Charles Hodge and B. B. Warfield on Science, the Bible, Evolution, and Darwinism
The commitment of Warfield and Hodge to solid empirical science and to the concursus of divine and natural action gave them extraordinary balance in sifting the difficult questions of science and faith that beset their era.
Controversies over evolution excite every bit as much passion in the late twentieth century as they have ever done. Christian believers who seek humbly to understand the means by which God directs the natural world as well as honest scientists who seek to deal responsibly with what their researches reveal are regularly shouted aside by culture warriors heavily invested in the supposed struggle between science and religion. Truth is usually the loser; populist politicking too often drives out patient, responsible science. (1)
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1 [ Back ] The author has adapted and abridged this article from the Introductions to two books edited by himself and David N. Livingstone, Charles Hodge's What Is Darwinism and Other Writings on Science & Religion (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1994), and B. B. Warfield's Writings on Evolution, Scripture, and Science (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, forthcoming), both of which contain extensive documentation and bibliography. Mark Noll is solely responsible for the content of this article. For wider background on the subject, see David N. Livingstone, Darwin's Forgotten Defenders: The Encounter Between Evangelical Theology and Evolutionary Thought (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, and Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, 1987); Mark A. Noll, ed., The Princeton Theology, 1812-1921 (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1983); and David N. Livingstone, D. G. Hart, and Mark A. Noll, eds., Evangelical Encounters with Science (New York: Oxford University Press, forthcoming 1998).
2 [ Back ] The best general introduction to the subject of science at the Princeton of Hodge and Warfield is Bradley John Gundlach, "The Evolution Question at Princeton, 1845-1929" (Ph.D. diss., University of Rochester, 1995).
3 [ Back ] For Hodge's appreciation of Henry, see "Joseph Henry," in Biblical Repertory and Princeton Review. Index Volume from 1825 to 1868 (Philadelphia: Peter Walker, 1870-1871), 194-200.
4 [ Back ] A. A. Hodge, The Life of Charles Hodge (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1880), 239; and The Papers of Joseph Henry, ed. Nathan Reingold (Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1985), 2:426; 5:42, 159n.4, 264-65, 353.
5 [ Back ] Papers of Joseph Henry, 2:90n, 240-42, 266-67.
6 [ Back ] See Ronald Numbers, The Creationists (New York: Knopf, 1992), 11.
7 [ Back ] For example, the lecture given from Jan. 1849, with the title, "The Mosaic Account of Creation," Charles Hodge Papers, archives, Speer Library, Princeton Theological Seminary.
8 [ Back ] Hodge to the New York Observer, in Charles Hodge's What Is Darwinism?, 53-56.
9 [ Back ] Charles Hodge's What Is Darwinism, 89, 92, 156-57.
10 [ Back ] Warfield, "Calvin's Doctrine of the Creation," The Works of Benjamin B. Warfield, Vol. 5: Calvin and Calvinism (New York: Oxford University Press, 1931), 304-05.
11 [ Back ] For the direct use of Warfield on the inerrancy of Scripture, see John C. Whitcomb, Jr., and Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Flood: The Biblical Record and Its Scientific Implications (Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1961), xx.
12 [ Back ] For example, Bernard Ramm, The Christian View of Science and Scripture (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1954); Russell L. Mixter, ed., Evolution and Christian Thought Today (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1959); D. C. Spanner, Creation and Evolution: Some Preliminary Considerations (London: Falcon Books, 1966); Malcolm A. Jeeves, ed., The Scientific Enterprise and Christian Faith (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1969); Donald M. MacKay, The Clockwork Image: A Christian Perspective on Science (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1974); Thomas F. Torrance, Christian Theology and Scientific Culture (New York: Oxford University Press, 1981); Davis A. Young, Christianity and the Age of the Earth (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1982); Charles E. Hummel, The Galileo Connection: Resolving Conflicts Between Science and the Bible (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1986); J. C. Polkinghorne, One World: The Interaction of Science and Theology (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986); Howard J. Van Till, The Fourth Day: What the Bible and the Heavens are Telling Us about the Creation (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986); and John Houghton, Does God Play Dice? A Look at the Story of the Universe (Leicester, England: InterVarsity Press, 1988).
13 [ Back ] Warfield deploys a similar vocabulary in a discussion of miracles that he published at about the same time, see "The Question of Miracles," in The Bible Student (March-June, 1903), as reprinted in The Shorter Writings of Benjamin B. Warfield, Vol. 2, ed. John E. Meeter (Nutley, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1973), 167-204.
14 [ Back ] See Counterfeit Miracles (New York: Scribners, 1918).
Issue: "Why Does Matter Matter?" May/June Vol. 7 No. 3 1998 Pages 18-22
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