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Science and Religion: A Marriage Made in Victorian England
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"Science versus religion arguments continue to rage even
today, 150 years after Darwin first published 'The Origin of Species', but
Charles and Emma's differing perspectives didn't divide them." |
It was an unlikely marriage. He was a scientist, and she
was a religious studies major. He went on to win a Pulitzer Prize for a book
about evolution. She became a children's book author, often writing about
religious holidays.
But it was their pillow talk about Charles Darwin and his
devoutly religious wife that prompted her to explore the intimate details of
another marriage of science and religion, the marriage of Charles and Emma
Darwin.
Author Deborah Heiligman's newest book "Charles and
Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith," has its roots in the bedtime
conversations she had with her husband, Jonathan Weiner, while he was writing
his award winning book, "The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our
Time."
Weiner shared with Heiligman that Darwin's wife Emma had
been deeply concerned that Charles' work on evolution was going to sentence him
to eternal damnation and that they would be separated for eternity.
As they discussed Charles and Emma's differing
perspectives, it was obvious that the Darwin's marriage was not unlike their
own: two intelligent people of strong convictions who loved each other, but who
looked at the world through different lenses.
Science versus religion arguments continue to rage even
today, 150 years after Darwin first published the Origin of Species, but
Charles and Emma's differing perspectives didn't divide them.
Quite the contrary; the deeply religious Emma was
Charles' most frequent and helpful editor, and much like Heiligman and Weiner,
the Darwin's marital dialect expanded their partners' perspective rather than
assaulting it.
Drawn from first person diaries, family letters and
Darwin's published notebooks, "Charles and Emma" opens shortly after
Charles Darwin arrived home from his famous voyage as a naturalist on the HMS
Beagle where he collected the data that would later form the basis for his controversial
work.
As a young man from a prominent 19th century London
family, Charles was expected to marry and start a family. However, he felt
conflicted. So, ever the researcher, he
drew a line down the middle of a piece of scrap paper, on the left side her wrote
Marry. On the right he wrote Not Marry. And in the middle: This is the
Question.
The pros ultimately outweighed the cons, and Charles
found a soul mate and spouse in his cousin Emma. "Charles and Emma"
(a rousing romantic narrative aimed at young adults but enjoyed immensely by
this 40-something reader) provides an intimate glimpse into the Darwin's
marriage and a life different from the stereotypically reserved Victorian
household.
Charles Darwin was, for the times, a radically involved
father playing with, and even bathing his children. He worked right in the
middle of their home - Down House - with his children running in and out of his
study all day, and he frequently involved them in his experiments.
He also routinely discussed his work with Emma, whose
opinion was of utmost importance to him. His love and respect for his
intelligent and deeply devout wife caused Charles to rethink how the world
might receive his ideas, prompting him to document his theory of natural
selection for decades before publishing it.
Heiligman (www.DeborahHeiligman.com)
says she wrote "Charles and Emma" to demonstrate that "people
who have differing opinions can live together and love each other, and keep
talking about it."
Science and religion, it was a happily-ever-after for the
Darwins; perhaps the rest of us can make marriage work as well.
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