Ways of Knowing in the Past Part 1

Religion & Science in The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry

Can faith and science co-exist happily in someone’s worldview, and if so, how? We start this series with these questions in The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry (2016). Set in the Victorian era, the conversations between amateur paleontologist Cora Seaborne and Reverend William Ransome, in the Essex village of Aldwinter where the superstitious villagers fear an ancient sea creature is haunting their shores.

Cora appreciates science and reason, finding it a reference point in a confusing world. At a time when devotion to Christianity was assumed, Cora prefers the promises of rationality and logic.

William finds the suspicions of his flock concerning. He is affronted by a serpent carved into the end of one of the pews, finding its presence threatening to the sanctity of the church as a place of worship. Cora finds William’s inability to make room for the presence of the creature alongside his Christian faith perplexing for, as Perry puts it, ‘the best minds can hold two opposing thoughts at once’ (p. 31). In this era of Darwin’s theories of evolution, many at the time faced the question of how these new discoveries were to fit with the Christian faith, if at all.

Charles fears an interest in science could pull people away from God. Cora cheerfully finds her growing scientific knowledge and interest does indeed pull her away from God. However Charles’s distaste with his villagers’ superstitions suggests he too is influenced by a rational outlook, rejecting supernatural answers to problems.

William doubts the longevity of scientific discoveries, but not the abiding truth of the Christian faith. Cora sees the alignment of Christianity and scientific discovery, arguing that modern faith is of a rational sort, seeking enlightenment and clarity. Through the novel they challenge each other, recognising their ultimate differences and yet finding the other enlightening: ‘We both speak of illuminating the world, but we have different sources of light, you and I…Then we shall see who first blows out the other’s candle’ (p. 124). Far from enmity, they draw closer to each other.

Through Cora the reader glimpses the challenge for women who wished for a wider existence than was socially permitted. Cora stands out through her exercise of reason and intellect, as she tramps around the fields and shores in man’s overcoat and large, muddy boots. Cora is widowed and she further confounds social expectations by finding this a liberating state.

Cora and William become ever closer entwined. William asks, ‘Do you think everything can be accounted for by equations and soil deposits? I am looking up, not down’ (p. 166). Cora confesses her ongoing struggle to find her own way: ‘I am never sure of the difference between thinking and believing: you can teach me, one day’ (p. 169). Their deepening friendship, the pairing of faith and science, is an unlikely one from the start but through it they challenge and shape each other, and in the words of the author, ‘They sharpen themselves on each other..’ (p. 180).

Over time, Cora and William shift to accommodate each other and find room for both science and faith in their widening worldviews. Cora acknowledges the shift in her thinking when she says, ‘I’ve always said there are no mysteries, only things we don’t yet know; but lately I’ve thought not even knowledge takes all strangeness from the world’ (p. 127). She challenges Charles to admit that institutional religion does not get at the mysteries at the heart of existence, saying, ‘– but if you insist on your faith you ought at least to concede it’s a strange business and very little to do with well-ironed cassocks and the order of service’ (p. 127). However she maintains her vision of science and religion as logical companions rather than opposing forces, proposing that ‘If a reasoned creator set the stars in their place then we must be capable of understanding them – we must also be creatures of reason, of order!’ (p. 258).

The Essex Serpent personalizes the debate around faith and science and the co-existence of worldviews. Modern readers will recognize a debate that has never gone away.

Reference:
The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry
Published by Serpent’s Tail
27 May 2016
Kindle Edition