Comparing Genesis I & II with Charles Darwin’s The Descent of Man
There have been various theories of the creation of the universe and mankind, each drawing back to either religion or science, or a combination of both. Charles Darwin’s The Descent of Man and the Genesis accounts are often seen as personifications of two opposing views of our universe. Charles Darwin is a representation of evolution; the development of species through a lengthy process of natural selection. On the contrary, Genesis is a representation of creation by the Bible; God’s creation of both mankind and the Earth around them. Even though the accounts are inherently opposing and each claim to possess an indisputable explanation of the universe, they contain the following similarities; both portray the human image inappropriately and both indirectly rely on the opposing belief.
Firstly, it is important to distinguish the main differences between the two schools of thought. Darwinism attempts to explain the source of all human life through a process called natural selection. Natural selection states that species produced random variations and that only those beings whose characteristics allow them to reproduce, thus survive, can continue developing. This process explains that all species are derived from a common ancestor, most popularly that homosapiens are derived from apes. Darwin discusses the sociability aspect of humans in comparison to animals; “animals of many kinds are social; we find even distinct species living together, some American monkeys; and united flocks of rocks, jackdaws and starlings” (Darwin 174). Humans, along with all other species, are the outcome of millions of years of natural selection. Thus, there is no difference between Homo ...
... middle of paper ...
...Creation. This belief agrees that DNA strands cause varieties within a genus; i.e some people are tall, some are short. With the agreement, Creationists are agreeing with facts brought up by Darwinists. Perhaps it should be noted that Darwin and Genesis may be mildly complimentary, as they ultimately answer different questions of How and Who, respectively.
Conclusively, even though Charles Darwin’s The Descent of Man and Genesis may share common flaws in human image interpretation and reliance on outside facts, it is undoubtedly impossible to ignore their fundamental differences. While the Bible relies on faith and religion, Darwin relies on science to explain the origin of the universe. Ultimately, even though there is common ground to be compared between the two accounts, its similarities are limited to common flaws both accounts create regarding the human image.
On Thursday 24 November 1859, Charles Darwin published and made available to the western world his magnum opus, On the Origin of Species, a compilation of some twenty plus years of research regarding the human biology and its advancement. Darwin proposed in Origins that all life slowly evolved, biologically mutated over a period of time, to its present day form. Expanding on prior research in the field of genetics, Darwin theorized a "survival of the fittest" complex which forced basic animals to evolve new advanced traits to survive in their respective environments, in the process theorizing that humans also evolved from lesser creatures. Darwin's theory of evolution was meet with critical response, mainly negative, at the time of its inception, but slowly gained support in the years following. In particular at the time of Origins publishing, the western world was undergoing a religious revival of sorts thanks to the rise of Evangelicalism. Due to conflicts of interest between Darwin's proposed theory of evolution directly contradicting the biblical theory of creationism, much controversy was generated by the publication of Origins. Creationism which stressed the belief of one omnipotent God creating the world and all its inhabitants was the most widely spread belief during this time period. Across the western world different assortments of clergymen attacked, or surprisingly stood in solidarity with the theory of evolution. This brings into question, why were the responses to evolution so disparaging? This can be explained that due to prior established beliefs and knowledge of respective individuals, the reaction to the theory of evolution was at first quite negative, but overtime became more and more accepting as people grew t...
Genesis in the modern world is a highly criticised text, and frequently the most misunderstood, most people do not realise that it is composed of three separate books with two creation stories if we employ source division. (J.ROGERSON P63). Often these two texts are interpolated rendering our own distorted views. In there simplest form they tell a story of the creation of the world and the earliest history of humanity, they then go on to tell the destruction of the world from a flood then the story of Jacob and his ancestors who came to be named Israel. Modern archaeology has given us a different perspective of Genesis, for many science has proved it wrong, especially creation, John Calvin a great systematic protestant thinker said "Gen 1 did not reflect physics and astronomy. The account was solely for the benefit of ancient Hebrew observers whom had no understanding of science". This point was overlooked (j.rogerson),a century ago our understanding of Genesis was very different we did not have the knowledge concerning ancient times as we do now. Wiseman highlights four points which brought about critical theories 1) Theories conceived in an age of ignorance towards earlier civilisations. 2) Literary assumptions made when they knew nothing of earlier systematic writings. 3) Many scholars assumed the oral tradition was the only form of communication during the days of the Patriarchs. 4) Saturated speculative theories concerning "myth and legend" generally now abandoned but not ignored. Scientific discoveries such as Darwin’s theory of natural selection 1859-70 and geology in the 1820’s have challenged earlier perceptions of the creation accounts. A biblical reconstruction of chronology was made of genesis concluding a figure...
In Charles Darwin’s life he had helped make a significant advancement in the way mankind viewed the world. With his observations, he played a part in shifting the model of evolution into his peers’ minds. Darwin’s theory on natural selection impacted the areas of science and religion because it questioned and challenged the Bible; and anything that challenged the Bible in Darwin’s era was sure to create contention with the church. Members of the Church took offense to Darwin’s Origins of Species because it unswervingly contradicted the teachings of the book of Genesis in the Bible. (Zhao, 2009) Natural selection changed the way people thought. Where the Bible teaches that “all organisms have been in an unchanging state since the great flood, and that everything twas molded in God’s will.” (Zhao, 2009) Darwin’s geological journey to the Galapagos Islands is where he was first able to get the observations he needed to prove how various species change over t...
