John Wesley, evolutionist?

Jeremy Bruno recently posted Tangled Bank #71, the popular science blog carnival, at The Voltage Gate. Since many of the postings have a historical theme, especially to the 18th century, Bruno titled this edition of the carnival "Welcome to 1771!"

"As an idea, evolution was all but nonexistent in the 18th century," Bruno wrote, introducing a handful of relevant postings. Reading that sentence reminded me of an article I came across a few days ago in The Methodist Review (May 1924): "Why the Methodist Church Is So Little Disturbed by the Fundamentalist Controversy," by Philip L. Frick.

"A very interesting and suggestive phenomenon it is that, while some of the denominations of America are being shaken to their very foundation by the Fundamentalist controvery, the Methodist Church has so generally escaped," Frick wrote. He attributed this in part to the beliefs of John Wesley, generally considered the founder of Methodism: "Were John Wesley alive to-day, he would be considered a 'Modernist' regarding Evolution and the Bible.... Wesley believed that creation moves from the simple to the complex. He observed that there is a 'prodigious number of continued links between the perfect man and the ape.'"

Frick offers several Wesley quotations to prove this, the best being:

By what degrees does nature raise herself up to man? How shall she rectify the head that is inclined toward the earth? How change these paws into flexible arms? What method did she use to transform those crooked feet into supple and skillful muscle? The ape is this rough sketch of man; this rude sketch, an imperfect representation which nevertheless bears a resemblance to him and is the last creature that serves to display the admirable progression of the works of God.

Fascinating! But a little thought and investigation show us that this isn't quite what it seems.

First, Wesley didn't exactly write that passage. The quotation is from a book put together by Wesley titled A Survey of the Wisdom of God in the Creation: A Compendium of Natural Philosophy. As the subtitle suggests, this multi-volume work, first published in 1763, was largely a collection of the writings of others. (The book went through many later editions, growing in size each time. One of the later editions is available here.) As it happens, this quotation is from Charles Bonnet's Contemplation of Nature.

Wesley didn't write it, but his inclusion of it in the Compendium suggests an acceptance of evolution. But a second point: Even so, the quotation does not prove that Wesley was a "Darwinist." Darwin was a century later (Origins of Species was first published in 1859). In Wesley's day, many people were evolutionists, and he had no problem finding popular works that he could use for his Compendium. In addition to Bonnet's, there were, among others, Oliver Goldsmith's History of the Earth, and Animated Nature and Louis Dutens's Enquiry into the Origins of the Discoveries Attributed to the Moderns. Incidentally, Dutens's work, like Bonnet's, was originally published in French. Frick suggested that Wesley himself translated such works; maybe he did, but he didn't have to, as published English translations were generally available within a year or two of the original publication.

And Jean-Baptiste Lamarck would appear just a few years later.

It's not obvious that Wesley and other 18th-century figures who accepted evolution would have been comfortable with Charles Darwin, who not only introduced a mechanism (natural selection) for evolution but also made God superfluous to the process.

Philip Frick was right: The Methodist church was less affected by the Fundamentalist controversy of the early 20th century than were some other Protestant denominations. But Frick's discussion of Wesley as a "modernist" perhaps misses the mark a bit.

Read More

They were giants in those days

David Kaiser, who writes at History Unfolding, presents the best tribute I've seen to Art Buchwald in "Death of a Giant." America has always needed people like Buchwald--and occasionally, as Kaiser shows, we've had them.

Thanks to Cliopatria's Ralph Luker for the reference.

Read More

James Cobb on jaywalking professors

Over at Cobbloviate, James Cobb offers his own take (as is his wont; he seems to have his own take, always instructive and amusing, on many things) on the arrest a couple weeks ago of Professor Felipe Fernandez-Armesto. The respected historian from Tufts University was charged with jaywalking while attending the annual meeting of the American Historical Association in Atlanta.

