A Blog for Dallas Area Catholics

Some thoughts on our first parents and evolution September 20, 2012

A new commenter, a local man named David, directed me to his blog where he asks some questions about the formation of Adam – how Adam came into being:

Where did Adam come from?

Do not misunderstand my question.  I believe that God created Adam.  I believe that the biblical account of the creation of Man is historically true.  That is to say, I believe that the creation of Man by Almighty God was a real and singular event in the history of the universe.

On the other hand, I do not believe that Adam appeared literally and physically out of nowhere, ready made in an instant, a pillar of dust whipped up into the perfect shape of an adult male.

Fellow Catholic Traditionalist, what say you?

I believe David is getting at questions of evolution, or how God may have intervened in His creation to create man.  Prior to the past few years, and being an engineer trained very thoroughly in all the modern scientific beliefs, I tended to accept the scientific theory of evolution as nearly or entirely true and valid.  I also held some view, however, that evolution may have merely been the means by which God went about doing his creation.  I should add that, while holding these views, I was not very well formed at the time.  But, the current view of the Church regarding these matters is not excluding of evolution, while also not endorsing it.

It needs to be made clear that, contrary to what Fr. Barron thinks, Adam and Eve were real, literal people.  This belief had been so universally and totally accepted that to me it is dogmatic, making up part of of the Ordinary Universal Magisterium, and of course it was thoroughly endorsed by Venerable Pope Pius XII in Humani Generis.  It is not until the last 100-150 years that doubts as to Adam and Eve’s existence were raised, initially by modenists but now by many Catholics.  This is a catastrophe, for, without Adam and Eve and their fall, the entire salvation history becomes meaningless and we’re down to a modernist, immanentist religion (God exists in each one of us, we kind of “create” god and religion by our faith-like desires).

But, how Adam and Eve were formed has never really been defined by the Church (please correct me if I am wrong).  As I said, I used to accept evolution more or less at face value as I had been taught in secular institutions over many years, but now I am almost totally ske9ptical. I wouldn’t say I reject completely, totally out of hand, but I doubt it, severely.  I just don’t believe that all this incredibly beautiful and varied life that is on this planet formed by accident.  I don’t believe we’re a cosmic joke, the result of some chemicals deciding to become proteins, and then those proteins forming into strings, which became more complex, and eventually resulted in cells, etc.  Give me a break. I also don’t accept the Big Bang as the beginning of the universe – where did the incredibly dense, superheated ball of matter come from that formed the universe?  “God-particle” or no, “science” will never be able to answer that.

And, science has been horribly, terribly wrong almost as often – or perhaps more often – than it has been right over the past 1000 years.  Science has given us such wonderful concepts as eugenics, invitro-fertilization, alchemy, “ether,” etc., etc.  It is imminently possible that the erudite 1000 years from now will look back on this quaint medieval time as one of pathetic, anti-scientific superstition.  They may well laugh at evolution.

So, how did God form Adam and Eve?  I will say this:  if God can create the Universe out of nothing, which I totally believe, he can create man out of dust and dirt. If God can change bread and wine into the most awesome miracle in history, His Body and Blood, He can create man from essentially nothing.  That doesn’t mean one has to accept such to be a faithful Catholic – the Church has not formally defined this, or even really settled on this informally, as far as I know – but, as I’ve grown in the Faith, I think it helps. A lot.

Why?  My personal experience has shown that there are things in Scripture that are difficult to understand. But, these things are not vital for our salvation.  I find it helps not to focus on such things.  That might be an evasive answer – I don’t mean it to be – but as I said, these things are not vital to our salvation, and one needs to ask where such questions or doubts come from.  They could come from just natural curiosity, but our enemy also wants us to doubt and question, to lose faith.  There is a danger in this.

One thing I would advise for someone with such questions is to get a really good study Bible.  Far more often than not, all these questions have been dealt with by people more holy and learned than us. I strongly recommend the Haydock Study Bible.  In a comment, David asked, “where did Cain’s wife come from?”  Fr. Haydock says that Cain married a daughter of Adam and Eve, and that God overcame the natural problems of such a union, since there was no alternative at the time.   That’s not necessarily the only answer, and certainly has an ick factor for us, but we are separated from that time and place by an immense distance, especially in the morals that were slowly inculcated into men through God’s revelation.  One can also query various other experts on morals, but I would be extremely careful which study Bible I used and which person I turned to.  Almost all Bibles written in the 20th century are colored by modernism to one degree or another, and the experts, as well.  That is why I favor the Haydock Bible, it was compiled in the late 18th century, but the language was somewhat modernized in 1859.

In summation, to a long and probably not very helpful post, I would add that people have struggled with these  questions since the inception of the Church, and especially over the past several centuries when the claims of science have been put forth as incompatible with much of the Faith.  All of these things have been thought through before, but it may take a good deal of digging to find an answer that makes sense.  I’m not sure if Cornelius a Lapide covered Genesis – I know his Commentary on the New Testament is amazingly comprehensive and has an answer for every possible objection, confusion, or concern.  You could also see if St. Robert Bellarmine (who has a great commentary on Psalms), Cardinal Tomasso Cajetan, or Suarez covered Genesis.  Sorry, I’m pretty solid on the New Testament but not so much on the Old Testament, especially Genesis.  I just haven’t gotten there, yet.  That priest at Mater Dei can probably help direct you to a good source, as well, in addition to answering your questions directly.

I apologize for any error or obscurity in the above!  As I said, early Genesis is probably one of my weakest areas in terms of Scripture knowledge.  I would stress again not to get too bogged down in these issues. I know there is a curiosity about such things, but don’t let it distract from the really dogmatic subjects.