THE RISE OF EVOLUTIONARY THOUGHT
A current of evolutionary thought can be traced through the literature dealing with organic nature from ancient times. It began as a small rill among the Greek philosophers and dwindles to a mere thread in the Middle Ages, sometimes almost disappearing, but is never completely broken off. Near the close of the eighteenth century it suddenly expands, and becomes a broad and prevailing influence in the nineteenth century. Osborn, in his book, From the Greeks to Darwin, traces the continuity of evolutionary thought from the time of the Greek philosophers to Darwin. The ancient phase, although interesting, was vague and general, and may be dismissed without much consideration. After the Renaissance naturalists were occupied with other aspects of nature-study. They were at first attempting to get a knowledge of animals and plants as a whole, and later of their structure, their developments, and their physiology, before questions of their origin were brought under consideration.
Opinion before Lamarck.—The period just prior to Lamarck is of particular interest. Since Lamarck was the first to give a comprehensive and consistent theory of evolution, it will be interesting to determine what was the state of opinion just prior to the appearance of his writings. Studies of nature were in such shape at that time that the question of the origin of species arose, and thereafter it would not recede. This was owing mainly to the fact that Ray and Linnæus by defining a species had fixed the attention of naturalists upon the distinguishing features of the particular kinds of animals and plants. Are species realities in nature? The consideration of this apparently simple question soon led to divergent views, and then to warm controversies that extended over several decades of time.
The view first adopted without much thought and as a matter of course was that species are fixed and constant; i.e., that the existing forms of animals and plants are the descendants of entirely similar parents that were originally created in pairs. This idea of the fixity of species was elevated to the position of a dogma in science as well as in theology. The opposing view, that species are changeable, arose in the minds of a few independent observers and thinkers, and, as has already been pointed out, the discussion of this question resulted ultimately in a complete change of view regarding nature and man's relation to it. When the conception of evolution came upon the scene, it was violently combated. It came into conflict with the theory designated special creation.
Views of Certain Fathers of the Church.—And now it is essential that we should be clear as to the sources of this dogma of special creation. It is perhaps natural to assume that there was a conflict existing between natural science and the views of the theologians from the earliest times; that is, between the scientific method and the method of the theologians, the latter being based on authority, and the former upon observation and experiment. Although there is a conflict between these two methods, there nevertheless was a long period in which many of the leading theological thinkers were in harmony with the men of science with reference to their general conclusions regarding creation. Some of the early Fathers of the Church exhibited a broader and more scientific spirit than their successors.
St. Augustine (353-430), in the fifth century, was the first of the great theologians to discuss specifically the question of creation. His position is an enlightened one. He says: "It very often happens that there is some question as to the earth or the sky, or the other elements of this world ... respecting which one who is not a Christian has knowledge derived from most certain reasoning or observation" (that is, a scientific man); "and it is very disgraceful and mischievous and of all things to be carefully avoided, that a Christian speaking of such matters as being according to the Christian Scriptures, should be heard by an unbeliever talking such nonsense that the unbeliever, perceiving him to be as wide from the mark as east from west, can hardly restrain himself from laughing." (Quoted from Osborn.)
Augustine's view of the method of creation was that of derivative creation or creation causaliter. His was a naturalistic interpretation of the Mosaic record, and a theory of gradual creation. He held that in the beginning the earth and the waters of the earth were endowed with power to produce plants and animals, and that it was not necessary to assume that all creation was formed at once. He cautions his readers against looking to the Scriptures for scientific truths. He said in reference to the creation that the days spoken of in the first chapter of Genesis could not be solar days of twenty-four hours each, but that they must stand for longer periods of time.
This view of St. Augustine is interesting as being less narrow and dogmatic than the position assumed by many theologians of the nineteenth century.
The next theologian to take up the question of creation was St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) in the thirteenth century. He quotes St. Augustine's view with approval, but does not contribute anything of his own. One should not hastily conclude, however, because these views were held by leaders of theological thought, that they were universally accepted. "The truth is that all classes of theologians departed from the original philosophical and scientific standards of some of the Fathers of the Church, and that special creation became the universal teaching from the middle of the sixteenth to the middle of the nineteenth centuries."