Ways of Knowing in the Past Part 2

Religion and Science in Alice Roberts’ Ancestors

In Ancestors by Alice Roberts we accompany 19th Century geologist Reverend William Buckland as he makes room in his Christian worldview for the arrival of new scientific knowledge. This knowledge challenges a literal reading of creation and Noah’s flood, as Genesis was typically read in the Victorian era.

Roberts suggests that for Buckland, a theologian and scientist, ‘studying the Earth meant studying the work of God: geology was a devoutly religious pursuit’ (p. 21). However, the discovery of a Paleolithic burial site on the Gower peninsula, alongside emerging theories of glaciation and evolution, presented Buckland with a challenge. At first he tried to resist what science was presenting, as Roberts explains,

‘He wanted to be able to reconcile the origin myth in Genesis with the scientific evidence. He noted that ‘geographical investigations…may seem at first sight to be inconsistent with the literal interpretation of the Mosaic records.’ But he went on to insist that the ‘apparent nonconformity’ of the science with the Bible was most likely to stem from problems with ‘the yet imperfect science of Geology’- rather than with the biblical version of events’ (p. 21, citing Buckland’s inaugural lecture as a Reader in Geology at Oxford, ‘Vindiciae Geologiae; or the Connexion of Geology with Religion explained’).

We can see a fascinating hermeneutic in action here, as Buckland reads the biblical text through his own scientific lens. Before long his twin lenses, a literal biblical reading and a scientific reading of the physical world, needed resolution. As Roberts notes, Buckland played around with time frames to allow scientific evidence fit with the biblical account of our origins, but eventually came to the conclusion that Noah’s flood was not scientific fact. Buckland expanded his reconstruction of the past and made room in his Christian worldview for what science had revealed. This account raises the fascinating question of how possible it is for any of us to see things in a different way, how our worldviews shift and change over time.

It is interesting to consider the religious faith of scientists today. 2009 data collected by the Pew Research Centre shows that 33% of American scientists polled believe in God, 18% believe in a spirit or higher power, and 41% do not believe in God. There is a small amount of variation between the type of science and belief in God, with 29% of physicists and astronomers, 30% of geoscientists, 32% of biomedical scientists and 41% of chemists believing in God. In the general population, according to the same data, 83% of Americans believe in God and 4% do not (reference: https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/ 2009/11/05/scientists-and-belief). We know from the recent census data that figures for religious belief in the UK general population are significantly different. It would be interesting to conduct a survey in a school among staff, especially to compare science subject specialists with non-science specialists, or even RE specialists.

Buckland’s story is a great example where an evolution of worldview is visible. This example illustrates how worldviews change and expand, and assimilate and accommodate different ideas, even those that on the surface might appear to be incompatible.

Reference:
Ancestors by Alice Roberts
Published by Simon & Schuster, 2021