Document Type
Article
Abstract
Recently it has been argued by Rope Kojonen that Asa Gray’s public promotion of Darwinian evolution can be defended as a “conjunctive” explanation that accommodates both Darwin’s natural selection and its stochastic processes as well as a teleology fully commensurate with a divine order—theistic evolution thus, if not vindicated, is at least supportable on logical grounds. However, on close examination this idea is questioned by focusing on certain important historical issues that the conjunctive explanation fails to resolve, and in some cases, even address. In the end, Gray’s spirited public promotion of Darwin’s “grand idea” is not an issue of conjunctive explanation but of historical and rational coherence.
Publication Date
10-2026
College or School
UAB Libraries
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Flannery, Michael A., "Asa Gray’s Darwinian Theism and the Problem of Coherence" (2026). Libraries Professional Work. 48.
https://digitalcommons.library.uab.edu/libraries-pw/48
