Episode 186: Evolutionary Creation: Human Origins (Continued)

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Del curso dictado por University of Alberta

Science & Religion 101

28 calificaciones

University of Alberta

Science & Religion 101

28 calificaciones

This course examines the nature of both science and religion and attempts to explore the possible relationships between them. The primary purpose is to dispel the popular myth that science and religion are entrenched in a never-ending conflict. As a result, this course argues that if the limits of both science and religion are respected, then their relationship can be complementary. Topics include: Science and Religion Categories and Foundational Principles, Definitions of Science and Religion, Science-Religion Models and Relationships, Intelligent Design and Natural Revelation, the Galileo Affair, Geology and Noah’s Flood, Evolution and Darwin’s Religious Beliefs, the Modern “Evolution” vs. “Creation” Debate, the Problem of Evil, and Interpretations of the Biblical Accounts of Origins in Genesis 1-11. The course employs a Constructive Teaching Style in order that students can develop their personal views on the relationship between science and religion and on each of the topics listed above. St. Joseph's College is a Catholic, undergraduate, liberal arts college on the University of Alberta campus. It is an independent institution that is affiliated with the University of Alberta.

De la lección

Modern Origins Debate

Every course on Science & Religion deals with the fascinating topic of the modern origins debate. The 5 most important views of the origin of the universe and life are presented in detail— Young Earth Creation, Progressive Creation, Evolutionary Creation, Deistic Evolution, and Dysteleological Evolution. The importance of scientific and historical concordism for each position is explained. We also explore the challenging topic of whether or not Adam was a real person in history by presenting the 4 best-known positions on human origins—De Novo Creation of Adam, Evolutionary Monogenism, Punctiliar Polygenism, and Gradual Polygenism. These different approaches to Adam are viewed in the light of the Apostle Paul’s letters in Romans 5 and 1 Corinthians 15 and St. Augustine’s Doctrine of Original Sin.

Episode 178: Key Thoughts. Categories on the Origin of the Universe & Life7:40

Episode 179: Young Earth Creation & Progressive Creation11:25

Episode 180: Evolutionary Creation & Deistic Evolution9:20

Episode 181: Dysteleological Evolution7:33

Episode 182: Human Origins: The Final Frontier. Biblical Texts on Human Origins3:53

Episode 183: Western (Catholic & Protestant) Theological Tradition on Human Origins6:12

Episode 184: Western Theological Tradition (Continued)4:31

Episode 185: Evolutionary Creation: Toward a Christian Hypothesis on Human Origins. (1) Human Origins & Metaphysics-Physics Principle. (2) Human Origins & Manifestation of Spiritual Realities5:40

Episode 186: Evolutionary Creation: Human Origins (Continued)7:42

Episode 187: Evolutionary Creation: Human Origins (Continued). (3) Human Origins & Message-Incident Principle4:38

Episode 188: Evolutionary Creation: Human Origins (Continued). (4) Human Origins & the Apostle Paul4:04

Episode 189: Conclusion. Evolutionary Creation & Human Origins4:59

Hermeneutics 16: Science & Scripture: "Conservative" or "Liberal" Interpretations4:27

Hermeneutics 17: Biblical Inerrancy: Toward an Incarnational Hermeneutic6:43

Conoce a los instructores

Denis Lamoureux
Associate Professor
St. Joseph's College

Episode 186.

I believe we're ready to deal with the Big Question in Origins.

Was Adam a real person?

The technical answer to this question is this,

Adam is the retrojective conclusion of

ancient biology or to state this more specifically,

Adam is the retrojective conclusion of

the ancient biological idea of the immutability of living organisms.

That is, the ancient belief that living organisms do not change.

Let me explain this technical answer.

To freshen your memory,

the term retrojection comes from

the Latin adverb retro meaning backward and Yukari is the verb to throw or cast.

Therefore, retrojection refers to taking

present experience and casting it backward in time to explain the past.

As we've noted, this is the type of thinking used in crime scene investigations.

Police take present evidence at the crime scene and

cast it back in time to reconstruct the past.

