Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-wxhwt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-12T22:48:09.203Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Idea of Design: The Vicissitudes of a Key Concept in the Princeton Response to Darwin

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2009

David N. Livingstone
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, The Queen's University, Belfast BT7 1NN

Extract

‘We have thus arrived at the answer to our question, What is Darwinism?’ wrote Charles Hodge in 1874;‘It is Atheism.’ As is commonly the fate of great men, Hodge's conclusion has frequently been reduced to mere crusade slogan, more often reported than examined, more often repeated than explained. It is for this reason, then, together with Hodge's formative role in the construction of modern conservative evangelicalism, that I want to turn in the first part of this esssay to his response to Darwin's theory of evolution. Moreover, with the recent emergence of a vociferous and uncompromising ‘scientific creationist’ movement claiming the imprimatur of theological orthodoxy, a reassessment of the reaction to Darwin by the powerful ‘Old School’ Princetonians in its broader intellectual context is, I think, both timely and instructive. And Hodge's central position in that tradition makes reflection on his response to the question a logical place to begin.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Scottish Journal of Theology Ltd 1984

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

page 329 note 1 Hodge, Charles, What is Darwinism? (London and Edinburgh: T. Nelson and Sons, 1874), pp. 176177.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

page 329 note 2 The details of Hodge's biography are available in Hodge, A. A., The life of Charles Hodge (New York: Scribner's, 1880).Google Scholar

page 329 note 3 Johnson, Deryl Freeman, ‘The attitude of the Princeton theologians toward Darwinism and evolution from 1859–1929’ (Unpub. Ph.D. thesis, University of Iowa, 1968), pp. 11fGoogle Scholar. A useful synopsis of the Scottish School's philosophy is to be found in McCosh, James, Agnosticism of Hume and Huxley with a notice of the Scottish School, Philosophic Series, No. VI (Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark, 1886).Google Scholar

page 330 note 4 See, for example, What is Darwinism?, p. 132.

page 330 note 5 Hodge, Charles, Systematic Theology. Three volumes (New York: Scribner, Armstrong & Co., 18721873), I, pp. 5758.Google Scholar

page 330 note 6 ibid., 11, pp. 3–41. These and other scientific objections to the Darwinian formulation are reviewed in Vorzimmer, P. J., Charles Darwin: the years of controversy (London: University of London Press, 1972)Google Scholar; Hull, David L., Darwin and his critics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1973)Google Scholar; Kellogg, Vernon L., Darwinism today: a discussion of present day scientific criticism of the Darwinian selection theories, together with a brief account of the principal other proposed auxiliary and alternative theories of species forming (New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1908).Google Scholar

page 331 note 7 Systematic Theology, I, p. 57.

page 331 note 8 Hodge, Charles, ‘Unity of mankind’, The Biblical Repertory and Princeton Review, 31 (1859), PP. 103149.Google Scholar

page 331 note 9 Systematic Theology, I, pp. 570–1.

page 331 note 10 Johnson, op. cit., p. 74.

page 331 note 11 What is Darwinism? p. 48.

page 332 note 12 ibid., p. 52. Exactly the same argument was earlier presented in his Systematic Theology in a section headed ‘The atheistic character of the theory’, II, pp. 15–19.

page 332 note 13 See Ellegard, Alvar, ‘The Darwinian theory and the argument from design’, Lychnos (1956), pp. 173192.Google Scholar

page 332 note 14 What is Darwinism?, pp. 50–1.

page 332 note 15 ibid., p. 106.

page 332 note 16 Thus he commented in his Systematic Theology, II, p. 16:‘In saying that this system atheistic, it is not said that Mr. Darwin is an atheist… Nor is it meant that everyone who adopts the theory does it in an atheistic sense. It has already been remarked that there is a theistic and an atheistic form of the nebular hypothesis as to the origin of the universe; so there may be a theistic interpretation of the Darwinian theory.’

page 333 note 17 What is Darwinism?, p. 70.

page 333 note 18 ibid., p. 174. The standard biography of Gray is Dupree, A. Hunter, Asa Gray (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1959).Google Scholar

page 333 note 19 Gray, Asa, Natural selection not inconsistent with natural theology: a free examination Darwin's treatise on the origin of species and of its American reviewers (London: Trubner & Co., 1861).Google Scholar

page 333 note 20 See Morrison, William James, ‘George Frederick Wright: in defense of Darwinism and Fundamentalism 1838–1921’ (Ph.D. thesis, Vanderbilt University, 1971)Google Scholar. I have discussed this in David N. Livingstone, ‘B. B. Warfield, the theory of evolution and early Fundamentalism’, Evangelical Quarterly, in press.

