“Revealed religion” is the belief that comes through revelation or faith, directly or through the authority of others, and it is at this end of the scale that I shall start my examination of Darwinism versus Christianity. Obviously not every part of Christian belief, however central within the system, is of equal significance and importance to our inquiry. I doubt that evolutionism has much to say about the Trinity, for example. The question of origins, however, is crucial to Christianity, and this is (virtually by definition) a matter on which evolution has much to say. So let us begin there, specifically with the story of origins from the early chapters of the Old Testament.

Sacred Scripture

The Bible holds a special place in the faith of all Christians. There is a historical reason for this, going back to the Babylonian exile (587–538 b.c.) of the ancient Jews. Dispossessed of their lands and exiled far from home, they turned to their ancient traditions and writings as a means by which they could maintain their spiritual and national identity. The Torah, the law especially as given in the first five books (the Pentateuch) of the Bible, thus became a history and a prescription, as well as a promise of God's love and future concern: a salvation history (Farley and Hodgson 1994, 64–5). As such, these writings had a special status: given and inspired by God, they were more than merely contingent truths.