EVOLUTION AND THE BIBLE 



about the origins of the human body. With reference to Eve, 

 the Pope said: "Only from a man could there proceed another 

 man who would call him father and progenitor; and the helper 

 given by God to the first man comes from him and is flesh 

 of his flesh, formed to be his companion; she receives her 

 name from the man, because she was derived from him."i4 

 The Holy Father is scarcely more specific than Genesis. He 

 is intent on making the point that man and woman are 

 essentially superior to animals; neither Adam nor Eve had an 

 animal as "father and progenitor." Since the Pope confines 

 himself to indefinite expressions, he does not here intend, 

 apparently, to settle the question whether a bodily extraction 

 actually occured.i^ 



In the encyclical Humani generis of 1950 the Holy Father 

 expressly teaches that the direct creation of the human soul 

 by God pertains to Catholic faith, but states that discussion 

 of the origin of the human body may continue among com- 

 petent scholars. ^6 'p^^ document does not distinguish between 

 the body of Adam and that of Eve, and therefore, we may 

 judge, does not limit the discussion to the body of the first 

 man. 



E. The Bible and Evolution 



The principle of evolution is so widely accepted that scien- 

 tific thinking is thoroughly dominated by it. In response to 

 scientific stimulus, some exegetes have tried to show that 

 evolution is favored by Genesis 2 : 7: "The Lord God molded 

 man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils 

 the breath of life, and so man became a living being." Since 

 the last phrase can be correctly translated: "man became a 

 living person," the entire verse-is rendered: "A living organism, 

 animated by a spiritual soul which God created, became a 

 living person." Before becoming a man, the matter used by the 

 Creator would already have been a living organism. Therefore 

 the Bible may well teach evolution of the human body. 



14 AAS 33 (1941) 506. 



^^ Thus C. Hauret, Beginnings: Genesis and Modern Science (Dubuque, 



1955) 118 f.; L. Amaldich, El origen del mundo y del hombre segun 



la Biblia (Madrid, 1957) 130. 

 1*^ AAS 42 (1950) 575 f. 



103 



