EVOLUTION AND THE BIBLE 



"The ultimate end of the whole process of 

 generation is the human soul, and to it matter 

 tends as toward its final form." 



St. Thomas Aquinas, 

 Contra Gentes, III, c. 22. 



I. INTRODUCTION 



The origin of man remains a problem. In quest of a solution, 

 Christians and Jews turn to the first pages of the Book of 

 Genesis. But the accounts there presented seem highly naive 

 and full of impossible anthropomorphisms; they cannot satisfy 

 modern scientists, for whom a universe in evolution has 

 become a primary article in the scientific vision of reality. 

 The vision embraces evolution of life, but also reaches out to 

 the entire world of bodies, including the formations of the 

 mammoth systems studied by astronomy, as well as the pre- 

 paration on earth of an environment suitable for the appear- 

 ance of living beings. Such a generalized view cannot well 

 halt with lower animal species; it must seemingly extend to 

 the origin of man himself, as a continuation on a higher plane 

 of the evolutionary effort of life. 



With the aid of the evolutionary hypothesis we are able to 

 put into good order aji immense number of facts and to acquire 

 an excellent knowledge of the natural world. Thus science 

 has conquered an important area of truth; by a single concept 

 it can explain the genesis of all the living forms that have 

 disappeared in the past, that are now in existence, and that 

 may emerge in the future. Science can and will deepen its 

 understanding of the evolutionary process, but does not expect 

 that it will ever have to abandon the idea itself. 



What, then, becomes of the initiative and activity of the 

 Creator? This is a question the believer has to face. To as- 

 certain whether the evolutionist thesis is compatible with 

 Christian teaching, the two positions must be examined. In 

 undertaking such a study, we must surmount a temptation 

 that has beguiled scholars in the past. The temptation is called 

 concordism, which is an attempt to establish a strict conformity 

 between the Bible and positive sciences such as anthropology, 



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