Genesis 1:27 states ‘So God created humankind in his image…’ yet the theory of evolution proposes that there have been different species of humans in the past. Homo erectus was one of the first human species from around 2 million years ago, to which Homo sapiens evolved around 400, 000 years later (Michollet 2000: 82). There is an unexpected complexity to the modern man that was not known before Darwin’s theory. According to evolution, humanity has not always had the form it possesses today. This plural origin to humanity would disprove the idea that humans were made in the image of God – disproving the Christian doctrine of creation. Still, Samuel Wilberforce has argued that due to characteristics man has such as supremacy over the Earth and free will that the design of humankind is ‘utterly irreconcilable with the degrading notion of the brute origin of him who was created in the image of God…’ (Brooke 2012: 50). Wilberforce has used the works of geologist Charles Lyell to support his argument. In his ‘Principles of Geology’ Lyell has asserted that the continual extinction and renewal of a species ‘all in accommodation to the changes which must continue in the inanimate and habitable Earth’ is contradictory (Brooke 2012: 50). Lyell believes that the Earth is always sustaining life and because of this the theory of evolution seems unnecessary. It does not make sense
In order to fully understand Darwin’s vision, it is important to understand the historical context and compare it to the previous ideas on Earth and life on Earth. “On the Origin of Species” (Darwin, 1859) revolutionized the ideas of the time: not only did it question the scientific ideas but it also questioned the basis of occidental culture. Darwin’s vision opposed the vision of a world made of immutable species created in a week by a Creator who modelled the whole universe. Philosophers such as Plato (428-348 BC) and Aristotle (384-322 BC), who had a major influence on occidental culture, would have opposed to the idea of evolution. Plato cou...
Stories of creation have been around since the dawn of man or, woman depending on an individuals beliefs. According to biologist and author Richard Dawkins, Darwinian theory has the power to explain natural occurrences in the universe. In Dawkins scientific literature “River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life,” his mission is to disprove religious views of the beginning of life with what he passes off as empirical scientific evidence. In the preface he states “There is more poetry in mitochondrial Eve than in her mythological namesake” (Dawkins xi), one can conclude that the mythological namesake he is referring to is Eve from the biblical text. Throughout the Chapter 2 Dawkins religious texts about creationism as “the myth” while, Mitochondrial Eve holds more evidence, validity, pure reasoning or how he puts it “poetry.” Dawkin’s Darwinian views of life have a few inconsistencies that he glosses over with fanciful language, metaphors, some science, and his “cult-like” views of Darwinism.
Both the Theogony and the Creation in Genesis show nature as a blessing for humans but with negative affects, However the myths differ in the ways that the Earth and humans were created and how humans interact with the deities of the creation stories. These differences include how Gods treat humans and why the Gods/God created Earth. These stories are still being passed on in today’s world and are two of the most influential creation stories to have ever been written. The similarities and differences in the creation stories show that different cultures and religions throughout the world really aren’t that far off from each other.
The Comparison of the Creation of the Universe and Origin of Man and New Species
The first remarkable difference between the two theories is that Darwin’s theory was a selectionist theory of evolution
There are differences between Darwinism and Creationism, the main areas of difference being based on data and belief. Darwinism is scientifically oriented thought, it explains that living things have a common ancestors and evolution is what gives rise to ne...
In Genesis 1-3 there are two different stories of creation each written by a different author. There are two helpful methods in understanding the meaning: the historical-critical method and the theological method. Each method examines the stories of The Bible in different contexts. On one hand, the historical-critical method assumes that there is historical information that can be found within the bible, whereas the theological approach assumes that the bible was written as a self-revelation of God. While reading the bible in a historical-critical approach, readers are interested in information such as, who wrote this story, when were they alive, why did they write this story, or where did this happen. Theological critics argue that the most
Darwins's "Origin of Species" was widly disputed. When he studied the root of humans, his conclusions went against the original widespread beliefs that God had created man. He claimed that the human origin actually evolved from an ancestor. After comparing humans with several species in the primate animal group, he noticed that "the relative position of our features is manifestly the same; and the various emotions displayed by nearly similar movements of the muscles and skin, chiefly above the eyebrows and around the mouth."2 It was not too long later when monkeys and apes were considered to be the ancestor of man. With the technology now, it is...
There must be very few people from biology or evolutionary background who are not aware of the work of Charles Darwin. Charles Darwin proposed that evolution occurs through the process of natural selection. Natural selection is the process by which species adapt to their environment in order to survive. Species evolve from one to the next through random genetic mutation, if the said mutation is beneficial then it is preserved and is passed down to the next generation to help with the survival of that species. As these mutations build up over time, they result in a completely different organism. The main premise for his theory is that all creatures are interrelated genetically to a varying degree and that we all share a common ancestor from whom we evolved over time.
The simple clarity of the Genesis account should leave no doubt with regard to this question. But the debate on origins intends to question the account. Did Genesis mean to report fact or fable? Was this an account of Creation or a myth about meaning? What the questions seek to uncover (for the sc...
Genesis is the first creation story. God creates, establishes, and puts everything into motion. After putting all of this in motion he then rests. He creates everything on earth in just seven days. Before creation Gods breath was hovering over a formless void. God made earth and all of the living creatures on earth out of nothing. There was not any pre-existent matter out of which the world was produced. Reading Genesis 1 discusses where living creatures came from and how the earth was formed. It’s fascinating to know how the world began and who created it all. In Genesis 1 God is the mighty Lord and has such strong power that he can create and banish whatever he would like. His powers are unlike any others. The beginning was created from one man only, God.