The Fiat and Finger of God: The Bridgewater Treatises

‘Science was not generally seen as in opposition to religion before the publication of the Origin of Species, but as part of a widely accepted natural theology.’ This judgment by T.W. Heyck is well based,1 though it is not correct to see 1859 as the end of natural theology for scientists. An examination of evidence that might be used to support such a judgment, however, suggests an excitement not completely compatible with complacency about the effect on religious belief of scientific facts and theories, especially on the untutored mind. In particular, the series of Bridgewater Treatises, published initially from 1833 to 1836, invites conclusions and speculations about the perceived relations between science and religion.2