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Darwinism
Western Civilization II
Pushing the Boundaries of Science
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Scientific advances fueled 2nd Industrial Revolution & created
aura of infallibility
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Popularized by science fiction writers like Jules Verne
Louis Pasteur developed germ theory of contagion in the 1860s, as well
as heat sterilization process & rabies vaccine
Robert Koch isolated typhoid bacterium, leading to testing & treating of
drinking water
Joseph Lister introduced carbolic acid as antiseptic in hospitals
New Physics replaced Newtonian view of the universe:
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Marie Curie (1867-1934) & Pierre Currie (1859-1906) discovered
Radium – opened up world of subatomic particles
Max Planck (1858-1947) offered Quantum Theory in 1900
Albert Einstein (1879-1955) published Special Theory of Relativity in
1905, arguing space & time are relative to observer
 Energy of matter is equivalent to its mass times the square of the
velocity of light
Darwin’s Theory of Evolution
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Charles Darwin went on HMS Beagle
expedition in 1831
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Origin of Species (1859) set forth
theory of evolution
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Influenced by Malthus & Ricardo
Charles Lyell’s Principles of Geology said
Earth millions of years old
Swann developed cell theory
Genetic mutations allow certain plants &
animals to survive & pass on traits
this process of “natural selection” allowed
living things to evolve from less complex to
more complex forms
Explicitly included humans in The
Descent of Man (1871)
Social Darwinism
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Herbert Spencer – sociology
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Houston Stewart Chamberlain
(1855-1927) – racism
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Argued gov’t aid to the “unfit” only
impedes natural selection
Thought modern-day Germans were
only pure successors of Aryans
Fostered growth of Anti-Semitism in
Germany
Francis Galton – eugenics
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Studied genetics with goal of
scientifically breeding humans
Got laws passed allowing forced
sterilization of criminals & mentally
disabled
Darwinism & Christianity
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Darwin’s Challenge to Christianity:
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Literal interpretation of Genesis 1-2
Divine creation (argument from design)
Human souls
Original sin
3 responses to the challenge:
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Hostility – Fundamentalism
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Premillenial dispensationalism
Holiness & Pentecostal movements
Pope Pius IX – Syllabus of Errors, papal infallibility, immaculate
conception of Mary
Capitulation – Modernism (The Social Gospel)
Compromise – Evangelicalism (Neo-Orthodoxy)
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Salvation Army
Pope Leo XIII – Rerum Novarum (1891)