Who Influenced Darwin?
Despite Darwin’s association with evolutionists and the antireligious, such as Robert Grant, Thomas Huxley, and his dilettante brother Erasmus, a number of people God placed close to Darwin reveal a God reaching out to him. His father, the Doctor, had forsaken the atheist leanings of grandfather Erasmus as the Darwin name became more connected with wealth, respectability, and political correctness. Instead, he wrapped his son, Charles, in an Anglican formal education with plenty of exposure to the Scriptures and Christian orthodoxy. Years later he recollected that, when heading to Cambridge to train for the ministry, he “fully accepted” the Apostles’ Creed or, at least, “had no wish to dispute any dogma.”4 Charles became especially close to Christian mentors, such as botanist Rev. John Henslow and geologist Rev. Adam Sedgwick, and friends like strongly evangelical Robert FitzRoy, captain of the Beagle. More than these men, however, the “Wedgwood women”—his mother, sisters, wife, and da
