Darwin and the Christian faith
As an Arts student at Cambridge Charles Darwin was tutored by John Stephen Henslow[1] and Adam Sedwick[2], both advocates of “natural theology[3]” and he was influenced by this theological trend born at the end of the 17th century in England. Positing that the observation of the “great book of nature” leads to knowledge of its “Creator” just as readily as reading the Bible, it held considerable sway in the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, which at the beginning of the 19th century were still strictly Anglican institutions. William Paley[4] summed up its essential points in Natural Theology or Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity, in 1802. He proposed that the wondrous complexity of living structures and their workings were proof of the existence of a creator, using in the process the famous analogy of the watch and the watchmaker. Indeed, the perfect adequacy between living things and their environment demonstrated the wisdom of a creating God and underpinned the argument from Final Causes. Nature revealed the existence of its Creator's “design”. This trend, significant in the United Kingdom, was also represented on the continent in the 19th century. Paley's work was translated into French in Geneva in 1804 (Théologie naturelle, ou Preuves de l'existence et des attributs de la divinité, tirées des apparences de la nature). Many extracts from it found their way in the natural sciences tomes of the Encyclopédie théologique (1844-1859, 52 volumes) produced by French Catholic publisher Migne who sought to put together a Concordist[5], “Catholic science” aimed at reconciling modern discoveries with doctrinal teachings.
After completing his ordinary degree, Darwin did not proceed to theological training as had been expected but spent the years 1831 to 1836 on an around the world expedition and was much taken with geology. He was relatively unconcerned with living things during the voyage, though he gathered a great deal of information and numerous specimens. The specialist to whom they were entrusted upon returning home highlighted the biogeographic diversity to be found around the globe. This extreme diversity of living things showed little compatibility with the vision suggested by natural theology. Why would God, say create different creatures (tortoises, finches) in each tiny island of the Galapagos in Ecuadorian waters even though the environment is the same, to which one single adapted species would suffice? This questioning rattled natural theology inspired convictions on the perfection of “Creation”. In mid July 1837, Darwin opened a notebook, Notebook B entitled “On Transmutation”. He drafted the first outlines of his theory in1842 and 1844 and published it in 1859, after a long gestation. Asserting that living species result from an evolution caused by purely natural mechanisms, his theory openly challenged the Christian dogma of “Creation” and the fixism[6] that it supposed.
Many would as a result see Darwin as an advocate of atheism, nay a militant materialist. In fact he was very guarded in discussion of these matters and his fear of polemics explains in part the long interval between the early formulations of his theory and its actual publication. Writings published while Darwin was still alive give no indication and the best source in this matter is his correspondence. It points to a gradual shift from a traditional Anglican Christianity towards Deism, then to a form of doubt that Darwin refused to call atheism reserving for it the term of agnosticism . Thus it exposes much hesitation, swings, and deep uncertainty as regards religion.