page 333 note 21 What is Darwinism?, pp. 40–2, 59–60.

page 333 note 22 The metaphorical character of Darwin's theory is discussed in Livingstone, David N., ‘Evolution as metaphor and myth’, Christian Scholar's Review, 12 (1983), pp. 111125Google Scholar; Young, R. M., ‘Darwin's metaphor: does nature select?’, The Monist, 55 (1971), pp. 442503.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

page 333 note 23 See Young, Robert M., ‘The naturalization of value systems in the human sciences’, in Problems in the biological and human sciences (Milton Keynes: The Open University, 1981), pp. 63110.Google Scholar

page 334 note 24 [Geddes, Patrick], ‘Biology’ in Chambers' Encyclopaedia new edition, volume 2 (London and Edinburgh: W. & R. Chambers, 1925), p. 164.Google Scholar

page 334 note 25 For a useful review see Brooke, John Hedley, ‘Natural theology in Britain from Boyle to Paley’, in New interactions between theology and natural science (Milton Keynes: The Open University, 1974), pp. 554Google Scholar. On the impact of Darwin on this tradition see Young, Robert M., ‘Natural theology, Victorian periodicals and the fragmentation of a common context’, in Chant, Colin and Fauvel, John (eds), Darwin to Einstein. Historical studies on science and belief (Harlow: Longman, 1980), pp. 69107Google Scholar; Young, Robert M., ‘The impact of Darwin on conventional thought’ in Symondson, Anthony (ed.) The Victorian crisis of faith (London: SPCK, 1970), pp. 1335.Google Scholar

page 334 note 26 See, for example, Yeo, Richard, ‘William Whewell, natural theology and the philosophy of science in mid-nineteenth century Britain’, Annals of Science, 36 (1979), pp. 493516CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Brooke, John Hedley, ‘The natural theology of the geologists: some theological strata’, in Jordanova, L. J. and Porter, R. S. (eds), Images of the earth. Essays in the history of the environmental sciences (Chalfont St. Giles: The British Society for the History of Science, 1979), PP. 3964Google Scholar; Cannon, Walter, ‘The problem of miracles in the 1830's’, Victorian Studies, 4 (1960), pp. 532Google Scholar; Cannon, Walter, ‘The bases of Darwin's achievement’, Victorian Studies, 5 (1961), pp. 109134Google Scholar; Livingstone, David N., ‘Natural theology and Neo-Lamarckism: the changing context of nineteenth century geography in the United States and Great Britain’, Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 74 (1984), pp. 928.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

page 335 note 27 Ospovat, Dov, ‘Perfect adaptation and teleological explanation: approaches to the problem of the history of life in the mid-nineteenth century’, Studies in the History of Biology, 2 (1978), pp. 3356.Google ScholarPubMed

page 334 note 28 Ospovat, Dov, The development of Darwin's theory. Natural history, natural theology, and natural selection, 1838–1859 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981).Google Scholar

page 336 note 29 Ellegard, Alvar, Darwin and the general reader: the reception of Darwin's theory of evolution in the British periodical press, 1859–1871 (Gothenburg: Elanders Boktryeker Aktiebolag, 1958).Google Scholar

page 335 note 30 Bowler, Peter J., ‘Darwinism and the argument from design: suggestions for a re-evaluation’, Journal ofthe History of Biology, 10, (1977), pp. 2943.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

page 335 note 31 See Peter Bowler, J., Fossils and progress: palaeontology and the idea of progressive evolution in the nineteenth century (New York: Science History Publications, 1976).Google Scholar

page 335 note 32 Swinburne, Richard, The existence of God (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1979), pp. 133.Google Scholar

page 336 note 33 ibid., p. 135.

page 336 note 34 As Johnson, op. cit., pp. 100–1, points out: ‘According to Hodge's theory of providence, with God already working in the processes of life, it seems that the production of a new species whether of brute or man from a lower form of animal would have been far less complicated than the ordinary conception and birth of an individual … However, he did not use his doctrine of providence … to make a constructive effort to relate the theory of evolution to Christian doctrine.’

page 336 note 35 What is Darwinism? p. 173.

page 337 note 36 Sloane, William Milligan (ed.) The life of James McCosh. A record chiefly autobiographical (Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark, 1896), p. 234Google Scholar. The standard biography of McCosh is now Hoeveler, J. David Jr, James McCosh and the Scottish intellectual tradition (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1981).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

page 337 note 37 Sloane, op. cit., pp. 184, 187.

