In the beginning there was the question. Where did we come from? Throughout the course of human history every culture and religion has found thousands of different answers. The prevailing belief of 19th century England was that God had made the heavens and the Earth in six days. All life including our species, Homo sapiens, were created in the forms we see now only a short 6,000 years ago and have stayed mostly unchanged throughout history. It would not be long however that a young scientist would change the world with his groundbreaking ideas on evolution. An instant sensation with after publishing his first book, On the Origin of Species, would propel Charles Darwin to the forefront of a scientific debate that continues to this day. …show more content…
He was the fifth of six children born to Robert Waring Darwin and Susannah Wedgwood. Charles’ paternal grandfather Erasmus Darwin was a famous poet and his father was a successful physician. Growing up in a wealthy and intellectual household led to an early interest in the natural world for the young Darwin. He began collecting and studying natural history at a young age. When Charles was only eight years old his mother Susannah died. The following fall he attended the Shrewsbury School, a nearby boarding school. In 1825 Charles and his brother Erasmus left home to begin their studies at the University of Edinburgh. Here Charles was bored with his studies and uncomfortable around blood and the sight of suffering leading to a disinterest in continuing to study medicine. Still interested in the natural world he would learn taxidermy from John Edmonstone, a freed black slave, and study marine invertebrates with Robert Grant. One of the papers Grant published became the first time Darwin's’ name would appear in a scientific article. He joined the Plinian society, a student-run natural history group that included many debates challenging religious concepts in science. No longer was he paying attention to his studies and his grades began to slip. This caused his father to pull him from the University and set him on a very different
Charles Darwin, the Father of Evolution, was a British scientist who laid the foundations of the theory of evolution, transforming the thinking of the entire world about the living things around us (Charles Darwin (1809 – 1882)). After working on his theory for nearly 20 years, he published On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection in 1859. As soon as the book was released, the controversy began with each sides gaining followers until the climax on July 10, 1925. The idea that animals could “evolve” and change into new species, including humans, was one that challenged not only how people thought about the natural world, but challenged the story of the creation from the Bible itself. Even though Darwin himself never said that humans “evolved” from apes, everyone took it as a logical extension of his new theory. It went against the idea of argument for design that had unified theology and science for decades (Moran 5). This new threat to Christianity and the social culture of the time was one that would transform state laws on their educational curriculum.
Darwin began to explore the changes that happen on the earth and develop his theories of evolution, though Charles did not completely endorse Darwin’s theory of evolution. Lyell was a devout Christian and Darwin’s theory of evolution did not line up with Lyell’s beliefs about natural selection. Darwin continued his research and beliefs of his own and became a scientist working with his theories of evolution. Charles Lyell was born on November 14, 1797 in Kinnordy, Scotland. Charles was the oldest of 10 children and his father, whose name was also Charles, was a lawyer and a botanist.
Charles Robert Darwin was an English naturalist who was born in Shrewsbury, England on February 12, 1809. He was the second youngest of six children. Before Charles Darwin, there were many scientists throughout his family. His father, Dr. Robert Darwin, was a medical doctor, and his grandfather, Dr. Erasmus Darwin, was a well-known botanist. Darwin’s mother, Susannah Darwin, died when he was only eight years old. Darwin was a child that came from wealth and privilege and who loved to explore nature. In October 1825 at age sixteen, Darwin enrolled at Edinburgh University with his brother Erasmus. Two years later, Charles became a student at Christ’s College in Cambridge. His father wanted him to become a medical doctor, as he was, but since the sight of blood made Darwin nauseous, he refused. His father also proposed that he become a priest, but since Charles was far more interested in natural history, he had other ideas in mind (Dao, 2009)
Darwin did not come up with his theory out of nowhere. Like anyone else who has made discoveries, he was influenced by others. For quite a long time before Darwin, people didn't look beyond the Biblical creation story. Such things as fossils, primitive stone tools and visible layers in rock were said to have been placed on earth by God. There wasn't a great deal of work done on what we now call evolution, until the age of exploration began. Around that time people noticed that there were different types of humans in different parts of the world. There were several attempts to classify the various types of humans, but such classifications were generally extremely ethnocentric, and included ideas that have been proved incorrect. For a time people believed that creatures like Dr. Moreau's Beast People could and did exist in the world; explorers told fantastic tales of humans with the heads of dogs, or mermaids, or islands populated by only humans of only one gender. In the seventeenth century John Ray coined the term "species," but he believed that none of the species had changed since the day of creation. Linnaeus, who invented the system of binomial nomenclature used today to classify different species, was also a creationist.
Humans have asked questions about their origin and their purpose on earth for eons. The Bible tells humans that God created them and explains their purpose. However, since the Renaissance, humanism answers questions about origins by naturalistic means and science has been redefined in the process. Most institutions of higher education and many individuals have adopted the naturalistic theory of evolution to explain human origin without considering its effects on faith. In contrast to prevailing thought at Goshen College, a literal six-day creation is foundational to the Gospel message. Combining evolution and Christianity makes one’s faith less logical and opens one’s science to new quandaries.
