Customer Reviews

The Darwin Legend

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As a life-long Christian who has heard over and over the famous story of Darwin's deathbed confession of Christianity and denial of evolution, I was overjoyed to find a book on this very topic. Noll is unbelievably objective -- a true reporter doing his job. He never lets his own biases and opinions cloud his presentation of the facts. The insights contained in this book priceless. I have a better understanding of who Darwin was, why so many Christians love to tell the story of his deathbed conversion, and whether or not it is probable that such an event took place. Get this book and read for yourself. The amount of research which Noll has conducted is almost unfathomable. You will not be disappointed!

The previous review of THE DARWIN LEGEND written by Brad Krone of Reno praises Mark Noll for doing an excellent job writing this book. The problem is that Noll is not the author. James Moore is the author of this book and deserves the credit.

At the time this 1994 book was written, James Moore was "lecturer in the history of science and technology at the Open University in the United Kingdom." He also wrote History, Humanity and Evolution: Essays for John C. Greene.

He wrote in the first chapter, "Whenever I lecture or broadcast about Darwin in North America I am inevitably asked about his 'deathbed conversion.' ... Is the Darwin deathbed story a similar legend---a grotesque gloss on real historical events? I now believe so. But I reached this conclusion only by the most awkward, circuituous route." (Pg. 21-23)
"(Darwin) preferred the word 'agnostic'... 'Why should you be so aggressive?' Is anything to be gained by forcing new ideas on people? Freethought is 'all very well' for the educated, but are ordinary people 'ripe for it'? Here again spoke the parish naturalist, seeking not to disturb the social equilibrium." (Pg. 51)
"Much in Lady Hope's story is certainly fictitious. Darwin was not 'almost bedridden for some months before he died.' He was not 'always studying' the Bible, and he had no particular feeling for its 'grandeur.' He would never have asked Lady Hope to speak to anyone about 'Christ Jesus... and his salvation.' The notion of him 'joining in with the singing' of gospel hymns from his bedroom window is preposterous." (Pg. 94)
"And regardless of Lady Hope's reputation as a devout temperance worker... Emma would not have tolerated anything so intrusive as personal evangelizing." (Pg. 97)
"The Darwins consistently denied the deathbed legend, and rightly so. Any claim about a deathbed scene, a recantation, or a religious conversion was indeed 'a work of imagination' (Francis Darwin), an 'absurd fiction' (Bernard Darwin), or a 'myth' (Nora Darwin)." (Pg. 143)
"...I have come to believe that an actual meeting between Darwin and Lady Hope lay at the root of the deathbed legend." (Pg. 172)