EVOLUTION AND THE BIBLE 



of salvation which are important for all men of all ages. It 

 also reports these truths in the way God wishes them to be 

 expressed, by inserting them into the cultural context of the 

 people to whom God addressed Himself directly, because it 

 is for them first of all that His message must be available. 

 Therefore we must distinguish the divine message, which is 

 accessible and salutary for all men of all times and cultures, 

 from its formulation, which is adapted to the particular 

 environment, mentality, and customs of a people living at a 

 definite epoch. 



Although the inspired writer serves God as an instrument, 

 he remains intelligent and free, retaining his own personality, 

 viewpoints, and prejudices. The author of Genesis had a 

 conception of the universe like that of his contemporaries, and 

 spoke of natural phenomena as any of them would. He knew 

 no more about astronomy, geology, and such sciences than 

 other men of his generation. What he saw of the world went 

 no farther than his eye could reach. He wrote like other men 

 of his day and culture, and followed the common custom of 

 composing history by weaving together all the traditions and 

 records he could lay his hands on. He was aware that the 

 people for whom he wrote were less interested in the historical 

 accuracy of his narrative than in its meaning, the most signifi- 

 cant point of any story for a Semite. All this is recalled to 

 our attention by Pius XII in his encyclical on the promotion 

 of biblical studies: "To express what they had in mind, the 

 ancient Orientals did not always use the same forms and 

 expressions as we use today; they employed those that were 

 current among the people of their own time and place. What 

 these were, the exegete cannot determine in advance, but only 

 from a painstaking study of ancient literatures of the East. 

 ... When God's words are expressed in human language, they 

 take the form of human speech in every respect except error."^ 



The inspired writer did not invent the history of our origins. 

 How did the incidents he narrates come to his knowledge? 

 One simple answer is that they were directly revealed by God 

 to Moses. But biblical scholars dislike this explanation, because 

 the complicated character of the narratives indicates that they 



Divino alilante Spiritu, AAS 35 (1943) 315 f. 



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