary drawing paper” after studying the soil and putting the size of the earth into consideration (Pleins 43).
At the same time, simple logic questioned the truth behind claims of all species of animals coexisting within Noah’s ark for so long without giving into their natural instincts of prey and hunters (Pleins 43).
Transition: With the given facts in mind, it is evident that science made more sense to the people than religion did but there were still loopholes in the same. For instance, by discrediting the creation story, there was no explanation of the origins of man and the observable facts of the world. Darwin’s writing provided the solutions.
Slide 5 and 6
Foremost, Darwin presented the theory of “natural selection” to show that there was a correlation between species and that each one undergoes certain modifications that went on to affect future generations and create more differences between the same.’
In the 1871 publication of the Descent of Man, Darwin delved into discussing the evolution of man by comparing the human species to other animals.
Of particular interest was the monkey.
After comparing the embryo of the animal to that of a human, Darwin asserted that because people and animals “pass through the same early stages of development” then descent is plausible (Descent of Man, 43).
The theorist went on to argue that any denial of his theory was on “arrogance” and “natural prejudice” born from the declarations of the first men and women who believed they were the descendants of demi-gods (Descent of Man, 43).
Effectively, Darwin questioned the perceptions of man uniqueness, which even purported him to be God’s most cherished creation, and went on to discredit the notion of “the fall.”
In other words, human existence was one of superiority and not degraded as per the Christian teachings that taught on God’s displeasure with Adam and Eve and the subsequent exile from the Garden of Eden.
After all, if people evolved from the primitive species of monkey, was that not enough proof of dominance over the earth?
As Charles Darwin probably intended with his work, in many peoples’ minds “natural selection” meant that humanity was improving.
Physically, mentally, and morally, human beings were better off than the animals who knew nothing of civilization and the proper decorum of the Victorian Era.
Now, Darwin’s perceptions revolved around the theory of “natural selection” where only the fittest species survived in any given environment.
Published in 1859, the Origin of Species highlighted Darwin’s hesitancy to talk about the origin of humanity, and that is why he covered the subject in 1871 with the Descent of Man.
Still, in the Origin of Species, Darwin included the phrase “[the] struggle for existence” through which he explained the idea of survival of the fittest (48).
In Darwin’s words, every living being “has to struggle for life” and even “suffer great destruction” for survival in a war staged by nature herself (Origin of the Species, 62).
Transition: Now that we are aware of Darwin’s work and the place of the Church in Victorian Age Europe, I will conclude by pointing out the relevance of examining the reaction of the latter to the former.
Slide 7
First, with the given facts in mind, two facts are clear:
The church defined the Victorian Era
Charles Darwin disrupted the power of the church
Consequently, Darwin's work was revolutionary, to say the least, and the church was solely responsible for the same.
After all, it was the teachings by the clergy that paved the way for Darwin's explorations.
Additionally, the critical nature with which the church leaders taught the congregation pushed them towards accepting the Origin of Species and the Descent of man.
It was as though Darwin liberated the people.
Hence, an analysis of the church's reaction to Darwin's Doubt is paramount in understanding how and why the effects of the man went beyond the restrictions of the church.
Is it possible that their reaction only propelled “natural selection” and “survival of the fittest” further?
Thank you.
Works Cited
Cody, David. "The Church of England (the Anglican Church)." 24 November 2014. The Victorian Web. Web. 28 April 2016. <http://www.victorianweb.org/religion/denom1.html>.
Darwin, Charles. The Descent of Man. London: Prometheus Books, 1997. Print.
—. The Origin of Species. Ed. Tom Griffith. Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions, 1998. Print.
Pleins, J. David. The Evolving God: Charles Darwin on the Naturalness of Religion. London : A & C Black, 2013. Print.
