Darwinism and the Divine in America

Originally published in 1988, Jon Robertss book provided the first comprehensive analytical overview of public dialogue among nineteenth-century American Protestant intellectuals who struggled with the theory of organic evolution. Before the publication of Darwins Origin of Species in 1859, most American Protestant intellectuals valued science, especially natural history, for supplying data that appeared to be invaluable for defending many major tenets of the Christian worldview. Arguments over the scientific merits of Darwins theory gave way to discussions of its theological implications. Robertss book reconstructs the course of that conversation from 1875 to 1900.