Gap Theory

[rroth1]

I was wondering what the Church’s teaching was on the Gap Theory. Specifically the “gap” between verse 1 and 2 of Genesis, and the theory that there were people and another flood before Adam and Eve. I wanted to get the official Church view before I investigate. I have listened to and read evidence supporting the theory.

Thanks

 

[PeterK]

Wow Roth,
This is your first post! Welcome! I hope you find this a welcoming and enriching forum for discovering more about the Catholic Faith.

Catholics have been blessed with a document called the Catechism of the Catholic Church (sometimes referred to as CCC). This is the best place to begin researching about things Catholic. At the very least it should be an accomplice in your inquiry. The entire work is posted online (someone can help with a link?).

The Catholic Answers website is also very rich in assistance.

The Catechism holds that all humanity stems from one man and one woman - the original parents of all humankind. These two are traditionally known as Adam and Eve. It would follow that no humans existed before them or that time. I don’t know of any official Church document addressing the Gap theory specifically.

Many, including myself, don’t read a ‘gap’ between Gen 1 and 2. Briefly, for me Gen 2 is a closer look at the last part (the human part) of Gen 1. I don’t read them as separate. 1 flows reasonably and artfully into 2.

Hope this helped.
Peter

 

[LilyM]

I was wondering what the Church’s teaching was on the Gap Theory. Specifically the “gap” between verse 1 and 2 of Genesis, and the theory that there were people and another flood before Adam and Eve. I wanted to get the official Church view before I investigate. I have listened to and read evidence supporting the theory.

Thanks

People (humans) AND another flood? Both BEFORE Adam and Eve? That’s definitely not what the church teaches.

 

[Ron_Conte]

the teaching of Humani Generis does not allow for such a theory:
vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xii/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_12081950_humani-generis_en.html
see n. 37 especially.

Neither does Scripture permit such an opinion:

[1 Cor]
{15:42} So it is also with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown in corruption shall rise to incorruption.
{15:43} What is sown in dishonor shall rise to glory. What is sown in weakness shall rise to power.
{15:44} What is sown with an animal body shall rise with a spiritual body. If there is an animal body, there is also a spiritual one.
{15:45} Just as it was written that the first man, Adam, was made with a living soul, so shall the last Adam be made with a spirit brought back to life.
{15:46} So what is, at first, not spiritual, but animal, next becomes spiritual.
{15:47} The first man, being earthly, was of the earth; the second man, being heavenly, will be of heaven.

 

[Starwynd]

In 1655, Frenchman Isaac La Peyrère published his theory that not only did Adam come from pre-Adamic stock (rather than being formed by God from the dust of the ground), but also Cain’s wife and the inhabitants of Cain’s city came from other pre-Adamic stock

In the 18th and 19th centuries, because white and non-white people looked superficially different, a minority of Christians thought that God had created non-whites separately from Adam, and so they must have descended from pre-Adamic creatures. Hence pre-Adamism took the form of polygenism, or multiple creations of different races. Proponents of this idea often thought that non-whites were inferior beings who could be treated as slaves. Pre-Adamism thus became the scientific justification for slavery, and a defense for racism.

From:

answersingenesis.org/creation/v24/i4/humans.asp

However, the article does state that the gap theory has been discredited.

More information:

According to La Peyrère, God created the Gentiles on the sixth day when He said, “Let us make man in our image” (Genesis 1:26). He did not create the Jews until after the seventh day, His day of rest. At some point after the seventh day, God created Adam, the father of the Jews.

La Peyrère cited Scripture to support his hypothesis. Cain’s fear of being lynched, his marriage to an unknown woman and the fact that he founded a city (Genesis 4:14-17) are all interpreted as evidence that another race of men coexisted with Adam and his family.

From:

gotquestions.org/pre-Adamic-race.html

The only Pre-Adamic beings were that of Lilith, from the Hebrew legend, and the fallen angels.