Science Versus Faith In Memoriam A. H. H. Essay -- memoriam

The tight-laced Age, named for the queen who reigned nearly the entire century, was characterized by incredible scientific progress. Charles Darwin, for example, came forth with his treatise The Origin of Species, which advanced his radical theories of phylogenesis and survival and rocked the pillars of traditional Christian doctrine in humankinds superiority to the beasts of the earth. Darwins theories of immanent selection and survival of the fittest conflicted with the story of the Creation related in the Bible. Moreoer, scientists straight had proof that the Earth was much older than had ever been imagined before, making the story of humanity seem standardised a blink of the universes eye. The Victorian existence could no monthlong blindly accept that the world had been created in sestet days after geologists had proven that the world evolved into its current form over millions of years. In addition, a theory called Higher Criticism developed which say the Bible not as the infallible word of God, but as a historical text. In the face of these incredible and disturbing discoveries and theories, the religion of many Victorian Christians was profoundly shaken. The Victorian masses no longer had a bedrock of tradition and Biblical scripture to stand upon it had been cannonball along to pieces by fossilized rocks and the skulls of apelike men. The poet laureate of the age, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, the voice of the Victorian people, expresses his horror and bewilderment at the implications of these scientific discoveries in In Memoriam A. H. H. In sections 54, 55, and 56 of this lengthy poem, Tennyson come abouts his belief in God weakened and his faith foundering in the face of scientific fact. In the face of evolution, geology, and inwrought selection, ... ...eration of evidence he cannot deny. He is wounded by Gods apparent treachery of humanity and desperate for an answer, but there is none forthcoming. It took years for the wounds inflicte d by science on the faithful to heal. Some Victorians chose agnosticism as their red-hot philosophy of God if someone could prove to them His Existence, then they would believe. Others chose to become atheists. ungodliness stated that there was no God, no afterlife, and no divine creator. plot neither of these theologies was very popular during the Victorian period, they have continued to exist. The citizens like Tennyson who attempted to reconcile their old faith with their new knowledge had to find ways to blend the two together, to show that it was possible for God to run away through Nature to achieve His ends. They had to gather together the dust of Earth, and with it run a Heaven.