page 337 note 38 Ormond, Alexander T., ‘James McCosh as thinker and educator’, Princeton Theological Review, 1 (1903), pp. 337361Google Scholar. Reference on p. 345.

page 338 note 39 McCosh, James, The method of the divine government. Physical and moral (Edinburgh: Sutherland and Knox, 3rd ed., 1852), p. 136CrossRefGoogle Scholar. In some ways McCosh's reinterpretation of design in idealist terms, and its adoption by later Princetonians, runs counter to Ruse's opinion that conservatives were unable to reconcile Darwinism with their version of final causes. See Ruse, Michael, ‘The relationship between science and religion in Britain, 1830–1870’, Church History, 44 (1973), pp. 505522.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

page 338 note 40 ibid., p. 115. One of the most characteristic arguments of this ‘idealist’ school was the specification of a numerical order in the organic world. As McCosh put it, ‘There is a conformity of structure running through the whole vertebrate series, as seen, for instance, in the fore limbs … Thus, the normal or typical number of carpal bones is ten, or five in each row, corresponding to the typical number of the digits.’ ibid., p. 123.

page 338 note 41 Moore, James R., The post-Darwinian controversies: a study of the Protestant struggle to come to terms with Darwin in Great Britain and America, 1870–1900 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979), p. 246.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

page 339 note 42 McCosh, James and Dickie, George, Typical forms and special ends in creation (Edinburgh: Thomas Constable, 1856), p. 5.Google Scholar

page 339 note 43 ibid., p. 27.

page 339 note 44 Moore, op. cit., p. 246.

page 339 note 45 Dickie, it should be noted, remained hostile to Darwinism; but it is more in the work's conceptual framework — contributed by McCosh — that the modifications of conventional natural theology are to be detected.

page 339 note 46 Quoted in Sloane, op. cit., p. 142.

page 340 note 47 McCosh, James, Christianity and positivism. A series of lectures to the times on natural theology and Christian apologetics (London: Macmillan and Company, 1871), pp. 6970.Google Scholar

page 341 note 48 ibid., pp. 90–2.

page 341 note 49 McCosh, had already repeated that argument the previous year in Energy. Efficient and final cause. Philosophic Series — No. II (Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark, 1884).Google Scholar

page 341 note 50 McCosh, James, Development. What it can do and what it cannot do. Philosophic Series — No. III (Edinburgh: T. and T. clark, 1885), p. 38.Google Scholar

page 341 note 51 See Pfeifer, E. J., ‘The genesis of American Neo-Lamarckism’, Isis, 56 (1965), pp. 156167CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Stocking, George W. Jr., ‘Lamarckianism in American social science: 1890–1915’, Journal of the History of Ideas, 23 (1962), pp. 239256CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Mayr, Ernst, ‘Lamarck revisited’, Journal of the History of Biology, 5, (1972), pp. 5594CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed; Gould, Stephen Jay, Ontogeny and phytogeny (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1977), pp. 85100Google Scholar; Campbell, J. A. and Livingstone, D. N., ‘Neo-Lamarckism and the development of geography in the United States and Great Britain’, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, N.S., 8 (1983), pp. 267294.Google Scholar

page 342 note 52 McCosh, James, The religious aspect of evolution (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1890Google Scholar. Enlarged and improved edition), p. 17.

page 343 note 53 Hodge, Archibald Alexander, Outlines of theology (New York: Robert Carter and Brothers, 1866).Google Scholar

page 343 note 54 Hodge, Archibald Alexander, Outlines of theology rewritten and enlarged (New York: A. C. Armstrong and Son, 1891), p. 38f.Google Scholar

page 343 note 55 ibid., p. 40.

page 343 note 56 Quoted in Johnson, op. cit., p. 140.

page 343 note 57 A. A. Hodge, Review of Natural science and religion by Gray, Asa. Presbyterian Review, I, (1880), pp. 586589Google Scholar. In this piece, Hodge, characterised Gray as ‘a thorough evolutionist of the Darwinian variety, and at the same time a thoroughly loyal theist and Christian’, p. 586Google Scholar.

page 344 note 58 ibid., p. 586.

page 344 note 59 Van Dyke, Joseph, Theism and evolution. An examination of modern speculative theories as related to theistic conceptions of the universe (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1886), p. xviii.Google Scholar

page 344 note 60 See H[arper], G. M., ‘Patton, Francis Landey’, Dictionary of American Biography, Vol. 14 (London: Oxford University Press), pp. 315316.Google Scholar

page 344 note 61 Patton, Francis L., ‘Charles Hodge’, Presbyterian Review, 2 (1881), pp. 349377.Google Scholar

page 345 note 62 Patton, F. L., ‘Evolution and apologetics’, Presbyterian Review, 6 (1885), pp. 138144Google Scholar. Reference on p. 140.

