American Intellectuals and the Victorian Crisis of Faith

Abstract

James observed in 1879. Once there was unity in higher thought: Now our tells our Faith that she is shameful, and our Hopes that they are dupes; our Reverence for truth leads to conclusions that make all reverence a falsehood. James-who would, in end, pronounce this a pluralistic universelonged for unity. And if unity of truth were no longer possible, he would settle for unity of aspiration and purpose. The miraculous achievement for which we hope must be a metaphysical achievement, greatest of all timethe demonstration, namely, that all our different motives, rightly interpreted, pull one way. In this, as in many things, James spoke for his late Victorian age. Many desired unity, but could no longer find it in universe about them. For James, unity and harmony are to be found, if at all, only in our heart and mind, our moral interior, our Binnenleben, as he once called it. And even that will be a miraculous achievement.1 It is customary to think of the Conflict between Religion and Science as a distinguishing feature of late nineteenth century, as we recall dramatic confrontation over theory of evolution between Thomas Henry Huxley, champion of Darwinism, and Bishop Samuel Wilberforce, his orthodox adversary, June 30, 1860. The sides were clearly drawn that day, and issue seemed plain. But as we look back over years we find that things were vastly more complicated than this scene would suggest. There were, to be sure, many who agreed with John William Draper that battle between science and religion had begun, and that on