Cobb suggests that the professor should eschew future AHA conferences in favor of the friendlier meetings of the Southern Historical Association:

As a former president of this group who was elevated to that office a few years after being threatened with arrest at an SHA meeting, I can assure him that [had] his Atlanta experience occurred at one of our gatherings, he would have little reason for complaint, for he would have immediately become the object of much congratulation and backslapping and achieved what amounted to instant cachet with his new colleagues. It would further enhance his stature as a naturalized southerner, of course, if instead of complaining about his confinement with the “most deprived and depraved dregs of the American underclass,” he explained that he got along famously with his cellmates and may have even discovered a couple of long lost third cousins twice-removed while on the inside.

Read More

my people!

from Scrutiny Hooligans, a Tar Heel blogger

Read More

Today in history: Sherman heads to Georgia

On January 21, 1844, Lt. William T. Sherman, then stationed at Charleston, S.C., received orders to report to Marietta, Ga.

For the next six weeks, Sherman helped take depositions in Georgia and Alabama with respect to personal loses of horses and equipment by militia members from the two states that had fought in the Second Seminole War in Florida. During this assignment, the young 23-year-old officer had a chance to familiarize himself with the area of northwest Georgia that he would visit again 20 years later under vastly different circumstances.

"This Day in Georgia History" is a wonderful service from the University of Georgia's Carl Vinson Institute of Government. Georgia readers (and others), check it out!

Read More

Today in History: Georgia Secedes

On January 19, 1861, delegates to a statewide convention in Milledgeville, Georgia, by a vote of 208-89, approved an ordinance "that the Union now subsisting between the State of Georgia and other States, under the name of the United States of America, Is Hereby Dissolved."

White Georgians at the time were pretty evenly split on the question of secession; in the popular vote for delegates to the convention, the immediate secessionists won by the thin margin of 44,152 to 41,632. (discussion here).

Five years later, Alexander H. Stephens, a member of the convention (and then vice-president of the Confederate States of America), talked about support for secession in the state:

In some of the mountain counties the Union sentiment was generally prevalent. The cities, towns, and villages were generally for secession. The anti-secession sentiment was more general in the rural districts and in the mountain portions of the State. Yet the people of some of the upper counties were very active and decided secessionists. There was nothing like a sectional division of the State at all. For instance, the delegation from Floyd county, situated in the upper portion of the State, was an able one, and strong for secession; while the county of Jefferson, down in the interior of the cotton belt, sent one of the most prominent delegations for the Union. I could designate particular counties in that way throughout the State, showing there was nothing like a sectional or geographical division of the State on the question.

In the Civil War, of course, secession lost big time.

Read More

Carnival time!

Two new carnivals!

Southern Fried Carnival is brand spanking new, making its first appearance over at Cass Knits.

And Georgia on My Mind has the second edition of the Georgia Carnival; just two weeks old, it's still quite new.

Good reading on Georgia and southern topics!

Read More

Day 46: 6th Inning Slump

My lack of posting does not necessarily equate to my lack of training. Or maybe I am just fooling myself. The last couple of weeks have been incredibly difficult. It has been hard to get out of bed; I have no motivation to shop, run, hang out, do laundry or go to work. I am doing all these things, but I am dragging along as I do it.

What causes this? Is it because it is winter and dark all the time? In Physiology class we learned that light produces Melatonin, which in turn produces Serotonin, which is what makes you happy. If there is not enough light, your Serotonin levels drop, causing one to be tired, unhappy, bored and unmotivated.

As a runner, this dark also forces one to run inside a lot of the time, which for me just is not as fun as running outside. The track in the gym is small; 11 laps equals one mile. So if you are running any more that one mile, you have to run around and around the track for what seems like millions of times sometimes. I get tired of looking at the same walls, the same people's backs and the same boring brown track.

So what is it - the dark, the boring track, or just my own complete lack of motivation? Perhaps it is a combination of all three… It is difficult but I am pushing through and ignoring all the voices in my head that are telling me to just go home and crawl into bed and skip the boring workout. I have to escape the 6th inning slump and make it to the 7th inning stretch.

