"Barnes was notorious for delivering what the press called his "guerilla sermons," in which he pointed out the need for the church to be honest in admitting how much of its traditional dogma would have to be abandoned if evolution theory was accepted. Even a progressionist, teleological evolutionism required a reinterpretation of the doctrine of original sin. To begin with, Barnes said little about the actual process of evolution, but he seems to have assumed that it was purposeful and aimed at the production of higher mental states. In 1930, though, he obtained a copy of R. A. Fisher's Genetical Theory of Natural Selection and began a correspondence with Fisher, who had studied under him while a student at Cambridge. Barnes was one of the few clergymen who could actually understand Fisher's mathematics (although even he admitted that it was hard going)... He did not concede that the selection theory offered a complete explanation, and he continued to believe that evolution was intended to produce beings with higher mental and spiritual qualities, but he was now aware that the more simpleminded forms of teleology were unacceptable."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
University of Cambridge facultyTheologians from EnglandMathematicians from EnglandPacifistsAnglican bishops
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Peter J. Bowler, "The Spectre of Darwinism," Darwinian Heresies (2004) ed., Abigail Lustig, Robert J. Richards, Michael Ruse
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ernest_Barnes
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Ernest Barnes
Ernest William Barnes (April 1, 1874 – November 29, 1953) was an English mathematician and scientist who became a and was ordained in the in 1902. In 1898 he was awarded the first Smith's Prize in mathematics. In mathematics he is remembered for the Mellin-Barnes Integrals and for the Barnes G-function, a contribution to the theory of transcendental functions. Barnes was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1909 and served as the Bishop of Birmingham from 1924 to 1953.
16 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Ernest Barnes →
Related Quotes
"The astonishing thing about Einstein's equations is that they appear to have come out of nothing."
"The conclusion seems to be irresistible that such laws of nature as the principle of conservation of energy, the prin…"
"Our own attitude to intercourse with "spirits" must be determined not by the authority of great teachers of the 13th …"
"A perfectly evil human society is unthinkable: it would be self-destructive. We therefore deny that any society of ab…"
"Human experience has pronounced "black magic" a delusion. Its practice is criminal folly: criminal because its object…"
"There has been the assumption that men are finite spirits. They are, that is to say, not only animals with a brief te…"
"We see in man three elements; the material body, the life principle and the element of human personality. The last ha…"
"Man is what he is, because a spiritual element has entered into, and taken possession of, animal consciousness. This …"
"Revelation can be supplemented by reason. Christ Himself gave reasons for His belief, and put in modern form, these r…"
"The Roman Catholics were already prominent in the debate on abortion in Britain in the 1930s. It is notable, for exam…"