on Adam Gopnik's book Angels and Ages: A Short Book About Darwin, Lincoln, and Modern Life
"for their shared significance as "prophets of liberal civilization." Lincoln and Darwin have incontestable claims to posterity: one saved the Union from collapse and altered the course of history; the other developed the single most important scientific idea about life on our planet. ...
Gopnik depicts the two men as "snails with sublime purposes" who inched toward mighty conclusions. You know the obvious ones: the need for liberty and union to triumph over slavery and secession, the power of natural selection to explain the development of every living organism. Gopnik argues that these men shared an even deeper insight. They came to believe in "a world without a present God but with providential purposes." Both rejected orthodox religious doctrines and embraced rationalism and science, yet they imagined a higher purpose for humanity. Gopnik has a variety of names for their vision: "enchanted secularism," "natural universalism," "mystical materialism." By the end of his book, he's become a passionate advocate for the same outlook. "via The Nation