Read More

Wildlife Bits

Current Location: Southport - Surfer’s Paradise, Gold Coast, Australia

Current Position: 27º56.81' S 153º25.39' E
Next Destination: Land travel

If it isn’t obvious (by the fact that we are still here), we quite like Southport and the surrounding area. It is a terrific spot: the anchorage is well protected, calm and usually quiet; we are near the city; steps away from an amazing beach; surrounded by attractions; bus transportation is excellent; we have wireless internet on the boat; and have made quite a few friends. Chris is especially liking that he doesn’t have to keep a serious watch on the weather. Partly due to our prolonged stay here and an offer of a free berth from some friends, it is looking like we will land travel from this area to Sydney (and probably as far as Melbourne & Tasmania), instead of taking the boat south. To a non-sailor (me), this sounds like a fantastic idea!

Last week we bussed it to the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary. After goggling over the cute koalas, we went to check out the kangaroos and wallabies. We had no idea that we’d be able to walk through a huge field area, where the ‘roos and wallabies would greet us (looking to be fed of course). There were hundreds of them just milling around. It was an amazing experience to feed and pet some of the bigger kangaroos, whose forearm muscles were bigger than my calves! The joey’s (baby kangaroos), were adorable. It was fascinating to watch them climb in and out of their mother’s pouches, and entertaining to watch them flop about as their mother hopped along!

Chris was taken up with the ‘bits’. The ‘bits’, if you haven’t guessed, are the male’s “boys” or, more anatomically correct, the balls. He was actually quite concerned for the poor guys, whose ‘bits’ hung like a pendulum, ready to swing at the slightest movement and getting quite an arc should the guy actually hop somewhere. “They should have a pouch for them, like the female’s have for the joeys”, he told me. He proceeded to redesign the kangaroo’s anatomy, allowing for better support for the ‘boys’! If you ask me the kangaroos didn’t really seem to mind, actually the pendulum-like design allowed them easy access with their short arms, so they could proceed to grab, scratch, and play (in fact we saw one using his like a punching bag; swatting it back and forth)!!! And then there was their ‘members’. I was feeding one kangaroo, when Chris says, “oh look this one has a joey”. I looked and said, “uh no, honey, that’s something else”. “Whoa you mean that’s his ….”, “Shhh, there are kids around!”. In all honesty it really had looked like a joey’s tale (see the joey’s didn’t tend to hang in the pouches head up, all proper and cute like in the pictures, rather they just hopped in, and tails, feet, ears would be sticking out, while the head might remain hidden). Perhaps Chris should’ve been a veterinarian, as he was soon discussing the shape and size of the members along with the pendulum designed bits. Ahhh yes, it was an interesting day indeed!!!

Since cruising I’ve become kind of a snob about seeing animals in the wild versus contained … but this wildlife sanctuary was terrific. Plus some things are better seen behind bars and in cages .. like 10 of the top 10 poisonous snakes and gigantic crocodiles!

On the personal news front, the other big event of the past week was (is) that Chris and I are now “officially” engaged! He finally proposed! We still don’t want to get married until we can be home with family and friends, but it is exciting to be ‘official’!

Read More

Hobbits in Kentucky

Today at Cliopatria, Ralph Luker mentions an essay by the late Guy Davenport on an interesting connection between J.R.R. Tolkien's Hobbits and the people of central Kentucky. "Possible" connection, I should say, but still very cool. Be sure to follow the links in Ralph's piece.

From Davenport's essay:

I began plying questions as soon as I knew that I was talking to a man who had been at Oxford as a classmate of Ronald Tolkien's. He was a history teacher, Allen Barnett. He had never read The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings. Indeed, he was astonished and pleased to know that his friend of so many years ago had made a name for himself as a writer.

"Imagine that! You know, he used to have the most extraordinary interest in the people here in Kentucky. He could never get enough of my tales of Kentucky folk. He used to make me repeat family names like Barefoot and Boffin and Baggins and good country names like that."

And out the window I could see tobacco barns. The charming anachronism of the hobbits' pipes suddenly made sense in a new way. As a Kentuckian, that excerpt that Holbo quoted interested me enough to go looking for more....

Practically all the names of Tolkien's hobbits are listed in my Lexington phone book, and those that aren't can be found over in Shelbyville. Like as not, they grow and cure pipe-weed for a living. Talk with them, and their turns of phrase are pure hobbit: "I hear tell," "right agin," "so Mr. Frodo is his first and second cousin, once removed either way," "this very month as is." These are English locutions, of course, but ones that are heard oftener now in Kentucky than in England.

Read More