Philip Henry Gosse’s Biography and Contribution Essay

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According to Mullen & Littleton (2010, p. 261), Philip Henry Gosse was the son of Thomas Gosse and was born in the year 1810 at a place called Worcester. Gosse started staying with her aunt at her early age since her parents had already died. He went to school in Poole where he was able to gain a lot of experiences and skills. Although he left school at an early age, Philip Henry Gosse did not lose his academic interests. Before dropping out of school, he was able to develop an interest of studying natural history (Mullen& Littleton 2010, p. 289). For instance, he demonstrated this by being a strong supporter of the ordinary theology tradition. Moreover, he inherited his ambitions from his father who was a staunch supporter of evangelical Christianity. He also inherited his painting and drawing technique from his father.

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After dropping out of school, he was able to secure a good paying job as a clerk in Elson and company. In 1827, Henry Gosse moved to Newfoundland where he met a society that had separated itself into two warring groups (Adamczyk-Garbowska & Polonsky 2001, p. 186). One group of the community was considered to be full of merchants while the other group was thought to be practicing fishing as their economic activity. The tension between the two groups was aggravated by the related continuous disagreements amid English Protestants and Catholics from Ireland. Both clans were fighting for supremacy as they wanted to be part if the government. Nonetheless, Gosse was able to take his responsibilities at the working place for a number of years. He also continued with his business of copying letters and ledgers (Adamczyk-Garbowska & Polonsky 2001, p. 194).

A part from carrying out the above activities, Gosse was also left with enough time to participate in his local rational life (Singh, Radhey & Singh 2008, p. 221). Besides, this life was entirely book club and a debating society. Even though, he lived a peaceful life in Newfoundland, he was not having any direction. For instance, he could not tell his next move or what he was planning to do next. According to Singh, Radhey & Singh (2008, p. 256), Henry Gosse then diverted all his attention to studying natural history after reading several books writer by George Adams. The following month after getting news from home about her sick sister who was about to die, his relationship with God started increasing. Consequently, he would be praying on a daily basis for his sick sister hence his relationship with God steadily advanced. This later came out to be an evangelical conversion.

Therefore, Gosse started the two activities that had formed part of his life. The two activities were the study of nature and becoming an evangelistic Christian. In the year 1832, he started collecting insects. His work with those included observing them and writing down the results in books and journals. Apart from publishing various books and journals with colored pictures of insects, Gosse also took part in public prayer gatherings. Consequently, he was later chosen by members of his church as a local preacher. He later left Newfoundland in the year 1836. He moved to Canada with one of his best friend where they were able to buy 110 partly cleared acres in the northern side of Canada. Henry Gosse worked in his 60 acres piece of land cultivating different crops. Although he did it under a lot of hardship, he could sell some of his harvest to earn a living.

Gosse took a teaching job from a nearby school as farming was considered to be seasonal. Since life was not promising, he decided to go back to his motherland (England). He spent his entire life in England. While in Canada, his spiritual life was fading away with nourishment originating only from uneven church services and winter prayed gatherings. He used to move around in the field collecting insects for his research. Consequently, most people did not take his work for granted. After a number of years working on his projects, Gosse wrote approximately 45 books and journals. In addition, he wrote roughly 300 editorials on religion and scientific topic.

As a biologist, he is recognized for his unique works on invertebrate aquatic zoology. He is the one who popularized natural history in the whole of England which later spread to other parts of the world. He also becomes one of the first prophets to be known in England. The biggest recognition given to him was when he tried to resolve the misunderstanding that had existed between religion and science. Henry Gosse delivered a clear message to his people concerning flora and fauna that existed in the eastern towns of England.

At first, he was a staunch believer of the bible and supported religion. This is evident when he used to go for some prayer gatherings. Consequently, later changed his views and could no longer believe in the bible. He argued that the bible was not saying the truth concerning creation. For instance, he developed a theory challenging the information from the bible that Adam was created by God on the first day. He believed that creatures had lived before existence. He could not understand how Adam was born and grew without umbilical cord.

