Darwinism Western Civilization II

Pushing the Boundaries of Science Scientific advances fueled 2 nd Industrial Revolution & created aura of infallibility  Popularized by science fiction writers like Jules Verne  Louis Pasteur developed germ theory of contagion in the 1860s, as well as heat sterilization process & rabies vaccine  Robert Koch isolated typhoid bacterium, leading to testing & treating of drinking water  Joseph Lister introduced carbolic acid as antiseptic in hospitals New Physics replaced Newtonian view of the universe:  Marie Curie ( ) & Pierre Currie ( ) discovered Radium – opened up world of subatomic particles  Max Planck ( ) offered Quantum Theory in 1900  Albert Einstein ( ) published Special Theory of Relativity in 1905, arguing space & time are relative to observer Energy of matter is equivalent to its mass times the square of the velocity of light

Darwin’s Theory of Evolution Charles Darwin went on HMS Beagle expedition in 1831  Influenced by Malthus & Ricardo  Charles Lyell’s Principles of Geology said Earth millions of years old  Swann developed cell theory Origin of Species (1859) set forth theory of evolution  Genetic mutations allow certain plants & animals to survive & pass on traits  this process of “natural selection” allowed living things to evolve from less complex to more complex forms Explicitly included humans in The Descent of Man (1871)

Social Darwinism Herbert Spencer – sociology  Argued gov’t aid to the “unfit” only impedes natural selection Houston Stewart Chamberlain ( ) – racism  Thought modern-day Germans were only pure successors of Aryans  Fostered growth of Anti-Semitism in Germany Francis Galton – eugenics  Studied genetics with goal of scientifically breeding humans  Got laws passed allowing forced sterilization of criminals & mentally disabled

Darwinism & Christianity Darwin’s Challenge to Christianity:  Literal interpretation of Genesis 1-2  Divine creation (argument from design)  Human souls  Original sin 3 responses to the challenge:  Hostility – Fundamentalism Premillenial dispensationalism Holiness & Pentecostal movements Pope Pius IX – Syllabus of Errors, papal infallibility, immaculate conception of Mary  Capitulation – Modernism (The Social Gospel)  Compromise – Evangelicalism (Neo-Orthodoxy) Salvation Army Pope Leo XIII – Rerum Novarum (1891)