42. A Christian can accept the theory of evolution.

A Christian can accept the theory of evolution.

YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 42

Ave Maria series

42.  Can someone accept the theory of evolution and still believe in the Creator?

Yes.  Although it is a different kind of knowledge, faith is open to the findings and hypotheses of the sciences.  [282-289]

Picture from the Curiosity Rover on Mars showing Earth from the Perspective of Mars. ...42

Theology has no scientific competence, and natural science has no theological competence.  Natural science cannot dogmatically rule out the possibility that there are purposeful processes in creation; conversely, faith cannot define specifically how these processes take place in the course of nature’s development.   A Christian can accept the theory of evolution as a helpful explanatory model, provided he does not fall into the heresy of evolutionism, which views man as the random product of biological processes.  Evolution presupposes the existence of something that can develop.  The theory says nothing about where this “something” came from.  Furthermore, questions about the being, essence, dignity, mission, meaning, and wherefore of the world and man cannot be answered in biological terms.  Just as “evolutionism” oversteps a boundary on the one side, so does creationism on the other.  Creationists naively take biblical data literally (for example, to calculate the earth’s age, they cite the six days of work in Genesis 1).

EVOLUTION (Latin evolution=unfolding, development):  the growth of the final form of organisms over millions of years.  Viewed from a Christian perspective, evolution takes place as God’s continuous creation in natural processes.

CREATIONISM  (From Latin creation=making, producing):  the idea that God himself by his direct action created the world all at once, as if the book of Genesis were an eyewitness account.

“Jesus Christ is the center of all things and the foundation for all things; he who does not know him knows nothing about the world and nothing about himself.”  Blaise Pascal (1588-1651)

CATECHESIS ON CREATION

282 Catechesis on creation is of major importance. It concerns the very foundations of human and Christian life: for it makes explicit the response of the Christian faith to the basic question that men of all times have asked themselves(Compare Nostra Aetate 2.)¹²⁰ "Where do we come from?" "Where are we going?" "What is our origin?" "What is our end?" "Where does everything that exists come from and where is it going?" The two questions, the first about the origin and the second about the end, are inseparable. They are decisive for the meaning and orientation of our life and actions. –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

283 The question about the origins of the world and of man has been the object of many scientific studies which have splendidly enriched our knowledge of the age and dimensions of the cosmos, the development of life-forms and the appearance of man. These discoveries invite us to even greater admiration for the greatness of the Creator, prompting us to give him thanks for all his works and for the understanding and wisdom he gives to scholars and researchers. With Solomon they can say: "It is he who gave me unerring knowledge of what exists, to know the structure of the world and the activity of the elements. . . for wisdom, the fashioner of all things, taught me."( Wisdom 7:17-22.)¹²¹ –CCC

284 The great interest accorded to these studies is strongly stimulated by a question of another order, which goes beyond the proper domain of the natural sciences. It is not only a question of knowing when and how the universe arose physically, or when man appeared, but rather of discovering the meaning of such an origin: is the universe governed by chance, blind fate, anonymous necessity, or by a transcendent, intelligent and good Being called "God"? And if the world does come from God's wisdom and goodness, why is there evil? Where does it come from? Who is responsible for it? Is there any liberation from it? –CCC

285 Since the beginning the Christian faith has been challenged by responses to the question of origins that differ from its own. Ancient religions and cultures produced many myths concerning origins. Some philosophers have said that everything is God, that the world is God, or that the development of the world is the development of God (Pantheism). Others have said that the world is a necessary emanation arising from God and returning to him. Still others have affirmed the existence of two eternal principles, Good and Evil, Light and Darkness, locked, in permanent conflict (Dualism, Manichaeism). According to some of these conceptions, the world (at least the physical world) is evil, the product of a fall, and is thus to be rejected or left behind (Gnosticism). Some admit that the world was made by God, but as by a watch-maker who, once he has made a watch, abandons it to itself (Deism). Finally, others reject any transcendent origin for the world, but see it as merely the interplay of matter that has always existed (Materialism). All these attempts bear witness to the permanence and universality of the question of origins. This inquiry is distinctively human. –CCC

286 Human intelligence is surely already capable of finding a response to the question of origins. The existence of God the Creator can be known with certainty through his works, by the light of human reason,( Compare Vatican Council I, can. 2 § I: Denzinger-Schonmetzer 3026.)¹²² even if this knowledge is often obscured and disfigured by error. This is why faith comes to confirm and enlighten reason in the correct understanding of this truth: "By faith we understand that the world was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was made out of things which do not appear."( Hebrews 11:3.)¹²³ –CCC

287 The truth about creation is so important for all of human life that God in his tenderness wanted to reveal to his People everything that is salutary to know on the subject. Beyond the natural knowledge that every man can have of the Creator,( Compare Acts of the Apostles 17:24-29; Romans 1:19-20.)¹²⁴ God progressively revealed to Israel the mystery of creation. He who chose the patriarchs, who brought Israel out of Egypt, and who by choosing Israel created and formed it, this same God reveals himself as the One to whom belong all the peoples of the earth, and the whole earth itself; he is the One who alone "made heaven and earth".(Compare Isaiah 43:1; Psalm 115:15; Ps 124:8; Ps 134:3.)¹²⁵ –CCC

288 Thus the revelation of creation is inseparable from the revelation and forging of the covenant of the one God with his People. Creation is revealed as the first step towards this covenant, the first and universal witness to God's all-powerful love.( Compare Genesis 15:5; Jeremiah 33:19-26.)¹²⁶ And so, the truth of creation is also expressed with growing vigor in the message of the prophets, the prayer of the psalms and the liturgy, and in the wisdom sayings of the Chosen People. (Compare Isaiah 44:24; Psalm 104; Proverbs 8:22-31.)¹²⁷ –CCC

289 Among all the Scriptural texts about creation, the first three chapters of Genesis occupy a unique place. From a literary standpoint these texts may have had diverse sources. The inspired authors have placed them at the beginning of Scripture to express in their solemn language the truths of creation - its origin and its end in God, its order and goodness, the vocation of man, and finally the drama of sin and the hope of salvation. Read in the light of Christ, within the unity of Sacred Scripture and in the living Tradition of the Church, these texts remain the principal source for catechesis on the mysteries of the "beginning": creation, fall, and promise of salvation. --CCC