Design After Darwin, 1860-1900

The Argument from Design is still the most popular reason given for belief in God. It starts from the order and complexity in the myriad forms of life on earth and asks: how could this wonderful system have arisen if not by the designing hand of a supernatural creator? In his "On the Origin of Species" (1859) Charles Darwin shook the notion of a divine plan with an evolutionism based upon chance variation and natural selection over time. But did Darwinism destroy the Argument from Design? This question was hotly debated by 19th-century scientists, philosophers and theologians and this new collection of British statements and correspondence displays the full diversity of Victorian opinion. The material in these four volumes remains central to early 21st-century discussions of the relations between science and religion, and allows a deeper historical understanding of the resurgence of the intelligent design question. The first volume examines the early disagreement between Charles Darwin and America's leading botanist, Asa Gray; it also includes key essays from the 1860s by T.H. Huxley and Alfred Russel Wallace.
Volume Two samples the spectrum of opinion on design from high churchmen to positivists; many of these authors were working zoologists and botanists as well as clergymen. George St Clair's very scarce and important book "Darwinism and Design" (1873), and two contemporary reviews, form the third volume of the set. The final volume focuses on Darwin's disciple, George Romanes, and his interactions with Asa Gray and the Oxford clergyman Aubrey Moore. As with earlier sets in our series "Evolution and Anti-Evolution: Debates Before and After Darwin", this collection gives access to primary source material. It should be welcomed by theologians, scholars of Darwinism and historians of science.