This is extremely helpful my friend, thank you. I believe this to be an important part of apologetics because if you can undermine Adam and Eve, you can undermine Christianity.I wrote a research paper on this topic for my Theology masters. Here’s an exert that may help you:
A recent development in this field of genetics involves the tracing of the male Y-chromosome and the female mitochondrial DNA. Scientists can re-trace branches of ancestry of multiple cultures and races and determine when and where the branches “came together” to a common past parent. Earlier research had resulted in finding a common male “father” for the entire human race somewhere in the time-frame of 50,000 to 115,000 years ago and a common female “mother” in the time-frame of 150,000 to 240,000 years ago. Scientists struggled to theorize how the common “mother” and “father” could live tens of thousands of years apart. Interestingly, the geneticists gave their original male and female the names “Y Chromosome Adam” and “Mitochondrial Eve”. The most recent advancement in genome research was presented in August of 2013 in the professional journal “Science”. A world-wide sampling of DNA from 69 men resulted in the refining of the estimated life of “Y Chromosome Adam” to between 120,000 to 156,000 years ago. Consequently the best estimates of today’s geneticists point to a striking possibility that “Y Chromosome Adam” and “Mitochondrial Eve” were indeed contemporaries. Although these amazing findings receive scarce attention from secular culture and academia, they clearly refute the popular notion of polygenism and vindicate Pope Pius XII’s teaching in “Humani Generis” and indeed the ancient teaching of the Genesis text itself.
Reference: Erin Wayman, “Y chromosome analysis moves Adam closer to Eve, Genetic studies push back age of men’s most recent common ancestor”, Science News (7 September 2013), online edition: sciencenews.org/article/y-chromosome-analysis-moves-adam-closer-eve, assessed 17 November 2013.
From Wayman’s article: “We’re not saying they’re exact contemporaries or they actually met or all men and women descended from the same couple,” says study coauthor Carlos Bustamante of Stanford University. Y Chromosome Adam and Mitochondrial Eve aren’t the first human man and woman either, but they are real people whose Y chromosome and mitochondrial DNA have been passed down with modifications to every living male and female.I wrote a research paper on this topic for my Theology masters. Here’s an exert that may help you:
… The most recent advancement in genome research was presented in August of 2013 in the professional journal “Science”. A world-wide sampling of DNA from 69 men resulted in the refining of the estimated life of “Y Chromosome Adam” to between 120,000 to 156,000 years ago. Consequently the best estimates of today’s geneticists point to a striking possibility that “Y Chromosome Adam” and “Mitochondrial Eve” were indeed contemporaries…
Reference: Erin Wayman, “Y chromosome analysis moves Adam closer to Eve, Genetic studies push back age of men’s most recent common ancestor”, Science News (7 September 2013), online edition: sciencenews.org/article/y-chromosome-analysis-moves-adam-closer-eve, assessed 17 November 2013.
Yes, these recent genetic discoveries don’t prove monogenism…however they certainly are consistent with what we would expect to find. Additionally I would say they dispel the popular notion that the distinguishing features of different races of humans (African, Asian, etc.) point to a polygenistic origin of man. We now know that all current races of mankind originate from a single man and a single woman. Yes, it is possible that there were other men and women alive at the time of Y Chromosome Adam and Mitochondrial Eve, and that their “branches” died out. However, one would expect to find that all of those contemporaries of Y Chromosome Adam and Mitochondrial Eve also could trace their ancestors to a single man and woman, and so on, and so on…until we get to our original parents. These most recent genetic discoveries are wholly consistent with monogenism.From Wayman’s article: “We’re not saying they’re exact contemporaries or they actually met or all men and women descended from the same couple,” says study coauthor Carlos Bustamante of Stanford University. Y Chromosome Adam and Mitochondrial Eve aren’t the first human man and woman either, but they are real people whose Y chromosome and mitochondrial DNA have been passed down with modifications to every living male and female.
Indeed, that kind of polygenism was a popular notion in the mid-20th century and earlier, perhaps in part due to sheer racism, in part due to ignorance.… Additionally I would say they dispel the popular notion that the distinguishing features of different races of humans (African, Asian, etc.) point to a polygenistic origin of man …
Indeed. You have concisely and accurately summarized the scenario Kemp proposes.To be clear, the Church teaches that all of humanity can trace it’s ancestry back to two individuals.
That said, these two individuals might not be the only members of the species that were alive at the time. They are just the first two individuals endowed with rational souls, whose descendants all had rational souls. There may have been other near members of the species quite early on who were not endowed with such souls, who could have been bred with. Over time, rational souls were distributed throughout all of the remaining population down from these two individuals. Church teaching doesn’t preclude a scenario such as this.