Charles and Emma was a book about Charles Darwin and his wife Emma, specifically about how her faith, and his lack of faith shaped their marriage. After Charles returned from his famous voyage on the Beagle, he had an important question to ponder- to marry or not to marry. At the age of 28, he was definitely of marrying age and, as his father reminded him, he wasn’t getting any younger.
Charles, taking the scientific approach, observed his married friends and then proceeded to make a pro/con list of the advantages and disadvantages of getting married. Getting married would make it harder to travel, it would mean less time, and less money, to devote to his pursuit of science. Lastly but certainly not least there was also the matter that after his voyage around the world, Charles had come to doubt that God had created each individual species. Rather Charels was working on a theory that, counter to the mainstream thoughts of the day, would prove that God had made a creature and then the creature would evolve based off of its need to survive and adapt accordingly.
Taking God out of the creation story was not a popular view. To make things worse, when he really got honest with himself, Charles didn’t believe that God interfered with anything on earth after He started the world. Charles wasn’t even sure he believed if there was a God- how could a good God let all of the horrible things that happen in this world occur?
After much pondering Charles went to talk with his father, a man who didn’t really believe in God, and wouldn’t be shocked by Charles’ thoughts and beliefs. Charles talked over with his father how his counter culture beliefs would affect his marriage. Should he just avoid the institution all together? His father put his worries to rest but he had one little piece of advice- don’t tell the lucky woman about his lack of belief.
Charles decided to move forward with plans to marry. And he found his girl! A smart woman, a cousin of his.(This was quite normal and often even preferred among the higher class during this time period.) He asked the question and she said yes. There was just one problem- Emma was a devout believer. They both entered the institution of marriage knowing that they could well differ for the rest of their lives on one core belief. The rest of the book talks about their married life, how Charles career progressed, and how they juggled life, split as they were, yet still very much in love.
I found this book fascinating. I didn’t know much at all about Charles Darwin and had always supposed him to be a strict atheist; in fact he was more of an agnostic than an atheist. Emma held fast to her Christian beliefs. This book did a good job of showing how in day to day life compromise can be found, happiness had, but ultimately tension does arise from different belief structures when trouble comes. I enjoyed learning more about Charles and Emma from a strictly academic point of view, but I also think this would be an excellent book to recommend to high school students and young, unmarried adults. No matter how much you love the person to which you plan to marry, be very cautious if they don’t hold the same core values as you. Regardless of what your beliefs are, if they are vastly different from the person you marry, it will create strife and tension within the marriage and this is why the Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 6;14, “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common?” How united can we be in a marriage if we don’t share what is closest to our hearts?
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