The creation of evolution: science and religion in the discourse of Charles Darwin

Relations between religion and science have always been complex, and historians from the 19th century onwards tended to see the two as increasingly incompatible (e.g. Draper, White). More recently, however there are those who reject this conflict thesis (e.g. Ferngren 2002). The figure of Darwin lies at the heart of this debate, his being widely considered, even today, the major catalyst in the separation of science from religion / theology: a distinction which we will show is only partially realised in his discourse. Halliday (1994: 155), speaking specifically about the thematic patterning of last two paragraphs of The Origin of Species, argues that Darwin uses a hybrid discourse that is indeed so unique that it could be treated as “a scientific treatise, or a declaration of faith or an entertaining work of literature”. This paper will examine the part played by religious discourse in the exposition of Darwin’s scientific theories, concentrating on evolution. The method adopted will be to focus on the terms he adopts and the experiential categories underlying them to expound this theory from the perspective of frame semantics (Fillmore 1976) and cognitive grammar (Langacker 1987/1991), firstly through the compilation of lists of key words (see Scott and Tribble 2006) from a corpus of 15 of Darwin’s twenty published works, including both scientific papers on such diverse subjects as volcanoes, coral reefs, plants and insects and in less scientific works, such as his journal of the voyage of the Beagle (1838-1844) and his autobiography (1899), and, secondly through comparison of these with others created from parallel corpora for comparative analysis drawn from relevant scientific and religious texts (i.e. the King James Bible).