Of Apes and Ancestors

'Of Apes and Ancestors examines an event that has been widely mythologized in popular culture, one that has contemporary significance with regard to continuing tensions between Christian theology and Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection. Ian Hesketh has written a commendable in-depth introduction to this famous controversy and offers original insights on the creation of the myths surrounding the Oxford debate.' -- John Brooke, Faculty of Theology, Oxford University 'In this elegantly written little book, Hesketh has produced a compelling account of the historical significance of the Huxley-Wilberforce debate at Oxford in 1860, using it as a focus to examine the controversy surrounding Darwinian evolution. Hesketh not only covers the main figures involved, including Darwin, Wilberforce, Huxley, Owen, and Hooker, but also discusses how the debate has been remembered and politicized by participants, observers, and twentieth-century intellectuals.' -- Bernard Lightman, Science and Technology Studies, York University

By reconstructing the Oxford debate of 1860 on the merits of Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species, and carefully considering the individual perspectives of the main participants, Ian Hesketh argues that personal jealousies and professional agendas played a formative role in shaping the response to Darwin’s hypothesis.

Tell me, sir, is it on your grandmother's or your grandfather's side that you are descended from an ape?

In June of 1860, some of Britain's most influential scientific and religious authorities gathered in Oxford to hear a heated debate on the merits of Charles Darwin's recently published Origin of Species. The Bishop of Oxford, "Soapy" Samuel Wilberforce, clashed swords with Darwin's most outspoken supporter, Thomas Henry Huxley. The latter's triumph, amid quips about apes and ancestry, has become a mythologized event, symbolizing the supposed war between science and Christianity. But did the debate really happen in this way?

Of Apes and Ancestors argues that this one-dimensional interpretation was constructed and disseminated by Darwin's supporters, becoming an imagined victory in the struggle to overcome Anglican dogmatism. By reconstructing the Oxford debate and carefully considering the individual perspectives of the main participants, Ian Hesketh argues that personal jealousies and professional agendas played a formative role in shaping the response to Darwin's hypothesis, with religious anxieties overlapping with a whole host of other cultural and scientific considerations. An absorbing study, Of Apes and Ancestors sheds light on the origins of a debate that continues, unresolved, to this day.