The Stone-Campbell Movement's Responses to Evolution, 1859-1900

The implications of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, published 150 years ago, continue to engender lively dialogue among scientists, religious scholars, school boards, and legislative halls. The historiography of this dialogue sometimes has been fallacious, presenting science and religion as antithetical. But a more complex picture emerges from nineteenth-century religious conversations. This article recounts the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement’s early (1859–1900) responses to evolution and explicates reasons why some members responded to evolution negatively and others responded positively.