One of the most commonly asked questions in Anthropology is: "Where did humans come from?" There are many answers to this question such as: "Aliens"; "The Primordial Soup"; "An Intelligent Designer"; or a mixture of the ones listed. However, the two predominate theories are Literal Creationism and Theistic Evolution. Literal Creationism is the literal twenty four-hour, six-day view of Creation. Theistic Evolution is the theory that states God created the fundamental framework for humans and creatures to live, and then the evolutionary process took over to form life. **Tell about how paper defends Literal Creationism**
However, it was Darwin that formalized the theory, and presented the most convincing case for the theory. Charles Darwin was born on the 12th of February 1809 (incidentally, the same day and year as Abraham Lincoln), in Shrewsbury, England. He had a privileged upbringing, and enjoyed science - particularly biology. He graduated from Cambridge University in 1831, and on December the 27th of that year, he set off for a five-year journey aboard the Beagle, a ship bound for South America. His voyage was long and eventful, including once, in Chile, encountering both an earthquake and a tidal wave in a single day!
Charles Darwin was born in 1809 in England, he studied medicine at Edinburgh and ministry at Cambridge. He later became interested in natural history . From 1831 to 1836 he went on a cruise around the world; this sparked an int...
The source of much controversy in Darwin’s faith arises in his account of his upbringing. Charles Darwin was born February 12th, 1809 in Shrewsbury, England to Robert and Susannah Darwin. His parents were not particularly devout in their religious practices as he grew up, but they trained him in other ways for his future career. His father was a doctor, and would take young Darwin out to patient visits with him and explain the causes of the ailments and their treatments. From his father, Darwin saw how observations could lead to a theory (Darwin, p. 37).
Charles Darwin, born in 1809, was raised by his two Christian parents. Naturally, young Charles openly embraced the ideas of Christianity, and adopted many religious practices into his own life. By the 1830’s, Darwin had developed a strong desire to study natural history and natural theology, or anything that related to divine design in nature. In 1831, Darwin was invited on a trip of his lifetime: to sail around the world studying Mother Nature’s different types of life. At 22 years of age, thus began Darwin’s 5-year long voyage on the vessel HMS Beagle with his fellow scientific scholars.
On February 12, 1809, Charles Darwin was born. His childhood home took place in Shrewsbury, England. While he was a child, he took a liking to and collected shells, bird eggs, rocks and minerals, and insects. Him and his sister had gotten into multiple ‘debates’ about killing the insects, so he always had to find a corpse of an already dead insect, if he wished to collect. Later into his childhood, when he was only eight years old, his mother, Susanna, had passed away. This did not bother him as much until his later years, considering he was too young to understand what was going on. A year after that, his father, Dr. Robert Darwin, had settled young Darwin into Shrewsbury school. “ Darwin was a child of wealth and privilege who loved to explore nature.”
Darwinism, the theory of evolution, is a controversial theory that is still being contemplated today. Before the 19th century scientist were puzzled by the idea of where humans, plants, and animals originated. In the late 1700s the question was first tried by a group of scientist, but they were not successful. It was not until a young Charles Darwin found interest in the subject that the discovery was finally able to become a theory. His observations led to his theory of evolution by natural selection. Although, it was a new discovery that shocked so many, Darwin and his accomplices did not realize how significant their newfound theory was. ~~~~
In the history of science vs. religion there have been no issues more intensely debated than evolution vs. creationism. The issue is passionately debated since the majority of evidence is in favor of evolution, but the creation point of view can never be proved wrong because of religious belief. Human creation breaks down into three simple beliefs; creation theory, naturalistic evolution theory, and theistic evolution theory. The complexities of all three sides create a dilemma for what theory to support among all people, religious and non-religious.
Charles Darwin began his scientific breakthroughs and upcoming theories when he began an expedition trip to the Galapagos Islands of South America. While studying there, he discovered that each island had its own type of plant and animal species. Although these plants and animals were similar in appearance, they had other characteristics that made them differ from one another and seem to not appear as similar. Darwin questioned why these plants and animals were on these islands and why they are different in ways.
Charles Darwin was born in the city of Shrewsbury, England and was raised by a wealthy family and was the 5th child. His mother Susannah died when he was only eight and his father was a physician, poet, philosopher and naturalist. In 1825, Darwin graduated from the elite school at Shrewsbury. He then attended college at the University of Edinburgh to study medicine. In 1927 he dropped out and decided to study clergyman and entered the University of Cambridge. There he was introduced to Adam Sedgwick and John Stevens Henslowe. These two gentlemen showed Darwin how to observe natural phenomenon and collect specimens. Which when the opportunity arose, for him to be a member of the team, Darwin took the opportunity to travel on the survey ship,