page 345 note 63 Warfield, Benjamin B., ‘Personal recollections of Princeton undergraduate life’, The Princeton Alumni Weekly, 16 (April 6, 1916), pp. 650653.Google Scholar

page 345 note 64 Warfield, Benjamin B., ‘Charles Darwin's religious life. A sketch in spiritual biography’, in Studies in theology (New York: Oxford University Press, 1932), pp. 541582Google Scholar. Reference on p. 548. For further details regarding Warfield's evolutionism, see my ‘B. B. Warfield, the theory of evolution, and early Fundamentalism’, op. cit.

page 345 note 65 These were reviewed respectively in Presbyterian Review, 9 (April, 1888), p. 355Google Scholar; (July, 1888), pp. 510–11.

page 346 note 66 See Johnson op. cit., pp. 195–6.

page 346 note 67 These were reviewed in Presbyterian and Reformed Review 6 (April, 1895), p. 366Google Scholar; and Princeton Theological Review, 14 (1916), p. 323.Google Scholar

page 346 note 68 Iverach, James, Christianity and evolution (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 3rd ed., 1900), p. 26.Google Scholar

page 346 note 69 Shearman, J. N., The natural theology of evolution (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1915), p. 271.Google Scholar

page 346 note 70 B. B. Warfield, Lectures on Anthropology. Mss held at Speer Library, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey.

page 346 note 71 B. B. Warfield, Review of Darwinism today by Kellogg, Vernon L.. Princeton Theological Review, 6 (1908), pp. 640650Google Scholar. Reference on p. 650.

page 347 note 72 ibid., p. 649.

page 347 note 73 B. B. Warfield, Review of God's image in man by Orr, James. Princeton Theological Review, 4 (1906), pp. 555558.Google Scholar

page 347 note 74 Warfield, B. B., ‘Editorial notes’, The Bible Student, 8 (1904), pp. 241251Google Scholar. Reference on p. 243.

page 347 note 75 Warfield, B. B., ‘Calvin's doctrine of the creation’, Princeton Theological Review, 13 (1915), pp. 190255Google Scholar. References on p. 208.

page 348 note 76 ibid., p. 209.

page 348 note 77 Murray, John, ‘Calvin's doctrine of creation’, Westminster Theological Journal, 17 (1954). pp. 2143.Google Scholar

page 348 note 78 Warfield, Benjamin B., ‘On the antiquity and the unity of the human race’, in Biblical and theological studies (Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company), pp. 238261Google Scholar. Reference on p. 255.

page 349 note 79 See Sloane, op. cit., pp. 117–24.

page 349 note 80 In addition to the articles specifically cited below see also Macloskie, G., ‘Concessions to science’, Presbyterian Review, 10 (1889), pp. 220228Google Scholar; Macloskie, G., ‘;The testimony of nature’, Presbyterian and Reformed Review, 1 (1890), pp. 587597.Google Scholar

page 349 note 81 G. Macloskie, Review of From science to faith by Smith, Newman. Lowell Institute Lectures 1900, 1901. Princeton Theological Review, 1 (1903), pp. 294295.Google Scholar

page 349 note 82 Macloskie, G., ‘Theistic evolution’, Presbyterian and Reformed Review, 9 (1898), pp. 122Google Scholar. Reference on p. 7.

page 349 note 83 ibid., p. 8.

page 350 note 84 Macloskie, George, ‘The outlook for science and faith’, Princeton Theological Review, (1903), pp. 597615Google Scholar. Reference on p. 602.

page 350 note 85 ibid., p. 611. A rather similar debate is still being conducted today and centres on the concept of ‘teleonomy’ which seeks teleological explanation without finalistic implications. See the discussion by Bowker, John, ‘Did God create this universe?’, in Peacocke, A. R. (ed.), The sciences and theology in the twentieth century (Henley and London: Oriel Press, 1981), pp. 98126.Google Scholar

page 350 note 86 M[aienschein], J[ane], ‘Entelechy’, in Bynum, W. F., Browne, E. J. and Porter, Roy (eds), Dictionary of the History of Science (London: Macmillan, 1983), p. 123.Google Scholar

page 350 note 87 Macloskie, George, ‘Mosaism and Darwinism’, Princeton Theological Review, 2 (1904), pp. 425441Google Scholar. Reference on p. 429.

