ABSTRACT

This chapter discusses John Phillips reactions to vestiges of the natural history of creation and Emma Darwin's Origin of species; his own views about Life on the earth, its origin and succession; and his evaluations of Essays and reviews and Lyell's Antiquity of man. It shows that Phillips' version of Christianity was more than a device for surviving in the highly charged religious atmosphere of Oxford. He refrained from any comments about Genesis and geology and natural theology. Apropos the relation between geology and scripture, Phillips maintained the position that he had held since the 1830s. From the 1830s Phillips' publications made it clear that, like many geologists, he believed in the great antiquity of the earth but the relative novity of man. As an exponent of irenic and incarnationist Christianity Phillips had easy working relations with many colleagues and friends of several sectarian persuasions both within and without the Church of England.