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The validity of Gosse’s creationist view in the Omphalos hypothesis

According to Prothero & Buell (2007, p. 10), Omphalos hypothesis is an old creation theory which states that the earth was made in such a way that it appeared old yet it has not stayed for a longer time. The name originated from a Christian credence that Adam had an umbilical cord, despite having not stayed in his mother’s womb. Therefore, the hypothesis acknowledged that the universe looked mature though different with that of Adam who had an umbilical cord yet he did not underwent any gestation period. Some faithful considers the creation of God to be purposeful test of faith (Prothero & Buell 2007, p. 18). For instance, creation like prehistoric fossils and light from the stars were considered to be a test from God.

Conversely, other believers argue that we should not accuse the objectives God had before he created heaven and earth. They believe that we should not regard God’s creation as mystery of creation. The idea of consciously deceiving God appears divisive to many people who believe that there is only one God (Rogers 2011, p. 101). This is one of the major explanations why the theory is not considered to be valid. Rocks obtained from radiometric dating and estimated to be older that their age is not old, but it is through God’s creation that they appear to be old. Gosse’s hypothesis theory had the capability of being falsified hence it is not considered as a viable scientific theory (Rogers 2011, p. 117).

Gosse’s creationist view in the Omphalos hypothesis is not valid since it goes against what has been written in the bible. Most of the things that do happen had been earlier prophesized in the bible. Therefore, the message in it is considered to be valid as opposed the theory. The theory did not explain how God is creating things to give a different appearance. Additionally, the conclusions of the hypothesis can only be made by taking an early assumption that the bible is not giving the right information hence it is not considered to be valid (Myrant 2009, p. 179). Gosse himself confessed that he obtained part of his ideas from unknown sources and the rest from Granville Penn’s books. Consequently, this implies that his theory far from being imaginative, but they were just borrowed from other sources.

The theory is full of logical misleading notion since they are regarded as sciences which challenges the past and provides some information that has not been observed. Consequently, the theory is not valid as the information provided does not represent the real concept of creation. In a number of occasions, facts presented by Gosse can always be welcomed but are quickly forgotten with time since there is nothing that can be presented as evidence. Therefore, Gosse has a big challenge of providing an alternative and a viable explanation of his theory. Gosse’s creationist view in the Omphalos hypothesis is not valid since it invokes two assumptions, the creation of human being (matter) and the determination of various species around the world. The second postulate is contrary to Gosse theory which does not embrace the theory of development.

The ideas of Gosse leave the whole world wondering about the viability of observable facts. It leaves people to study the mind of God trying to find answers to all that God had done. Additionally, it does not provide any viable course for people who would want to carry out some further research concerning his claims (Rogers 2011, p. 189). Gosse argued that all the creatures had existed before the earth was created but did not explain where they had stayed before being brought to the Garden of Eden. Consequently, he leaves readers with a lot of questions to ask concerning the viability of his hypothesis. The other proof that Gosse’s creationist view in the Omphalos hypothesis was not valid is that he did not have those ideas before reading the bible. Consequently, without reading the bible he would have not known about the existence of Adam and the story about creation (Rogers 2011, p. 226).

Scientist or historian’s review on Gosse’s creationist theory of evolution in Omphalos

According to various historians’ reviews on Gosse’s creationist theory of evolution in Omphalos, Gosse had argued that the traditional notion was that God wanted his creatures to have the appearance of history they did not take part in. Therefore, Gosse obtained his vital conclusion from this argument. He concluded that all the geological layers, fossils and other scientific interpretations obtained were just proofs of continuing history that never existed. According to Mccalla (2006, p. 315), there were a number of anticipated reconciliations for the beginning of creation and geology found in Gosse’s time. A viable example is the ‘interval of theory’ which recommended that the words of the scripture provided an excellent time interval between the first days of creation.

Additionally, the other verses provided an account about the number of days that people were supposed to work. The entire geological time could be studied in the above textual space. According to John Smith’s theory, the genesis story only talked about Eden hence did not include the entre earth (Maynard 1997, p. 186). The other theory had explained about the story of Noah and the flood. For instance, it argues that the story was brought out in the bible just to explain how flood waters originated. Another historian believe that the earth might have existed for a longer time before the story of genesis came about hence supported Gosse’s creationist theory of evolution in Omphalos (Mccalla 2006, p. 330).

