Darwinism and the Divine

Evolutionary Thought and Natural Theology

Alister E. McGrath

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781118697771
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Teologia e religione
• Subtopic: Religione e scienza

Darwinism and the Divine examines the implications of evolutionary thought for natural theology, from the time of publication of Darwin's On the Origin of Species to current debates on creationism and intelligent design.

• Questions whether Darwin's theory of natural selection really shook our fundamental beliefs, or whether they served to transform and illuminate our views on the origins and meaning of life
• Identifies the forms of natural theology that emerged in 19th-century England and how they were affected by Darwinism
• The most detailed study yet of the intellectual background to William Paley's famous and influential approach to natural theology, set out in 1802
• Brings together material from a variety of disciplines, including the history of ideas, historical and systematic theology, evolutionary biology, anthropology, sociology, and the cognitive science of religion
• Considers how Christian belief has adapted to Darwinism, and asks whether there is a place for design both in the world of science and the world of theology
• A thought-provoking exploration of 21st-century views on evolutionary thought and natural theology, written by the world-renowned theologian and bestselling author

Part I

Conceptual Clarifications

On the meaning of terms

1

Natural Theology: A Deeper Structure to the Natural World

“It is not too much to say that the Gospel itself can never be fully known till nature as well as man is fully known.”¹ In his 1871 Hulsean Lectures at Cambridge University, F. J. A. Hort (1828–92) set out a manifesto for the theological exploration and clarification of the natural world. These words are a fitting introduction to the themes of this work. How can God be known through a deepening knowledge of nature itself, as well as of human nature? The delivery of Hort’s lectures coincided with the publication of Charles Darwin’s Descent of Man,² thus raising the question of how the debates about both the natural world and human nature resulting from Charles Darwin’s theory of descent with modification through natural selection affect our knowledge of God.

So are the structures and symbols of the observed world self-contained and self-referential? Or might they hint at a deeper structure or level of meaning to the world, transcending what can be known through experience or observation? Christianity regards nature as a limiting horizon to the unaided human gaze, which nevertheless possesses a created capacity, when rightly interpreted, to point beyond itself to the divine. The philosopher and novelist Iris Murdoch (1919–99) used the term “imagination” to refer to a capacity to see beyond the empirical to discern deeper truths about the world. This, she argued, is to be contrasted with “strict” or “scientific” thinking, which focuses on what is merely observed. An imaginative engagement with the world builds on the surface reading of things, taking the form of “a type of reflection on people, events, etc., which builds detail, adds colour, conjures up possibilities in ways which go beyond what could be said to be strictly factual.”³

Murdoch’s point here is that the imagination supplements what reason observes, thus further disclosing – without distorting – a richer vision of reality. If we limit ourselves to a narrowly empirical account of nature, we fail to appreciate its full meaning, value, or agency.⁴ The Christian faith is also able to offer an approach to nature that is grounded in its empirical reality, yet possesses the ability to discern beyond the horizons of the observable. It provides a lens through which questions of deeper meaning may be explored and brought into sharp focus.

Although some limit the meaning of the term “natural theology” to an attempt to prove the existence of God on the basis of purely natural arguments, this is only one of its many possible forms.⁵ The field of “natural theology” is now generally understood to designate the idea that there exists some link between the world we observe and another transcendent realm. The idea possesses a powerful imaginative appeal, inviting us to conceive – and, in some of its construals, to anticipate inhabiting – a world that is more beautiful than that which we know, lacking its pain and ugliness.

Yet the appeal of the notion is not purely emotional or aesthetic; it has the potential to offer a framework for intellectual and moral reflection on the present order of things. A Christian natural theology is fundamentally hospitable toward a deeper engagement with reality. It provides an intellectual scaffolding that enables us to understand our capacity to engage with the world, and reaffirms its objectivity.⁶ For example, the mathematical awareness implanted within us enables us to discern and represent the rational patterns of the universe we inhabit, just as the moral awareness implanted within us allows us to orientate ourselves toward the good that lies at its heart. A robust Christian natural theology allows believers to pitch their tents “on the boundary between the manifest and the ineffable.”⁷ It is a cumulative enterprise,⁸ weaving together observation and reflection on the deep structures of the universe and the particularities of human experience.

