on May 23, 2017

One of Darwin’s Greatest Supporters Was a Devout Christian

The person that Darwin felt best understood and appreciated him and his theory was a devout man of faith and a follower of Christ.

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Photo credit: Wikipedia.

Editor’s note: Below is one of the “highlight clips” from the plenary talks at our Christ and Creation conference last month in Houston, TX. This week’s clip is from Praveen Sethupathy’s talk, titled “Quid Est Veritas: Reflections on Science and Faith.” In the video below, Praveen discusses the relationship between Darwin and Asa Gray, a Christian contemporary of Darwin’s who defended his findings. (Embedded video is the full talk, fast forward to 13:15 to see the section transcribed below.)

Randomness does not imply lack of order or purpose. Instead, it can—operating under specified constraints—weave a pretty beautiful tapestry, like how evolutionary processes bring about the diversity of biological life.

One of the earliest and most enthusiastic American supporters of Darwin’s thesis was a man named Asa Gray. He was a botanist at Harvard and a devout Christian. After critical examination of the theory and extensive back-and-forth interaction with Darwin himself, he found the theory so beautiful, so compelling that he was among the first to galvanize support for Darwin’s theories here in America.

And he went on to author a volume of essays called Darwinia about the harmony between biological evolution and Christian doctrine. Notably, Asa was not troubled at all by what he called “accidental” or “random” processes in nature, because he believed that creation was endowed with a certain amount of freedom. Which would necessarily bring about variation, but all within the sphere of God’s plan and design.

Darwin once wrote in a letter that, “no one person understands my views and has defended them so well as Asa Gray.” I want to let this sink in: the person that Darwin—at least at one point in his life—felt best understood and appreciated him and his theory was a devout man of faith and a follower of Christ.

About the author

Praveen Sethupathy

Praveen is Professor of Physiological Genomics and Chair of the Department of Biomedical Sciences at Cornell University. He is also Director of the Cornell Center for Vertebrate Genomics. He leads a research lab focused on genome-scale and molecular approaches to understand physiology and human disease. Praveen received his BA degree from Cornell University and his PhD in Genomics from the University of Pennsylvania. After completing a post-doctoral fellowship at the National Human Genome Research Institute under the mentorship of NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins, he moved in 2011 to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Genetics. The same year he was selected by Genome Technology as one of the nation’s top 25 rising young investigators in genomics. In 2017, he returned to Cornell University as an Associate Professor. Praveen has authored over 140 peer-reviewed publications in scientific journals such as PNAS, Cell and Science and has served as a reviewer for over 50 different journals. Honors include a faculty merit award for outstanding teaching and mentoring, the prestigious American Diabetes Association Pathway To Stop Diabetes Research Accelerator (which is awarded to only three people per year), and the inaugural Boehringer Ingelheim Award for Excellence in Research Mentorship. Praveen is an advocate for thoughtful discussion at the interface of science and faith and has served on the advisory board of the Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion in the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), serves on the Board of BioLogos, is a frequent speaker for the BioLogos Voice Program and the Veritas Forum, and a mentor in the Veritas Faculty Scholars program.