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They provided evidence by arguing that the bible did not explain how Adam came into existence. Adam was theoretically not growing old during this time. Consequently, the number of years (930) he lived on earth, according to the bible, were simply referring to the time he spent after leaving the Garden of Eden. According to a number of scientists and theologians, Henry Gosse’s theory had a number of distinguished complexities. For instance, it went against the current accepted view of Charles Lyell’s the uniformity of modern geology. According to Jorge Borges, Gosse showed its final illogicality when he was trying to save the story of creation (Moore, Decker, & Cotner 2010, p.98). After the introduction of his theory, people who were reading the bible were now informed about the prevailing dilemma he created. Scientists believed that Gosse suggested that the creation can be saved by means of hiding the scientific observations concerning Genesis. Most of the scientists were provided more evidence that would make Gosse’s theory be invalid (Numbers 2006, 434).

The relation and influence of Henry Gosse’s work on Charles Darwin

According to Smith (2006, p. 327), Gosse’s work and that of Charles Darwin are closely related as they all talk about their religious observation. Additionally, they also debated about the viability of evolution as they believed that human beings were not created by God but evolved from fossils. Both Darwin and Gosse were clergymen who later changed their views regarding religion. Additionally, they started questioning the viability of the stories written in the bible (Smith 2006, p. 350). He also had a great influence on Charles Darwin. For instance, publishing the various books arguing about the viability of God’s creation made Darwin have the same perception after reading them. Consequently, Darwin started exploring his discoveries and claims concerning creation. Gosse’s theory was shallow as it only talked about the age of the world, but Darwin borrowed his ideas and extended his arguments to the evolution of other creatures (Dadswell 2003, p. 120).

Darwin acknowledged that all creatures evolved through natural selection (Dadswell 2003, p. 128). For instance, species that are able to stay alive pass their genes to their off springs. Therefore, they will continuously exist so long as their generation is not wiped out. Additionally, he used Gosse’s theory to structure his arguments and interpret the observations. Through Gosse’s theory that animals and plants had existed before creation, Darwin borrowed some ideas from him and concluded that their existence was dictated by the evolution theory (Dadswell 2003, p. 135). For instance, he alleged that the existing species diverged and formed other new species. Additionally, he added that their existence was naturally controlled in that they would easily coexist without depleting the natural resources.

Comparison between Gosse’s creationist theories with Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection

Darwin did not criticize any religion or God in an open manner and referred to God as the creator of all the creatures. Additionally, he had said that his evolutionary hypothesis was not in any ways connected to the existence of God (Francis 2007, p.62). Conversely, Gosse openly criticized God and did not believe that he was the creature of all living things. According to Gosse’s creationist theory, the earth was made in such a way that it appeared old, yet it had not stayed for a longer time. The theory majorly criticized the viability of the story in the bible especially the genesis story. He believed that the bible was deceiving by alleging that Adam had stayed for 930 years. Besides, he argued that 930 years only indicated the creation time. Conversely, it had not taken much time when taken literally.

According to Whorton & Roberts (2008, 175), Gosse believed the 930 years are the number of years Adam spent on earth after he was sent away from the Garden of Eden. Conversely, Darwin believed in the existence of God but argued that he did not create living things. He alleged that all creatures originated from different species through the law of natural selection. Through natural selection, the available species could easily leave in their ecosystem without depleting the natural resources (Francis 2007, p. 69). According to Gosse’s theory, it questions how Adam was born fully created with undergoing any growth process. Consequently, he argued that all the creatures had existed before the earth was created as they were found fully grown in the Garden of Eden.

