IIRC there are some theologians in Rome looking at physical polygenism and spiritual monogenism.The Catholc Church teaches De Fide that Adam and Eve are the common ancestors of all of us.
Anyone who maintains otherwise is at Odds with the Catholic Faith.
It would be possible for evolution to be true but for Adam and Eve to have been specially created and to in fact be the first homo sapiens.
No disrespect was detected for I truly did not understand this (and thanks for the info), but… has there been any proof of a species mutating into another species? How about a genus (or am I stating it correctly that a reptile mutates into a mammal)?I mean no disrespect in this, but you do not understand what scientists mean by “theory”. An theory is an hypothesis of mechanism that has been established over and over again. Examples of theories would be gravitation and electron theory.
Taking the example of electron theory: all of chemistry rests on a theory called electron theory. If electrons didn’t exist, or didn’t work they way people think they do, the whole field of chemistry would be wrong.
Evolution is to biology as electron theory is to chemistry.
God could have inserted two fully developed humans into the timeline anywhere He wished.Yes, they would have parents. The essential part of the teaching is that Adam and Eve were the first two humans to have a SPIRIT (or, to be created in the image of God). They would have been different from any other humanoid creature on the Earth at that point, finding only each other as suitable mates.
All species right now are equally evolved. They all came from a common ancestor. So reptiles and birds likely came from some common ancestor that split.No disrespect was detected for I truly did not understand this (and thanks for the info), but… has there been any proof of a species mutating into another species? How about a genus (or am I stating it correctly that a reptile mutates into a mammal)?
I agree. My point is that whether or not He DID is open for debate.God could have inserted two fully developed humans into the timeline anywhere He wished.
No - the Church teaches we came from one pair, polygenism has been condemned.I agree. My point is that whether or not He DID is open for debate.
Sure He could. He could do anything He wanted.God could have inserted two fully developed humans into the timeline anywhere He wished.
How did Adam and Eve secure their preternatural gifts?Ann Coulter compares evolution with Scientology. Enough said, she is nuts. :whacky: PandasThumb had a field day with her book. Do a search there.
If polygenism was condemned in 1950, why was it being discussed in the Vatican’s own newspaper in 1969 ? Of course we’ve had this discussion before, many times. See also the blog articles by Catholic Answers own Jimmy Akin linked above.
“Or it is possible to admit a biological polygenism and a theological monogenism. Evolution brought about not a single couple but many men, who constituted the primitive human population. One of these, who may be considered the leader, rebelled against God. This sin passed on to all men, his contemporaries, not by imitation, but by real propagation (Council of Trent Session V, DS. 1513), that is by a real solidarity already existing in this primordial human population. In them actual sinful humanity has its origin. It is also possible to combine biological and theological polygenism: all the primitive human population rebelled concordantly against God and from them are born the other sinful men. These hypotheses are only suppositions which many think are not contrary to Revelation and the bible. Even if we accept as valid the scientific theory of evolution and polygenism, it can still be in accordance with the dogma of original sin in the various manners indicated.” (Roberto Masi, from L’Osservatore Romano, the newspaper of the Holy See, weekly edition in English, 17 April 1969)
And finally, geneticist Spencer Wells, author of The Journey of Man on the Genetic vs. Biblical Adam
How does the genetic Adam relate to the Adam of the Bible?
“It’s interesting that both genetics and the Bible show that there is a common origin of humanity. According to genetic data we come from a single male ancestor. In the Bible too it is mentioned that there is a single male Adam and single female, Eve. I don’t equate our results one-to-one with the biblical story, of course, because if you count back through the generations described in the Bible, Adam should have existed in 4004 BC, and our Adam existed 60,000 years ago. Also, our Adam and Eve weren’t the only people alive at the time, just the lucky ones who left descendants down to the present day. But it is nice to know that we arrive at the same general conclusion: we’re all related.” (from an interview with geneticist Spencer Wells)
Phil P