Prayerful
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A new view of Genesis? 

Extract from 'The Work of a Friend:  Theology in the Light of The Origin of Species' which appeared in Epworth Review

While Darwin of course was not the first and only challenge to a literal view of the Bible.  Early Jewish and Christian readings of Genesis 1 did not see it as a scientific textbook[1].    Early church theologians such as Gregory of Nyssa and Augustine pointed out very clearly some of the problems that exist with taking the seven days of Genesis 1 literally, for example the fact that night and day are spoken of before the creation of sun and moon[2].  Augustine here introduced an interesting and important principle to the effect that, with regards to matters of natural order that do not impinge on the heart of revelation, scriptural interpretation should bow to the findings of natural reason and adopt a symbolic interpretation of the text.

Therefore, many Christians in the nineteenth century were quite happy to hold the authority of scripture alongside the new scientific discoveries.   As Michael Roberts has shown in his discussion of the rise of geology, very few church leaders in the 1860s were biblical literalists in the sense of believing in a creation in 4004 B.C.[3].   Since 1790, geology had demonstrated the vast age of the earth.  Roberts shows that in fact many Christian writers before 1800, probably a majority, accepted the earth was older than 6000 years.  Some argued that God had first created chaos and then much later ordered the earth in six days.  As far back as the Newtonian era, British scientists such as Lhwyd, Hooke and Burnet questioned a Mosaic timescale. In the nineteenth century itself, there was disagreement in geology between the uniformitarianism of Lyell and Christians such as Sedgwick, Buckland, Conybeare and Smith who favoured Catastrophism, but there was no disagreement on the vast age of the Earth.  Those Christians who did oppose the vast age of the Earth, such as Dean Cockburn of York, the Plymouth Brethren, B.W.Newton and P. Gosse, were the exception rather than the rule.

This meant that many Christians in the 19th century were able to suspend judgement on Darwin or became great proponents of Darwin's theory.  In Durham, while Canon Tristram attacked Darwinian evolution on scientific grounds, Rev Temple Chevallier (1794-1873), the first Professor of Astronomy and Reader in Hebrew, was more open to evolutionary thinking.  He was one of 717 'gentlemen', many of whom were the leading scientists of the day, who signed 'The Declaration of Students of the Natural and Physical Sciences' (1865):  

'We, the undersigned Students of the Natural Sciences, desire to express our sincere regret, that researches into scientific truth are perverted by some in our own times into occasion for casting doubt upon the Truth and Authenticity of the Holy Scriptures. We conceive that it is impossible for the Word of God, as written in the book of nature, and God's Word written in Holy Scripture, to contradict one another, however much they may appear to differ…. We cannot but deplore that Natural Science should be looked upon with suspicion by many who do not make a study of it, merely on account of the unadvised manner in which some are placing it in opposition to Holy Writ. We believe that it is the duty of every Scientific Student to investigate nature simply for the purpose of elucidating truth, and that if he finds that some of his results appear to be in contradiction to the Written Word, or rather to his own interpretations of it, which may be erroneous, he should not presumptuously affirm that his own conclusions must be right, and the statements of Scripture wrong ; rather, leave the two side by side till it shall please God to allow us to see the manner in which they may be reconciled.'[4]

This declaration responded in part to the earlier Oxford Declaration, organized by a group of High-Anglicans, which gathered signatures to demand that the Church of England held to the inspiration and divine authority of the Bible.[5]  Chevallier, and others who were scientists and Christians, wanted to resist the tendency to denounce science for the sake of defending scripture.  Rather they wanted to affirm science as a gift from God, and lay science and the scriptures side by side believing that the Author of both would not allow them to ultimately contradict.  Some leading scientists who were committed Christians such as Michael Faraday did not sign it for a variety of reasons, although they agreed with the principle.  The 'Declaration of Students of the Natural and Physical Sciences' also shows a model of the relationship of science and scripture which points beyond biblical literalism.  It notes a commitment to finding reconciliation in a way which respects the integrity of both the nature of science and the nature of scripture.

The real legacy of Darwin was to push Christians to a deeper engagement with the text of Genesis.  Of course this was part of a more general picture in the nineteenth century where biblical scholars were exploring the nature of the biblical texts and in particular their contexts and sources.  Yet Darwinism reinforced that work. The commitment to both the integrity of science and the integrity of the text can lead to new insights. John Polkinghorne is typical of this approach when he sees that science helps us to interpret and understand the scriptures[6].  He wants to allow science to bring both questions and insights to the text.  At the same time, there will be questions and insights that reflection on the text will bring to science. 

The lesson here for Christian theology is to know and communicate its own heritage.  Evolution was not the sole reason which led to a crisis of confidence in the Bible.   Indeed Christian theology had a much deeper engagement with the Genesis text long before Darwin came along.


David Wilkinson is Principal of St John's College and Lecturer in the Department of Theology and Religion, Durham University.

 

[1] S. Barton and D. Wilkinson (eds.) Reading Genesis After Darwin, (New York: OUP, 2009 in press).

[2] Young, D. A., 'The Contemporary Relevance Of Augustine's View Of Creation'. Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith 40 (1988), 1:42-45.

[3] Roberts, M., 'Genesis and Geology Unearthed'. The Churchman 112 (1998), 225-55.

[4] Gay, H.,' "The Declaration of Students of the Natural and Physical Sciences," revisited Youth, Science, and Religion, in mid-Victorian Britain'. In W. Sweet and R. Feist (ed.) Religion and the challenges of science, (Aldershot: Ashgate,.2007), p. 19-41.

[5]Chadwick, O., The Victorian Church. (London: Adam and Charles Black, 1970).p. 84.

[6] Polkinghorne, J. C., Belief in God in an Age of Science. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998), p. 76-100.