page 350 note 88 ibid., p. 434. See also his review of The scientific creed of a theologian by Schmid, Rudolf, in Princeton Theological Review, 5 (1905), pp. 482483.Google Scholar

page 351 note 89 Macloskie, G., ‘Scientific speculation’, Presbyterian Review, 8 (1887), pp. 617625.Google Scholar

page 351 note 90 ibid., p. 439. For a review of the mutation theory see Bowler, Peter J., ‘Hugo De Vries and Thomas Hunt Morgan: the mutation theory and the spirit of Darwinism’, Annals of Science, 35 (1978), pp. 5573.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

page 351 note 91 Johnson, William Hallock, ‘Evolution and theology today’, Princeton Theological Review, 1 (1903), pp. 403422.Google Scholar

page 351 note 92 Scott, Hugh M., ‘Has scientific investigation disturbed the basis of rational faith?’, Princeton Theological Review, 4 (1906), pp. 433453.Google Scholar

page 352 note 93 D. F.Johnson, op. cit., pp. 249–80.

page 352 note 94 S. A. Martin, Review of Creative evolution by Bergson, Henri. Princeton Theological Review, 10 (1912), pp. 116118.Google Scholar

page 352 note 93 William Brenton Greene Jr., Review of Christian faith in an age of science by Rice, William North. Princeton Theological Review, 2 (1904), pp. 504507Google Scholar. Reference on p. 506.

page 353 note 96 William Brenton Greene Jr., Review of The religion of evolution by Carma, . Princeton Theological Review, 6 (1908), pp. 118121Google Scholar. References on p. 119.

page 353 note 97 Greene, William Brenton Jr., ‘Yet another criticism of the theory of evolution’, Princeton Theological Review, 20 (1922), pp. 537561.Google Scholar

page 353 note 98 ibid., p. 544.

page 353 note 99 ibid., p. 549.

page 354 note 100 Price, George McCready, ‘Modern botany and the theory of organic evolution’, Princeton Theological Review, 23 (1925), pp. 5165Google Scholar. Price's role in the emergence of ‘Creation Science’ in America is discussed in Numbers, Ronald L., ‘Creationism in 20th-Century America’, Science, 218 (5 November 1982), pp. 538544CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed. See also Marsden, George M., ‘Creation versus Evolution: No Middle Way’, Nature, 305 (13 October, 1983), pp. 571574.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

page 354 note 101 Hamilton, Floyd E., ‘Modern aspects of the theory of evolution’, Princeton Theological Review, 24 (1926), pp. 396448Google Scholar. Reference on p. 447.

page 354 note 102 ibid., p. 448.

page 355 note 103 Hamilton, Floyd E., The basis of Christian faith (London and Edinburgh: Marshall, Morgan and Scott n.d.), p. 85.Google Scholar

page 355 note 104 Wilson, Ambrose J., ‘What Charles Darwin really found’, Princeton Theological Review, 26 (1928), pp. 515530.Google Scholar

page 355 note 105 Clark, David S., ‘Theology and evolution’, Princeton Theological Review, 23 (1925), pp. 193212Google Scholar. Reference on pp. 199–200.

page 355 note 106 ibid., p. 203.

page 355 note 107 Machen, J. Gresham, The Christian view of man (London: Banner of Truth, 1965Google Scholar; first published in 1937), p. 116.

page 356 note 108 See Marsden, George M., Fundamentalism and American culture. The shaping of twentieth century evangelicalism: 1870–1925 (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980), p. 119.Google Scholar

page 356 note 109 Wm. Hallock Johnson, Review of The dogma of evolution by Louis Trenchard More, and The spiritual interpretation of nature by Simpson, James Y., Princeton Theological Review, 23 (1925). pp. 476480.Google Scholar

page 356 note 110 See Bowler, Peter J., The eclipse of Darwinism (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983).Google Scholar

page 356 note 111 Provine, W. B., The origins of theoretical population genetics (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1973).Google Scholar

page 357 note 112 Floyd Hamilton is a case in point, for as well as attacking the theory of evolution, he wrote conservative tracts on the historical trustworthiness of the Scriptures, the reasonableness of supernaturalism and the modern historical and literary criticism of the Bible.

page 357 note 113 See, for example, Peter Bertocci, A., ‘Creation in religion’, in Wiener, Philip E. (ed.), Dictionary of the History of Ideas, Vol. I (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1973), pp. 571577.Google Scholar