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Posted 11th May 2007 - Page 1

Creation Rediscovered by Gerard J. Keane



Preface by By Rev. Fr. Peter Damian Fehlner, S.T.D

Why a theological introduction to a book about Evolution and Creation? Most people would instinctively reply: not because Evolution is a theological question, but because it is assumed to be a scientific question posing a threat to traditional belief in Creation, in a particular way to the doctrine of the unique dignity of Adam and Eve and their descendants, based on creation of the soul and special divine formation of the bodies of Adam and Eve, and therefore to belief in the existence of God and the very possibility of the Incarnation and Salvation as the ultimate goal to which Creation is ordered.

Thus there arises a problem of apologetics: are evolutionary hypotheses about the origin of the world, of the differentiation of the species and of man in particular a threat to the traditional dogmatic theism of Catholic theology?

In modern times two ways of approaching this problem have become usual: one is to deny any valid basis for evolutionary theories of origin. The other is to admit as plausible some theories of evolution, those precisely which are not incompatible with Theism. Whence the term Theistic Evolution.

In recent years this second approach has gained great popularity among Catholics, in particular among Catholic clergymen and religious. One can subscribe to all the articles of the Catholic creed, so the claim for Theistic Evolution runs, and not be pre-occupied with the final outcome of the scientific debate over the evolutionary hypothesis. For if one day "Evolution" should be proved factual, the only evolutionary thesis so to be demonstrated scientifically will be theistic rather than atheistic in thrust. One even hears the (very strange) assertion that God created the world by means of Evolution! Hence, Atheistic Evolution stands condemned by the Church.

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