DARWIN AND LADY HOPE
The untold story
By L.R. Croft. Elmwood Books. 168 pages. £12.99
ISBN 978 0 956 808 929
The story of Charles Darwin’s ‘deathbed’ conversion to faith in Christ has been repeated in different ways for many years.
Dr. Croft has spent over 20 years studying the claims and the rebuttals. The essence of his book is that Darwin definitely died with faith in Christ. For proof, he goes largely to a narrative written in a US paper in Boston in 1915. Here we discover that an evangelist called Lady Hope visited Darwin at his home in Kent about six months before his death in 1882.
It is asserted that Lady Hope found the bedridden Darwin studying the Bible, more precisely the book of Hebrews. Among other things reported are that Darwin referred in faith to ‘the holiness of God’, and invited Lady Hope to make use of a summer house in his garden for a Christian meeting. Lady Hope asks: ‘What shall I speak about?’ Darwin replies: ‘Christ Jesus and his salvation’.
As might be expected, Croft has brought down the united wrath of unbelief on his head, not to speak of scepticism in some genuine Christian quarters. The fact that the book had to be self-published may be significant. Whether the case is proved involves the interested reader in studying and evaluating Croft’s arguments in favour of Lady Hope’s narrative. The matter is highly controversial, and whether, after all these years, it is possible for a definite conclusion to be reached continues to be a subject with some remaining elements of mystery.
