Darwin's Religious Odyssey - Softcover

Phipps, William E.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1563383845 ISBN 13: 9781563383847

Publisher: Trinity Press International, 2002

Synopsis

In the twenty-first century, Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution remain at the center of religious controversy. More than any scientific discovery, his work seems to challenge world religions and cause ordinary religious people to confront their own core values. With all we know about his ideas on geology and biology, we know much less about Darwin’s own journey of faith. In Darwin’s Religious Odyssey, William Phipps uses newly available material to explore the evolution of Darwin’s religious outlook. It is a fascinating faith odyssey, because it mirrors the struggles of other scientists trying to harmonize their findings with their own religious worldviews. Darwin's detractors tend to depict him as an anti-religious man determined to undermine biblical faith; even some of Darwin’s admirers agree. Yet Darwin's autobiography and his journals tell a much different story. It is clear that Darwin did not sail directly from Christian orthodoxy to atheistic materialism. His journals, for example, disclose an attempt to reconcile his evolutionary views with Anglican doctrines. Phipps paints the important aspect of Darwin's religious life against the background of his times. This book examines not only Darwin's changing theology but compares his religious and moral viewpoints with those of his family and associates. Phipps concludes that Darwin was both a product of his religious culture and the shaper of future scientific culture.

About this title

About the Author:

William Phipps is Professor Emeritus of Religion and Philosophy, Davis and Elkins College. His numerous books on sexual themes in biblical and church history include Genesis and Gender, Was Jesus Married? and Influential Theologians on Wo/Man. He lives in Richmond, Virginia.

Review:

"Prof. Phipps details the intense anguish Darwin went through during his lifetime, although he never wavered from a strong, fundamental belief in God. It is the struggle and anguish among Darwin the scientist, Darwin the religionist, and Darwin the human being that makes this book such intriguing reading.—Robert C. O'Neill, Hawthorne, N.J., for The Living Church, March 30, 2003. (Robert C. O'Neill)

"This timely and comprehensive book deftly weaves little-known letters and archives with published writings to show the full scope of Darwin's thinking on God and religious belief, and sets it in the context of what William James called the varieties of religious experience in the Victorian era. Charles Darwin emerges as a wise and kindly man who faced many of the same issues that perplexed and distressed readers of his Origin of Species."Janet Browne, Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine, London, and author of Charles Darwin: Voyaging. (Janet Browne)

"Anti-evolutionary writers tend to depict Charles Darwin as a godless infidel who was bent on disproving biblical events and supplanting religion with a new god—science. But in Darwin's Religious Odyssey, philosophy professor William Phipps takes great pains to demonstrate that Darwin's religious worldview, well, evolved; he began as an orthodox Anglican priest-in-training and wound up as a self-tortured but not irreligious skeptic. The book's greatest strength is its reliance on Darwin's own journals and correspondence to depict his "circuitous journey of faith." One 1860s letter shows the naturalist's dilemma: "With respect to the theological view of the question: this is always painful to me. I am bewildered. I had no intention to write atheistically. But I own that I cannot see as plainly as others do, and as I should wish to do, evidence of design and beneficence on all sides of us. There seems to me too much misery in the world.... On the other hand, I cannot anyhow be contented to view this wonderful universe and especially the nature of man, and to conclude that everything is the result of brute force."—Publisher's Weekly, September 9, 2002.

"This book...does an admirable job of consolidating the thread of religious thought that runs through Darwin's writings...Phipps emphasizes the compatibility of religious belief with Darwinian natural selection, asserting that 'there is not contradiction in claiming that humans are made both in the divine image in spiritual form and in a hominoid image in physical form.' The publication of such a thoughtful and scholarly work on Darwin by a religious publishing house points to a day when such views will be more widely accepted.—R. Gilmour,University of Tennessee, for CHOICE, March 2003. (R. Gilmour)

"Phipps has extensively mined the public and private writings of Darwin and his contemporaries, as well as the works of his modern biographers, to produce this informative and interesting account of Darwin's spiritual odyssey...The heart of Phipps's argument is that even as Darwin rejected traditional faith, he remained a deeply religious man who "exhibited reverence toward whoever was responsible for originating and developing the universe," and embodied the highest sentiments of Victorian Christianity: "Even though Darwin rejected Christian orthodoxy, he retained Christian orthopraxy"...Written in a style that is clear and straightforward, the book will be an absorbing read for anyone interested in the man who remains at the center of our contemporary conflicts and conversations about science and faith."—Robert J. Schneider, for Anglican Theological Review. (Robert J. Schneider)

"The book portrays a real, human Darwin, demoralized by a faith journey that undermined his belief in creation." -Science & Theology News, 12/2/03

“A clear, vigorous, and comprehensive portrait of Darwin’s religious odyssey. This book will be an absorbing read for anyone to explore anew the story of a brilliant thinker and admirable human being who continues to capture our attention” – www.episcopalchurch.org, Episcopal Church of USA, 8/6/04

's religious views. It is well researched, clearly written, and accurate. It is timely and welcome." —Science and Christian Belief, April 2006

"Prof. Phipps details the intense anguish Darwin went through during his lifetime, although he never wavered from a strong, fundamental belief in God. It is the struggle and anguish among Darwin the scientist, Darwin the religionist, and Darwin the human being that makes this book such intriguing reading.—Robert C. O'Neill, Hawthorne, N.J., for The Living Church, March 30, 2003. (Sanford Lakoff)

"This timely and comprehensive book deftly weaves little-known letters and archives with published writings to show the full scope of Darwin's thinking on God and religious belief, and sets it in the context of what William James called the varieties of religious experience in the Victorian era. Charles Darwin emerges as a wise and kindly man who faced many of the same issues that perplexed and distressed readers of his Origin of Species."Janet Browne, Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine, London, and author of Charles Darwin: Voyaging. (Sanford Lakoff)

About this edition

• Publisher: Trinity Press International
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 1563383845
• ISBN 13: 9781563383847
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 232