One of the most familiar statements of this approach is found in the Hebrew Psalter, where the observation of the wonders of nature is explicitly connected with a deeper knowledge of the covenant God of Israel as the ultimate transcendent reality:⁹

The heavens are telling the glory of God;
and the firmament proclaims his handiwork (Psalm 19:1).

The basic affirmation here is that the glory of the God whom Israel already knew through the Law was further displayed within the realm of nature. The specific God who is already known to Israel through self-disclosure is thus known at a deeper level through the natural world. This passage does not suggest that nature proves or implies the existence of God; rather, it affirms that nature attests, declares, and makes manifest this known God.

A similar line of thought, without any necessary presumption of theistic entailment, is found in Plato’s theory of Forms, perhaps the most familiar philosophical account of this notion. Plato’s theory can be argued to arise from philosophical reflection on the imperfection of the sensible world.¹⁰ Experience discloses imperfect exemplifications of beauty, in a world of shadows. Plato holds that there exists a world of Forms, in which true beauty exists, contrasting with its shadowy and imperfect manifestations in the world of human experience. There is a connection between these two worlds, even if Plato is generally thought to have failed to construct a secure bridge by which one might be entered from the other.¹¹

So what reasons might be given for believing in the existence of such a transcendent realm, when it is not capable of being observed directly? For many writers of the classical age, the answer lay in the deep structure and apparent design of the natural world. Such writers regularly proposed that the observation of the world pointed to a divine creator.¹² The Jewish wisdom tradition, for example, affirms a reverence and fascination for the natural world, while pointing out that this admiration should be transferred from the created order to the one who created it:¹³

For all people who were ignorant of God were foolish by nature; and they were unable from the good things that are seen to know the one who exists, nor did they recognize the artisan while paying heed to his works; but they supposed that either fire or wind or swift air, or the circle of the stars, or turbulent water, or the luminaries of heaven were the gods that rule the world. If through delight in the beauty of these things people assumed them to be gods, let them know how much better than these is their Lord, for the author of beauty created them. And if people were amazed at their power and working, let them perceive from them how much more powerful is the one who formed them. For from the greatness and beauty of created things comes a corresponding perception of their creator (Wisdom 13:1–5).

The fundamental argument here is that the arc of reasoning that should lead from nature to God has been disconnected and misdirected, leading to the attribution of divinity to the created order, rather than its wise artificer.¹⁴ This line of reasoning did not involve an appeal to the naturally inexplicable, or to effects whose origins were declared to lie outside the course of nature. Rather, the appeal is made to nature itself and its ordinary operations – operations whose “power and working” were seen as reflecting and embodying the power and wisdom of God.

Natural Theology in the Classical Tradition

Such themes find wide acceptance throughout the Mediterranean world of the classical era. In his De natura deorum, Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–45 BC) argued that it was virtually impossible to believe that the order of the world and the heavens came about by chance. Cicero argued that nature’s providential care for both animals and human beings, the complex design of the human and animal bodies, and the intricate interdependency of all parts of nature pointed to the existence of some artificer or designer.¹⁵ Cicero himself suggested that analogies might be drawn with certain mechanisms – such as water-clocks or sundials – to point toward the conclusion of apparent design entailing the existence of a designer.¹⁶

A similar approach was developed by Dio Chrysostom (c. 40–c. 120) in his Olympic Oration, delivered at the Olympic Games probably around the year 107.¹⁷ Chrysostom here asserts that humanity developed its idea of divinity through reflection on the wonders of the natural world. Awe-inspiring or wonder-evoking sights in the heavens (such as the sun, moon, and stars) and on earth (such as the winds and woods, rivers and forests) pointed to the existence of the divine powers who brought them into being, and who could be known through them.¹⁸ Chrysostom saw the power of natural forces, as much as the beauty and ordering of nature, as indicators of their divine origination and signification.

