Charles Darwin

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Charles Darwin (1809-1882)

Charles Darwin (1809 - 1882) attended medical school for two years at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland where he is currently buried and in 2002 he was honored with a memorial plaque by Edinburgh University ^[1]. While in school he joined the Plinian Society and attended their scientific debates, which frequently centered upon the merits of scientific investigation stemming from natural causes rather than divine intervention. After dropping out of medical school Darwin turned towards the clergy, and began studying theology. During this time he retained a fascination with nature and spent considerable time collecting species of beetles.^[2]

Christian beliefs

Charles Darwin was a devout Christian early in his life who was baptized as an Anglican, and spent three years in theological studies at Christ's College, Cambridge. Arguably, it was his thinking on evolution and natural selection that caused him to renounce the Bible and his Christian faith.^[3]

Darwin read books on divinity such as John Pearson's An Exposition of the Creed, about which he wrote:

“

I liked the thought of being a country clergyman. Accordingly I read with care 'Pearson on the Creed' and a few other books on divinity; and as I did not then in the least doubt the strict and literal truth of every word in the Bible, I soon persuaded myself that our Creed must be fully accepted.^[4]

”

In addition, he was impressed by William Paley's Evidences of Christianity, and also Natural Theology which offered arguments for the existence of God from design.

Regarding Paley Darwin wrote:

“

I could have written out the whole of the 'Evidences' with perfect correctness, but not of course in the clear language of Paley.^[5] I do not think I hardly ever admired a book more than Paley's Natural Theology. I could almost formerly have said it by heart.^[6]

”

Expedition and observations

Following graduation Darwin was invited to be a naturalist aboard the HMS Beagle on its two year expedition to South America.

On this voyage he made several important observations. In South America Darwin found fossils of extinct animals that were similar to modern species. On the Galapagos Islands he noticed many variations of plants and animals that were of the same general type as those in South America. In addition to this, some of his contemporary influences were Charles Lyell and Edward Blyth. Darwin reportedly took Lyell's book "Principles of Geology" [1] on board the Beagle, in which Lyell advocates the idea of geologic uniformitarianism and vast Earth ages.

These observations and ideas coupled with a naturalistic approach led Darwin to draw several conclusions, which form the basis of the theory of evolution. He concluded, although not the only one as Edward Blyth 24 years earlier had proposed the same basic tenets of evolution, that species are mutable or changed over time. However Blyth and Darwin differed in that Darwin saw this change as gradual, requiring thousands or even millions of years with no supernatural cause of their existence.

Even on his 5 year voyage on the HMS Beagle Voyage which began in 1831 Darwin appealed to biblical authority on points of morality. No doubt this is why Richard Millner wrote,

“

Darwin dreamt of being beheaded or hanged; he thought a belief that went so contrary to Biblical authority was `like confessing a murder (Encyclopedia of Evolution, 1990, p. 113)

”

Charles Darwin's notebook showing sketch of phylogenetic tree. Note the words I think at the top of the notebook.

Darwin also postulated that the many millions of species alive today arose from a single common ancestor and lastly that the mechanism responsible for this evolution was natural selection. He furthermore theorized that variation could increase an organism's complexity by slow accumulative changes. He took the position that variations, although random, conferred a survival advantage no matter how small, which increased the chances of an organism reproducing.

Neodarwinism

Main Article: Neodarwinism

The later discovery of genetics and inheritable mutations by Gregor Mendel provided the mechanism Darwin postulated but was unaware of at the time. Darwinian theory has been refined with this new knowledge into neo-Darwinism. Darwin eventually published his theories in the books "The Origin of Species" (1859) and "The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex" (1871).

Publications

The Origin of Species (Full title - On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life). The first edition of this work was published on November 24th, 1859, and the second edition on January 7th, 1860.
The Descent of Man (Full title - The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex). First published in 1871.

Where Charles Darwin Went Wrong (video)

Where Charles Darwin Went Wrong - Steve Austin discusses several flood geology formations which were misinterpreted by Charles Darwin as evidence for an old Earth.

References

↑ Darwin to receive Scots honour. BBC News. October, 14 2002
↑ Charles Darwin Wikipedia
↑ Darwin's slippery slide into unbelief by John M. Brentnall and Russell M. Grigg. Creation 18(1):34–37. December 1995
↑ Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, D. Appleton and Co., New York, 1911, Vol. 1, p. 39.
↑ Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, D. Appleton and Co., New York, 1911, Vol. 1, p. 41.
↑ Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, D. Appleton and Co., New York, 1911, Vol. 2, p. 15.