Here's a familiar Victorian lament about the decline of religious faith:
And I agree with this analysis, as far as it goes. Even many educated people literally believed in the Biblical account of creation before Darwin. After Darwin, there's been such an inexorable decline that non-creationist Christian apologists now routinely claim that most pre-Darwin Christians never believed that the Genesis story was literally true (although contemporary evidence suggests to me that such apologists are just plain wrong).
The Darwin effect was amplified by Nineteenth Century German scholars like David Strauss abandoning the idea of "gospel truth" in favour of an analytical approach which tried to work out which bits of the sacred texts were probably factual history, in the sense we would understand it, and which bits we'd classify as myth, or fiction.
But there's an extra contributing factor which tends to get played down these days. When the Sea of Faith was at the full, you could be fined, or worse, for not going to church:
A fact worth remembering, whenever anybody makes the standard rhetorical contrast between the warm, simple faith of our forefathers and foremothers and the supposedly cold, calculating rationality of a less religiously-observant age. That simple faith was often encouraged by the simple threat of fines or, if you were too poor to pay a fine, prison.
The Sea of FaithWhy the decline? As any half-awake student of poetry, or the history of ideas, can tell you, it was Darwin wot done it. "In the third stanza, the sea is turned into the "Sea of Faith", which is a metaphor for a time ... when religion could still be experienced without the doubt that the modern ... age brought about through Darwinism, the Industrial revolution, Imperialism, a crisis in religion, etc."
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth’s shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.
But now I only hear
Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar...
And I agree with this analysis, as far as it goes. Even many educated people literally believed in the Biblical account of creation before Darwin. After Darwin, there's been such an inexorable decline that non-creationist Christian apologists now routinely claim that most pre-Darwin Christians never believed that the Genesis story was literally true (although contemporary evidence suggests to me that such apologists are just plain wrong).
The Darwin effect was amplified by Nineteenth Century German scholars like David Strauss abandoning the idea of "gospel truth" in favour of an analytical approach which tried to work out which bits of the sacred texts were probably factual history, in the sense we would understand it, and which bits we'd classify as myth, or fiction.
But there's an extra contributing factor which tends to get played down these days. When the Sea of Faith was at the full, you could be fined, or worse, for not going to church:
"Among other complaints made to me by prisoners, J. C. came forward, and stated, that he was placed in the Ecclesiastical Court, 310 and sentenced to pay a fine of 1s., and 14s. costs; that he had been in prison ten weeks, and had no means of paying, and hoped that a representation might be made of his case, or he must remain a prisoner for ever. Upon referring to this man's commitment, I find that he was summarily convicted before two magistrates, that on the of June, being the Lord's-day, called Sunday, in the township of—, did neglect to attend a church, or at some other place of religious worship, on the said day, he not having any reasonable excuse to be absent, and adjudged to forfeit and pay 1s., together with 14s. costs, and, in default, to be kept in prison until the said sums shall he paid. It appeared that the following number of persons had been committed for a similar offence, and been discharged upon payment of the fine and costs:—"This account comes from evidence presented to the House of Commons in 1842 (a quarter of a century before Arnold's Dover Beach was published), in favour of repealing "certain acts of Elizabeth and James 1st, as inflicted penalties for the non-attendance on divine worship."
A fact worth remembering, whenever anybody makes the standard rhetorical contrast between the warm, simple faith of our forefathers and foremothers and the supposedly cold, calculating rationality of a less religiously-observant age. That simple faith was often encouraged by the simple threat of fines or, if you were too poor to pay a fine, prison.
0 comments:
Post a Comment