Throughout this course, I've been encouraging you to

think like an ancient person and we need to

do this in order to appreciate how ancient people understood human origins.

First, ancient people observed that humans give birth to humans,

who give birth to humans etc..

In this way, it was perfectly reasonable to believe that humans are

immutable and never changed and that they only give birth to humans.

In thinking about the origin of humans,

ancient people would have retrojected the humans birth humans observation,

back in time to the creation of the world.

So humans today were born from earlier humans and

these humans were born from even earlier humans etc..

Ancient people then, reasonably concluded that there must have

been an original first human and that this human was created De Novo,

quick and complete and for the ancient Hebrews,

this original human was Adam.

Returning to our technical answer,

Adam is the retrojective conclusion of ancient biology.

The notion of immutability.

Adam then, is the creation of casting back in time,

the experience of seeing humans giving birth to humans.

And so here is the bottom line.

Adam Never Existed.

Adam was created by retrojecting, or if you wish,

extrapolating the ancient observation of human immutability.

Stated another way, the existence of Adam is based on ancient thinking.

To use the letters A N E,

Adam is an Ancient Near Eastern understanding of human origins.

To be sure, there are some huge implications regarding the idea that Adam Never Existed.

Let's look at some of these.

This challenges Christian Tradition and in particular,

the Doctrine of Original Sin because there is no first man to commit

the first sin and no first man from which sin is transferred to all humans.

This also challenges the Cosmic Fall because there's

no first man to causally connect to the origin of death.

But there is an advantage of not having a historical Adam.

This solves the problem with the fossil record.

The Bible states that death appears after humans but in the fossil record,

death appears hundreds of millions of years before humans.

With no historical Adam,

there's no problem because there is

no first man to causally connect to the origin of death.

Let's examine more closely Gradual Polygenism.

This is the view of human origins accepted by Evolutionary Creation.

Gradual Polygenism rejects scientific concordism

because the De Novo creation of Adam is ancient science.

However, Gradual Polygenism accepts

the spiritual realities of the Image of God and Human Sinfulness.

To appreciate the manifestation of spiritual realities during human evolution,

evolutionary creationists point to the helpful embryology - evolution analogy.

Human embryology and human evolution,

both manifest the Image of God and Sinfulness during a natural process,

but questions of course arise on when or how spiritual realities appear?

Please turn to page 60 in the class handouts,

for a variety of views on the manifestation of human spiritual realities,

during embryological development in the womb.

For example, do we get half an Image of God and half a Sin from each of our parents?

Most would say no, because you can't cut

spiritual realities in half like physical realities,

or do the Image of God and Sin appear in a sharp point in time,

that is a punctilliar event such as fertilization,

or the two cell stage,

or with the first heartbeat or with the beginning of brain activity.

Or is there a gradual and mysterious manifestation

of the Image of God and Sin over many embryological stages?

By using the term mysterious,

it's suggesting that we will never fully understand because the appearance of

the Image of God and Sin is ultimately a theological mystery.

Keeping in mind these various approaches to the manifestation of

spiritual realities during human development in the womb,

let's propose some different ways the Image of God and Sin could have arisen during

human evolution with the appearance of

behaviorally modern humans about fifty thousand years ago.

Evolutionary Monogenism suggests that the Image of God and Sin arose at

a sharp point in time through a punctiliar event involving Adam and Eve.

Punctiliar Polygenism proposes that human spiritual realities were

manifested by a punctiliar event with many Adams and many Eves.

Gradual Polygenism suggests that there was

a slow and mysterious manifestation of the Image of God and Sin over many generations.

As a consequence, there never was an Adam or Adams or an Eve or Eves.

According to Gradual Polygenism,

when do the Image of God and Sin appear in the world?

Roughly, fifty thousand years ago,

with behaviorally modern humans.

They buried their dead with items,

suggesting a religious belief in an afterlife.

And how do these spiritual realities appear?

Evolutionary creationists would suggest that it's through

a gradual and mysterious manifestation over many generations.

End of episode.

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