Therefore, he believed the fossils that formed rocks under the sea was a clear proof that human being had existed before the earth was created. Conversely, Darwin’s theory acknowledged that God created all things, but they later evolved due to the passage of genes. He does not dwell much on God’s creation but how the creatures evolved with time (Greenberger 2005, p.60). As discussed earlier, he believed that creatures are able to live through natural selection. He also emphasized that the process of natural selection does not happen within a short time but was a gradual process which could take hundreds of years. Besides, the rates were different depending on the species. He argued that some species would slowly separate it to form two separate species. The separation was compared to the growth of the tree roots.

According to Gosse, creatures cannot be born without an umbilical cord (Mccalla 2006, 217). This is evident when he questions the viability of the argument that Adam was born and grew up (Whorton & Roberts 2008, p. 201). Conversely, in Darwin’s theory, the existence of umbilical cord is not considered. Darwin believed that creatures originate from a certain species and diverges into different similar species. Additionally, his theory majorly focused on issues concerning survival of the fittest rather than putting more focus on how they existed. In Darwin’s evolution theory, he could explain why some animals were able to live in areas considered being unbearable for existence (Greenberger 2005, p 67). For instance, he was able to explain how some animals could stay in areas under high temperature. The other comparison between the two theories is that Darwin theory is both a hypothesis and a fact since it is mostly viewed in the biological literature (Greenberger 2005, p 72). Conversely, Gosse’s theory is not considered to be a fact as his allegations have not been supported by many scientists and other historians.

Conclusion

Gosse’s theory was not considered to be valid by a number of scientists and historians across the world. They argued that the theory majorly relied on data obtained from a number of books and not evidences. Arguably, scientists always base their argument on viable evidence hence they considered the theory to be invalid. Comparing Darwin’s theory and Gosse’s theory, Darwin’s theory majorly focused on evolution of creature and not how they came into existence. He did not criticize the bible as he believed that God existed. Conversely, Gosse’s hypothesis majorly criticized the bible arguing that creatures existed even before the earth was created. Additionally, he questioned the existence of Adam, yet he did not go through the normal birth process. Conclusively, Darwin theory is still applicable as it was mainly concerned with the biological evolutions and not criticizing the bible.

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References

Adamczyk-Garbowska, M, & Polonsky, A 2001, Contemporary Jewish writing in Poland: an anthology. Lincoln, Univ. of Nebraska Press. 186

Dadswell, T 2003, The Selborne pioneer: Gilbert White as naturalist and scientist, a re-examination. Burlington, VT, Ashgate.

Francis, K 2007, Charles Darwin and the origin of species. Westport, Conn, Greenwood Press.

Greenberger, R 2005, Darwin and the theory of evolution. New York, Rosen Pub. Group, Inc.

Maynard Smith, M 1997, The theory of evolution […] XD-US. Cambridge [u.a.], Cambridge Univ. Press.

Mccalla, A 2006, The creationist debate: the encounter between the Bible and the historical mind. London, Continuum.

Moore, R, Decker, M & Cotner, S 2010, Chronology of the evolution-creationism controversy. Santa Barbara, Calif, Greenwood Press/ABC-CLIO.

Mullen, R & Littleton, T 2010, Philip Henry Gosse: science and art in Letters from Alabama and Entomologia alabamensis. Tuscaloosa, Auburn University Libraries.

Myrant, P 2009, The challenge of evolution: Is there a Creator? What is He like, and How did He create the universe? Mustang, Okla, Tate Publishing and Enterprises.179

Numbers, L 2006, The creationists: from scientific creationism to intelligent design. Cambridge, Mass, Harvard University Press.

Prothero, R & Buell, D 2007, Evolution: what the fossils say and why it matters. New York, Columbia University Press.10

Rogers, A 2011, The evidence for evolution. Chicago, University of Chicago Press.

Rogers, R 2011, The evidence for evolution. Chicago, University of Chicago Press. 101

Singh, R, Radhey S & Singh, S 2008, Psychoneuroimmunology: a behavioural approach. New Delhi, India, Global Vision Pub. House.221

Smith, J 2006, Charles Darwin and victorian visual culture. Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University Press.

Whorton, S & Roberts, H 2008, Holman quicksource guide to understanding creation. Nashville, Tenn, Holman Reference.

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