EVOLUTIONISM AND MANS HOPE 



of the universe from which he was dismissed so abruptly by 

 Copernicus. Nor have we been given reasons to fancy that 

 either cosmic or biological evolution was enacted in order to 

 produce man. However, there is nothing to prevent— and much 

 to encourage— us to think that man is the crowning achievement 

 of the evolutionary process to date here on earth, and possibly 

 in the cosmos. Although not central in Creation, man may still 

 be central in importance; the emergence of man may have been 

 the most significant event of the evolution of the universe. 

 Moreover, and this is where our view of the universe differs 

 most radically from Newton's, evolution marches on. The in- 

 organic, the organic, and human natures are all in the process 

 of change. 



In our modern world changes are so numerous and so rapid 

 that it is hard for us to realize that the idea of universal evolu- 

 tion is really a very novel one. Within the living memories of 

 some of us, there appeared telephones and radios, automobiles 

 and airplanes, atomic bombs and sputniks, two world wars were 

 fought, mighty empires went into dissolution, the "Unchanging 

 East" showed itself capable of intense dynamism, etc. Ancient 

 wisdom was on the whole inclined to regard changes as illusory. 

 Buddhist and Hindu sages were especially insistent that the 

 world of the senses is both evil and unimportant, and that man 

 should strive to transcend it to attain a vision of what is eternal 

 and unchanging. A wise man, thought the philosopher-emperor, 

 Marcus Aurelius, "considers the periodic destructions and re- 

 births of the universe, and reflects that our posterity will see 

 nothing new, and that our ancestors saw nothing greater than 

 we have seen." 



The fierce resistance to evolutionism on the part of funda- 

 mentalist Christian sects has obscured the fact that Christianity 

 has an inherent and indispensable evolutionary idea at the core 

 of its world view. To be sure, the Judeo-Christian tradition has 

 taken over from oriental religions the myths of the Garden of 

 Eden and of the Fall at the beginning of the world's history. 

 Therefore, it views the historical process as having suffered a 

 catastrophic deterioration at its inception. However, the fall of 

 man was followed by a new ascent. Progressive revelation of 

 God to man through the patriarchs and the prophets was fol- 



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