Re: [asa] Evolution of the Soul

Dave Campbell wrote:

> Among those who accept both evolutionary origins of humans and the
> existence of human spiritual nature, some have suggested a fairly direct infusion of
> this spiritual nature into a non-spiritual, biologically evolved body.
> Others have suggested a gradual evolution of spirituality, paralleling biological
> evolution. Yet another possibility is that God designed organisms such that,
> when a particular threshold of intellectual capacity was reached via
> evolution, the organism would become spiritually aware as well.
>
> I don't know any good way to test these ideas. If we could establish
> agreement as to what physical evidence consistutes evidence of a spiritual nature,
> then we could look for traces of them in the archeological record. Although
> several people have proposed such criteria, there isn't general agreement.
> Furthermore, inability to find such traces associated with early hominids
> could merely mean that the traces are not preserved or that we're not looking for
> the right thing, so it would be hard to get a clear answer even with
> agreement on what to look for.
>

I notice that dogs and cats, at least under the care of humans,
develop some sense of right and wrong. In the wild, or under
the hands of poor leadership, they can develop perverse behavior
as well. In fact, human leadership is an important factor in developing
the character of humans and other higher animals.

So, I would not expect that the soul is the exclusive domain of
"us", and exactly where the boundaries are is rather hard to
decide. Perhaps it is this power of leadership and example that we
can set before both man and beast that makes us especially culpable
on the judgement day and therefore so much more in need of salvation.

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Received on Tue Sep 26 17:21:18 2006