Jerry << I see that everyone here is afraid to reply to my post about the special creation of Eve from Adam. Is anyone who supports theistic evolution and is Catholic brave enough to answer this question: How can the special creation of Eve from Adam be reconciled with Evolution? >>
I’ve answered this in the past. Eve could be specially created from the side of Adam, just as Adam could have been specially created. Miracles are not scientifically testable, and science can say little about them. All we can say from current paleoanthropology is that “Adam/Eve” would have evolved within a population of humans (or proto-humans). Philosopher Dennis Bonnette on Adam/Eve:
“…evolutionary science sees the broad picture of human origins taking place over a time-frame measured in hundreds of thousands, or even millions of years. It cannot focus on events affecting a single pair of humans at a given point in time. Anthropological data and theories are so general that they cannot oppose particular facts about an Adam and Eve, unless even the broad trends of such data are shown to oppose such particulars’ possibilities. Speculation based upon present data can, at best, indicate the nature and activities of early humans, pointing to largely undefined populations and imprecise time periods. It cannot address with precision the conditions of existence of a single pair of humans at a particular, distant-past time. It cannot exclude, a priori, the possibility of miraculous divine intervention whose reality falls entirely outside the fossil record.” (
Origin of the Human Species)
Also I’ll remind everyone that the “genetic” Adam/Eve would not be the “biblical” Adam/Eve for this reason:
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, author of
The Journey of Man)
Jerry << In other words why can’t both be true? >>
Both can be true, I tend to say God intervened at the beginning of the universe, at first life, and at the creation of the first humans with souls. That might put me in the progressive creationist camp rather than theistic evolution. But I define theistic evolution as those who accept “common descent” (macroevolution, which I do) and who believe in God.
Phil P
