Samuel Wilberforce Dismantled Darwin

His father, William, was a Christian and a slavery abolitionist, and Samuel (1805-1873) took his faith further. He became a bishop in the Church of England. Samuel was also a contemporary of Charles Darwin and unimpressed by his work.

Interestingly, scientists tended to reject Darwin's version of evolution while the clergy was embracing deep time, then eventually rode for the Darwin brand. Wilberforce is known for a misrepresentation of his confrontation of T.H. Huxley. There something else of significance that is less known.

Samuel Wilberforce by George Richmond, 1868

Sam was involved in a debate with Darwinists and also published an essay in 1860. He did one thing that I deplore in any Christian apologetics effort, and that was to leave God out of the discussions. However, he did take Darwin to task on scientific grounds.

"But Cowboy Bob, he had no business taking on Darwin because he wasn't a scientist!"

Actually, Darwin's only degree was in theology — he was not a scientist himself. Keep in mind that people who think can see flaws in reasoning and that they are being manipulated.

What Wilberforce did is something else that is important in apologetics. That is, he dismantled Darwin's proposals and even his worldview. He was gracious about it and even praised Charlie when it was warranted. Also, he wanted evidence to support Darwin's claims, which was long promised but he never followed through.

In an essay in the Quarterly Review of over 18,000 words, published shortly after the debate in 1860, Wilberforce tracks Darwin’s journey “into the jungle of fanciful assumption,” scrutinizing each proposition Darwin makes to support his conclusion. It’s a powerful critique of Darwin’s seminal theory. Wilberforce was ahead of his time, and when we place his arguments, written right after the publication of Darwin’s theory, alongside what we’ve learned in the last century about the digital code of DNA, the nano-machinery powering even the simplest living cells, the evidence of a beginning to the universe and exquisite fine-tuning throughout it, as well as what we’ve discovered about the mathematical limitations of natural processes, we can see Wilberforce was correct to push back on Mr. Darwin’s assumptions.

Here, then, is a selection of excerpts from Wilberforce’s review, to give you a taste of the potency of its arguments.

To read the entire article (note how the English language had not devolved to the point it has reached today), ride on over to "'Into the Jungle of Fanciful Assumption': Excerpts from Samuel Wilberforce on Darwin."