drpm << Phil, I’m not clear on how #1 and #2 differ. Can you please clarify this for me? >>
Perhaps #1 and #2 can be included into one:
Side 1&2: Macroevolution is true since all the scientific evidence points to this conclusion; traditional Catholic dogma on Adam/Eve, original sin, Genesis and the Fall is true, but this dogma is difficult to reconcile with evolution, and some Catholics think should be re-interpreted in light of modern science. Much of Genesis 1-11 is probably “myth” or “symbolical” or “figurative.”
The only difference between my original #1 and #2 is some think traditional Catholic dogma should be re-interpreted to the point where it doesn’t resemble traditional Catholic dogma. I would submit that is what John Haught has done in his book
Responses to 101 Questions on God and Evolution when he says there was no historical Adam/Eve, and original sin is “our general state of present human estrangement from God, from each other, and from the world. We have not inherited anything from a literal Adam/Eve, but rather have inherited environments, cultures, habits, and a whole history filled with evil and opposition to life.” (paraphrase but this is accurate)
The definition we find in the Catechism and a source like Ludwig Ott
Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma is:
- Adam and Eve transmitted to their descendants human nature wounded by their own first sin and hence deprived of original holiness and justice; this deprivation is called “original sin.”
Adam’s sin is transmitted to his posterity, not by imitation, but by descent. (De Fide)
Original Sin consists in the deprivation of grace caused by the free act of sin committed by the head of the race. (Sent communis)
Original Sin is transmitted by natural generation. (De Fide)
In the state of Original Sin man is deprived of sanctifying grace and all that this implies, as well as of the preternatural gifts of integrity. (De Fide in regard to Sanctifying Grace and the Donum Immortalitatis, Denz 788ff)
Other De Fide teachings are the following:
– God was moved by His Goodness to create the world. (De Fide)
– The world was created for the Glorification of God. (De Fide)
– The Three Divine Persons are one single, common Principle of the Creation. (De Fide)
– God created the world free from exterior compulsion and inner necessity. (De Fide)
– God has created a good world. (De Fide)
– The world had a beginning in time. (De Fide)
– God alone created the world. (De Fide)
– God keeps all created things in existence. (De Fide)
– God, through His Providence, protects and guides all that He has created. (De Fide)
– The first man was created by God. (De Fide)
– Man consists of two essential parts – a material body and a spiritual soul. (De Fide)
– Every human being possesses an individual soul. (De Fide)
– Our first parents, before the Fall, were endowed with sanctifying grace. (De Fide)
– The donum immortalitatis, i.e. the divine gift of bodily immortality of our first parents. (De Fide)
– Our first parents in paradise sinned grievously through transgression of the Divine probationary commandment. (De Fide)
– Through the original sin our first parents lost sanctifying grace and provoked the anger and the indignation of God. (De Fide)
– Our first parents became subject to death and to the dominion of the Devil. (De Fide)
That’s what I affirm, but I admit all of this is difficult to reconcile with an evolutionary view without radical re-interpretation. According to Haught, there were no “our first parents.”
Phil P
Sorry I heard that once from Joseph Cambell, the expert on “myth” or was that Carl Sagan’s objection to heaven? :heaven:
