Charles Darwin's Theory Of Religion
Religion is an important part of peoples' lives, it gives meaning in this chaotic world we live in to face another day. Collectively, Christianity is the world's most practiced religion and possibly the most powerful. Many people have tested and tried that power and authority that the church holds, people such as Galileo, Giordano Bruno, and King Henry VIII of England, just to name a few. But no other has challenged the authority of the church like Charles Darwin and his "dangerous Idea." (qtd. in Miller 12)
The theory of evolution's origins can be traced back to the time of the ancient Greeks, but it wasn't until Charles Darwin arrived on the scene that any actual evidence suggesting such heresies' ever gained the attention of the Church. …show more content…
Here is part a sermon preached in 1879 by Stewart Headlam, "Thank God that the scientific men have shattered the idol of an infallible book, broken the fetters of a supposed divine code of rules; for so they have helped to reveal Jesus Christ in his majesty. He, we say, is the Word of God; he is inspiring you, encouraging you, strengthening you in your scientific studies; he is the wisdom in Lyell or in Darwin . It gives us far grander notions of God to think of him making the world by his spirit through the ages, than to think of him making it in a few days." (qtd. in Vidler 119) Darwin changed the traditional way people viewed the Bible and God. He simply provided the information, but it was the people that gave life to a theory that either denies the existence of God or attempts to challenge His …show more content…
Darwin, given his religious disposition left an interesting legacy. The modern view of the theory of evolution attempts to use it to prove the existence of God. Kenneth R. Miller, a scientist and strongly religious individual strives to do so as stated in the subtitle of his book "Finding Darwin's God: A Scientists Search for Common Ground Between God and Evolution." He delivers his information as unbiased as possible by simply stating the facts, which proves to be very convincing. The conflict between creationism and evolution is neatly summed up in the last chapter of this book entitled Finding Darwin's God.'
God's statement in Genesis 1:26, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness," is sometimes taken to exclude this possibility. A literal reading of "image" and "likeness" would result in the requirement that God look like us, that He be in human form an appearance, which would mean that the emergence of creatures exactly like us had to be preordained. Yet God is also said to be a spirit, a nonmeterial being who reveals Himself in any waysas a burning bush, a dove, of a specific person, but theologians have long maintained that any vision of God as a physical person of a particular age, dress, and appearance is necessarily in error. If we are made in the image of God, it must be in some way that transcends physical
The theory of evolution's origins can be traced back to the time of the ancient Greeks, but it wasn't until Charles Darwin arrived on the scene that any actual evidence suggesting such heresies' ever gained the attention of the Church. …show more content…
Here is part a sermon preached in 1879 by Stewart Headlam, "Thank God that the scientific men have shattered the idol of an infallible book, broken the fetters of a supposed divine code of rules; for so they have helped to reveal Jesus Christ in his majesty. He, we say, is the Word of God; he is inspiring you, encouraging you, strengthening you in your scientific studies; he is the wisdom in Lyell or in Darwin . It gives us far grander notions of God to think of him making the world by his spirit through the ages, than to think of him making it in a few days." (qtd. in Vidler 119) Darwin changed the traditional way people viewed the Bible and God. He simply provided the information, but it was the people that gave life to a theory that either denies the existence of God or attempts to challenge His …show more content…
Darwin, given his religious disposition left an interesting legacy. The modern view of the theory of evolution attempts to use it to prove the existence of God. Kenneth R. Miller, a scientist and strongly religious individual strives to do so as stated in the subtitle of his book "Finding Darwin's God: A Scientists Search for Common Ground Between God and Evolution." He delivers his information as unbiased as possible by simply stating the facts, which proves to be very convincing. The conflict between creationism and evolution is neatly summed up in the last chapter of this book entitled Finding Darwin's God.'
God's statement in Genesis 1:26, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness," is sometimes taken to exclude this possibility. A literal reading of "image" and "likeness" would result in the requirement that God look like us, that He be in human form an appearance, which would mean that the emergence of creatures exactly like us had to be preordained. Yet God is also said to be a spirit, a nonmeterial being who reveals Himself in any waysas a burning bush, a dove, of a specific person, but theologians have long maintained that any vision of God as a physical person of a particular age, dress, and appearance is necessarily in error. If we are made in the image of God, it must be in some way that transcends physical