Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T05:00:22.688Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Proofs of the divine power? Temple Chevallier and the design argument in the nineteenth century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 January 2015

David Wilkinson
David Wilkinson*
Affiliation:
St John's College, Durham University, Durham, DH1 3RJ, [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Temple Chevallier, the first Professor of Astronomy at Durham University, was one of the leading British scientists of the nineteenth century. While his scientific work has been widely recognised, little has been written on his theological approach which provides an insight into the use of the design argument and revelation. In common with many scientists of the period, Chevallier had strong theological interests, was Reader in Hebrew at Durham University, and an Anglican priest. His Hulsean Lectures, ‘On the proofs of Divine Power and Wisdom, derived from the study of astronomy and the evidence, doctrines and precepts of Revealed Religion’, provide a fascinating picture of the engagement of Christian theology with science, in stark contrast to the dominant narratives of conflict which have been applied to this century. Having had many things in common with his contemporary Darwin, including the influence of Paley, Chevallier departed from both in his understanding of the Bible and the created order.

Chevallier's use of the design argument demonstrated the holding together of natural and revealed theology. This enabled him to use science to give pointers to God rather than proofs. Science was seen as a gift from God, engendering awe and reflecting God's sustaining of the Universe. Indeed it is argued that this was characteristic of the origins of the design argument in its earliest forms.

This strong context of revealed theology allowed him, with many others in the nineteenth century, to respond in a relaxed way to Darwin's evolutionary theory. Chevallier is a reminder of the complexity of British theological thinking in this period. Furthermore, this historical account is an important cautionary voice in the contemporary revival of the design argument in modern astronomy, whether used by the proponents of intelligent design or by those such as Paul Davies who would exclude revelation from any part of the discussion.

Keywords

astronomydesign argumentnineteenth centurynatural theologyscienceTemple Chevallier
Type
Research Article
Information
Scottish Journal of Theology , Volume 68 , Issue 1 , February 2015 , pp. 34 - 42
Copyright
Copyright © Scottish Journal of Theology Ltd 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Klottrup, Alan, ‘“Astrorum acerrimus indagator”: Temple Chevallier and Durham 1834–1873’, Durham University Journal 78/1 (Dec. 1985), pp. 11–21Google Scholar.

2 Wilkinson, D. A., ‘The Revival of Natural Theology in Contemporary Cosmology’, Science and Christian Belief 2/2 (1990), pp. 95–116Google Scholar.

3 Charles Darwin: His life told in a autobiographical chapter, and in a selected series of his published letters, ed. Darwin, Francis (London: Murray, 1902), pp. 34–5Google Scholar.

4 Paley, W., Natural Theology: or, Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity, 12th edn (London: Printed for J. Faulder, 1809), p. 378Google Scholar.

5 Letter No. 2, 31 Oct. 1834, to Revd George Elwes Corrie, Additional Manuscripts 837: Revd Temple Chevallier correspondence, 1832–1865, Durham University Library, Archives and Special Collections.

6 Letter No. 9, 21 Nov. 1835 to Revd George Elwes Corrie, Additional Manuscripts 837: Revd Temple Chevallier correspondence, 1832–1865, Durham University Library, Archives and Special Collections.

7 Kenworthy, J. M., The Durham University Observatory Meteorological Record, Observatories and Climatological Research, Occasional Publication, 29 (Durham: Dept of Geography, University of Durham, 1994)Google Scholar. Kenworth, J. M. and Lowes, M. D., 1993, ‘The Chevalier Family: Their Contribution to Meteorology in the North-East of England’, Weather, 48/2 (1993), pp. 51–6CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

8 Chevallier, T., A translation of the epistles of Clement of Rome, Polycarp, and Ignatius and of the apologies of Justin Martyr and Tertullian / with an introduction and brief notes illustrative of the ecclesiastical history of the first two centuries. (Cambridge: printed by John Smith . . . for J. & J.J. Deighton . . . and J. G. & F. Rivington, London, 1833)Google Scholar.

9 Chevallier, Temple, The Study of Mathematics as Conducive to the Development of the Intellectual Powers, terminal lecture delivered to the University of Durham, 11 March (Durham: John W. Parker, 1836)Google Scholar.

10 Whitehead, A. N., Science and the Modern World (London: Penguin, 1938)Google Scholar; Collingwood, R.G., An Essay on Metaphysics (Oxford: OUP, 1940)Google Scholar; Russell, C., (1985) Cross Currents: Interactions between Science and Faith (Leicester: IVP, 1985)Google Scholar; Zilsel, E., ‘The Genesis of the Concept of Physical Law’, Physics Review, 51 (1942), pp. 245–79Google Scholar; Oakley, F., ‘Christian Theology and the Newtonian Science: Rise of the Concepts of the Laws of Nature’, Church History, 30 (1961), pp. 433–57CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Foster, M. B., ‘The Christian Doctrine of Creation and the Rise of Modern Science’, Mind, 43 (1934), pp. 446–68CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Hooykaas, R., Religion and the Rise of Modern Science (Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, 1973), p. 67Google Scholar.

11 Williams, L. P., Michael Faraday (London: Chapman & Hall, 1965), p. 4Google Scholar.

12 Coulson, C. A., Science and Religion: A Changing Relationship (Cambridge: CUP, 1955), p. 7Google Scholar.

13 See Rees, M., Just Six Numbers: The Deep Forces that Shape the Universe (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2000)Google Scholar; Davies, P., The Goldilocks Enigma: Why is the Universe Just Right for Life? (London: Allen Lane, 2006)Google Scholar.

14 Chevallier, T., On the proofs of divine power and wisdom derived from the study of astronomy: And on the evidence, doctrines, and precepts of revealed religion, Hulsean lectures (Cambridge: Printed by J. Smith . . . for J. and J.J. Deighton . . . and C. & J. Rivington, London, 1827), p. 93Google Scholar.

15 Ibid., p. 9.

16 Gay, H., ‘“The Declaration of Students of the Natural and Physical Sciences” Revisited: Youth, Science, and Religion, in Mid-Victorian Britain’, in Sweet, W. and Feist, R. (eds), Religion and the Challenges of Science (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007), pp. 19–41Google Scholar.

17 Chadwick, O., The Victorian Church (London: Adam and Charles Black, 1970), p. 84Google Scholar.

18 Livingstone, D., Darwin's Forgotten Defenders (Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, 1987)Google Scholar.

19 Wilkinson, D., ‘The Work of a Friend: Theology in the Light of the Origin of Species’, Epworth Review 36/2 (2009), pp. 45–65Google Scholar.