This year will bring an avalanche of books, lectures, television programmes and articles on Charles Darwin. It is 200 years since he was born and 150 years since he was pushed to publish his On the Origin of Species earlier than he intended by the arrival of a letter from Alfred Russel Wallace, the naturalist who, independently, had the same theory of natural selection that Darwin had supposed all his own.
Since Darwin wasn’t alone in thinking up the theory of natural selection or in assembling evidence in support of evolution, are we right to make such a song and dance of his anniversary?
The short answer is “yes”. On the Origin of Species is the most important biology book yet written and Darwin has done as much as anyone, including Copernicus, Newton, Marx and Freud, to change how we see ourselves.
So why do I, with a fairly conventional Christian faith, albeit someone with an academic background in evolutionary biology, believe that a Darwinian worldview matters more than ever?
