Darwin’s ‘religious’ view

• What did Darwin’s ‘the origin of species’ explore?

  Natural selection, and could explain design by God using science
• What did Darwin’s evolution challenge? How?

  The unique status of the human species - challenged the notion of purpose in creation, there is no external purpose in their survival
• what did this contradict the idea of?

  a god who created the world for a purpose
• what did Darwin do?

  made the idea of a designer God unnecessary, we aren’t unique, we are just evolved
• Darwin lost his religious belief due to this, why?

  he saw religion as naive
• who responds (religiously) to the theory of evolution?

  Karl Rahner
• what did Rahner argue?

  that humans are made entirely by evolution AND God
• Rahner believes humans are made entirely by evolution AND God so God and evolution are…?

  compatible explanations of human origins
• how are they compatible?

  evolution - works by the natural laws

  God - seen as the ‘author’ of the laws of nature = author of evolution
• however, what did the Church of England argue about evolution?

  it was a way to turn humans into beasts, and NOT a product of God’s image
• what do liberal anglicans argue that evolution was initiated by?

  God, and was a way in which he designed the world, Hick said that God used evolution to maintain epistemic distance
• however, what do interventionists argue?

  natural selection is not needed because God will intervene directly when he wants to
• (ChristIan responses to Darwin’s theory of evolution)what is the Omphalos (centre of something) argument?

  Gosse postulated that the appearance of age was put into the world by God, despite the earth actually being young (perhaps to test faith)
• what did Gosse believe?

  That Noah’s ark would have had enough room to accommodate the level of biodiversity that we have in the world today
• Ussher tried to pinpoint an exact time of creation, based on the Bible’s count, when?

  nightfall preceding Sunday October 23rd 4004 BC
• how is the population evidence for a young earth?

  in 1810, 1 billion lived on earth, in less than 200 years, the population hit 6 billion - fits the biblical chronology perfectly as the current population started around 4400 years ago
• what was the church of englands response to Darwin’s theory of evolution?

  ridiculed it and said it was a way of turning humans into beasts, it males us too similar to apes
• liberal Anglican’s admired the theory, saying it was how God designed the world, how?

  God initiated the evolution of species by evolution and natural selection with the specific aim of producing beings such as ourselves
• greatest support for evolution can be seen through what?

  Hick’s theory - God produced humanity by evolution so that we could remain at an epistemic distance from God
• what would any evidence showing that humanity must’ve come about through divine intervention in nature do?

  destroy our freedom to accept/deny God
• however, some Christian’s took an ‘interventionist’ approach arguing that…?

  natural selection isn’t needed, because when he wants to, God intervenes directly (creationist view)
• what did Wilberforce argue?

  that there was no evidence to show that even in domesticated animals, there could be any change in their species
• what did Wilberforce ask Huxley (supporter of Darwin)?

  whether it was through his grandfather or grandmother that he claimed his descent from an ape
• what did Huxley respond by saying?

  that he was less concerned by being related to an ape, than to be connected to a man who used his great gifts to obscure the truth and to introduce ridicule into a scientific debate