Idealism Marginalised: Charles D’Arcy

Abstract

The career of Charles D’Arcy illustrates the necessity of paying close attention to the social and indeed the geographical context of Christian theology. Philosophical idealism was very influential in the formation of D’Arcy’s apologetics, yet he remains relatively unknown when compared to the other personalities described in this book. Of course this could be construed as indicating that his status as a Christian thinker influenced by idealism was reduced on account of the relative shallowness of his contributions. Be that as it may, there were other factors which resulted in D’Arcy’s consignment to relative obscurity. The most significant of these was that his life was lived far from the centres of Anglican power and influence represented by the Arnoldian Rugby tradition, Oxford University and Balliol College which have figured widely in this book. Most of his life was lived within the Church in Ireland, that isolated epsicopal communion which had caused so much pain and passion in the 1830s and had been a major rationale behind the rise of the Tractarian movement. Despite the appalled reactions of Keble and Newman and their friends, the inevitable cause of justice to the Irish Catholics had been recognised and the Church was disestablished in 1869.

… the unity of creation, both inorganic and organic, and the order which can be discerned throughout the whole, can only be explained by the activity of a great Universal Intelligence, the nature of which can be more clearly indicated by man’s inner conscious life than by any other principle known to us.

D’Arcy C.F. (1925), Science and Creation — The Christian Interpretation, London: Longmans, Green, 105.