But to claim that evolution is by its very nature opposed to Christianity is simply overreaching—it’s not defensible philosophically or theologically. As conservative theologian A. A. Hodge argued in an essay published in 1881, less than thirty years after the appearance of Darwin’s Origin of Species, Evolution considered as the plan of an infinitely wise Person and executed under the control of His everywhere present energies can never be irreligious; can never exclude design, providence, grace,