Evolutionary theories usually assume that all changes involved in mutations, natural selection, and so forth are part of an upward spiral of progress. Such “progress” suggests a goal or a purpose. But this involves an assumption of teleology or design. Design without a designer, like aim without an aimer, begs the question of intelligence.

An Influential Thinker

The publication of Darwin’s The Origin of Species1 was as revolutionary as the publication of Copernicus’s On the Revolution of Heavenly Spheres. Yet as revolutionary as the shift from geocentricity to heliocentricity was, it pales in comparison with the impact of Darwin’s ideas. His name has become synonymous with the word evolution, though theories of evolution predated his work, and there is no single, monolithic “theory” of evolution but multiple theories with various nuances. That is, the idea of evolution has itself evolved and undergone various changes, but Darwin’s name remains central to this development.

It is natural to expect a link to emerge between natural science and history. History deals not only with the activities of human beings over time but also with the setting for these activities in the realm of nature. One’s understanding of the universe’s origin (cosmogony), nature (cosmology), and age has a profound impact on one’s anthropology and theology. In these two fields Darwin’s work provoked the greatest crisis.

Darwin and Theology

The issue of human origins becomes one of fierce emotions, fueling the Scopes trial and more recent controversies over teaching creation in public schools. If the Copernican revolution created a rift between science and religion, the Darwinian revolution expanded this rift into an unbridgeable canyon.

At stake in the controversy, in the first instance, is the dignity of human beings. If, as some contend, human beings emerged not due to divine intelligence and action but due to impersonal forces of nature, the question of human dignity becomes acute. Man’s present dignity is inseparably bound up with his past and future, with his origin and destiny.

As in various forms of nihilism and pessimistic existentialism, the issue of origin is critical. One philosopher mused that man is but a grown-up germ. He emerged fortuitously from the slime and sits precariously on the rim of one cog of one gear of a vast cosmic machine that is destined for annihilation. If indeed we came from the abyss of non-being and are being hurled relentlessly back to this abyss, what value, worth, or dignity do we have? If our origin and destiny are meaningless, how can our lives now have any meaning? To assign dignity to such a cosmic accident, who is at best bestial, is to succumb to maudlin forms of wish-projection and philosophical naiveté. This was clearly understood by Friedrich Nietzsche, Jean-Paul Sartre, and others.

Radical evolution has the salutary appeal to some of eliminating the threat of a supreme Judge before whose judgment they will be held accountable for their lives and behavior. If radical evolutionary theory is correct, then one has nothing to fear from such a judge. Grown-up germs are not morally accountable in any ultimate way. The price tag for this escape from accountability, however, is Sartre’s “useless passion.” Simply stated, if we are not ultimately accountable for our lives, then our lives do not and cannot count ultimately.

In 1831 Charles Darwin set sail for an around-the-world voyage to make scientific observations and do empirical research. He took along Charles Lyell’s book Principles of Geology, 2 a lucid defense of uniformitarian geology. Uniformitarianism argues strenuously against theories of catastrophism, which raised the serious issue of the earth’s age. Uniformitarian geology requires an earth millions of years old to account for profound changes in rock and soil, the raising and lowering of mountains, and so forth.

Darwin rhapsodizes about Lyell’s book and its influence on his thinking. While near Tahiti, well into his voyage, Darwin worked out his theory of the formation of coral atolls.

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