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The Rise of Darwinism

Charles Darwin (1809-82) was not the first naturalist to think that organic evolution might have occurred (see important evolutionists before Darwin).

Darwin published On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection in November 1859, by which time he had been developing the theory of evolution by natural selection for at least 22 years. For an account of this development, and the fluctuations in Darwin’s own religious belief, see the biography by Desmond and MooreDesmond, A, and Moore, J, Darwin (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1992)(1992). The importance of the Origin is that Darwin a) presented a vast amount of evidence for evolution and b) proposed a mechanism by which it could give rise, given time, to the vast variety of life-forms he had observed. See Darwin’s evolutionary scheme.

Darwin’s challenge to theological positionswas a profound one, more subtle than is implied in the caricature - Darwin v. Christianity.

Email link | Feedback | Contributed by: Dr. Christopher Southgate
Source: God, Humanity and the Cosmos  (T&T Clark, 1999)

Historical Examples of the Debate

Index - God, Humanity and the Cosmos, 1999 T&T Clark

The Rise of Darwinism

Related Book Topics:

Famous Conflicts Between Science and Religion
The Rise of Copernicanism
The Career of Galileo Galilei
The Galileo Affair
The Type of Case Galileo Made
The Love Affair Gone Wrong
The Caricature - Darwin v. Christianity
Early Conflicts Over Darwinism
God ‘The Fellow-Sufferer who Understands’
Process Metaphysics
Process Theology and the Problem of Evil
Historical Examples of the Debate

Source:

Dr. Christopher Southgate and Dr. Michael Robert Negus in God, Humanity and the Cosmos.Published by T&T Clark.

See also:

Galileo
Copernicus
Sir Isaac Newton
Charles Darwin
History
Theology
Controversy
Evolution
Physics and Cosmology
The Relation of Science & Religion
What Science Can Learn From Religion
What Religion Can Learn From Science
Books on Science and Religion