Yet other classical writers were more cautious, noting the ambiguity of the natural world. Although Virgil’s Georgics (written in 29 BC) exult in the beauty of the natural world, finding great pleasure in its richness and diversity, his nascent natural theology confronts without mastering the darker side of nature – such as the constant threat of attack by wild animals, or fear of the untamable forces of nature that could destroy life and render agriculture impossible.¹⁹

Given this aesthetic and moral ambivalence of nature in general, it is perhaps not surprising that others chose to focus on more promising aspects of the natural world – such as the intricacies of the human body. The imperial physician Galen of Pergamum (129–c. 200) saw the construction of human muscles as offering strong evidence of design, and devised a teleological account of the created order on the basis of his physiological insights. Galen’s physiological and anatomical works are often dominated by the idea that every single part of the human body had been purposively designed as the best possible instrument for carrying out the functions of human existence. There is thus a strongly teleological aspect to Galen’s account of the complexity of human anatomy, as set out in his De usu partium.²⁰ At times, Galen attributes this agency of design to nature itself; at others, to a Demiurge.²¹ Christian apologists were quick to use substantially the same argument, but attributing such teleological dimensions of the human body to God, perhaps most notably in the case of Lactantius’s De opificio Dei (written around 303).²²

Early Christian writers lent support, implicit and explicit, to such lines of reasoning. The first letter of Clement, widely believed to date from around 97, reaffirms that God’s wisdom and power are to be seen in the regular workings of the universe.²³

The heavens orbit in quiet submission to [God]. Day and night run the course God has ordained for them, without interfering with the other. Sun, moon, and the dancing stars orbit in harmony at God’s command, none swerving from its appointed course. Season by season, the earth bears fruit in fulfilment of God’s provision for the needs of people, beasts, and all living things upon its surface.

An appeal to the harmony of nature was an important element of Celtic Christianity, which recognized the creative hand of God manifested in both the harmony and power of the natural world.²⁴ The hymn often known as the “Deer’s Cry” or the “Lorica,” traditionally ascribed to Patrick, patron saint of Ireland, offers an excellent example of such a vision of nature.²⁵

I arise today, through the strength of Heaven:

light of Sun, brilliance of Moon, splendour of Fire,

speed of Lightning, swiftness of Wind, depth of Sea,

stability of Earth, firmness of Rock.

The relation between our everyday world and a proposed transcendent realm is traditionally discussed using the category of “natural theology.” The origins of this phrase are pre-Christian, and can be located in the writings of Marcus Terentius Varro (116–27 BC).²⁶ Varro set out a threefold taxonomy of approaches to theology: “mythical theology (theologia fabulosa),” “civil theology (theologia civilis),” and “natural theology (theologia naturalis).”²⁷ Varro’s preference clearly lay with “natural theology,” understood as a rational attempt to discern God within the natural world by philosophers.

This approach had a significant impact on the manner in which Augustine of Hippo (354–430) chose to develop his own notion of natural theology.²⁸ We see this hinted at in a famous statement in his Confessions: “Then I really saw your invisible things, which are understood through those which are created. Yet I was not able to keep my gaze fixed.”²⁹ The fundamental theme, once more, is that human reflection itself, including human reflection on the natural order, is capable of disclosing at least something concerning the realm of the divine. The origins of the notion of “natural theology” lie outside the Christian tradition. Nevertheless, Christian theologians found this to be a helpful notion, not least in that it facilitated apologetic engagement with late classical culture.³⁰ A secular notion was thus baptized and found its way into the service of Christian apologetics.

The Conceptual Fluidity of Natural Theology

The concept of natural theology became well established within Christian theology by the early modern period. Natural theology is a conceptually fluid notion, and always has been resistant to precise theological definitions, even though the term is now generally used in a rather prescriptive manner in the philosophy of religion to denote “the enterprise of providing support for religious beliefs by starting from premises that neither are nor presuppose any religious beliefs.”³¹ Four broad approaches to natural theology can be identified in recent theological works, all with significant historical pedigrees.³²

1 A movement of the human mind toward God, grounded in humanity’s being made with an innate capacity or longing for God. The classic “argument from desire,” as found in the writin...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Contents
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• List of Figures
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Part I: Conceptual Clarifications: On the meaning of terms
• Part II: Historical Exposition: Darwin and the English natural theology tradition
• Part III: Contemporary Discussion: Darwinism and natural theology
• Part IV: Conclusion