Re: [asa] Created Humans

To begin with, the distinction between "evolved" and "created" humans is, at the least, very sloppy theology. Even though Schneider refers to God "creating the universe" &c, the distinction between the 2 types of humans suggests that "evolved" humans (& by extension all other evolved things) are not as much "creations" of God as "created" humans. The Nicene Creed, OTOH, says that God is the maker "of all that is."

More serious is the fact that having "created humans" as a separate creation isolates the Incarnation from all the rest of creation. This fits in all too easily with the popular notion that the goal of God's work in Christ is to save us from the world rather than - as Col.1:15-20 indicates - to save us as part of the reconciliation of all things. OTOH, the fact that the Word became Incarnate as a member of an evolved species enables us to understand how the work of Christ can impact all of creation, and also helps to deal with the theodicy questions involved in evolution via natural selection. I dealt with this a number of years ago in an article in the predecessor of PSCF which can be found at http://www.asa3.org/ASA/PSCF/1986/JASA3-86Murphy.html .

There are other problems but those are the primary ones.

Shalom
George
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
  ----- Original Message -----
  From: Mountainwoman
  To: asa@calvin.edu
  Sent: Saturday, September 30, 2006 8:19 AM
  Subject: Re: [asa] Created Humans

  On Sept 27, George Murphy wrote (re Robert C. Schneider's PSCF article):
  Schneider's view seems superficially to be much better than that of those whose simply deny evolution but in fact he does deny it in the way that is most important theologically. In his scenario "created humans" are cut off from the evolutionary process so, among other things, the Incarnation has no connection with the non-human part of the world. In fact, his distinction between "created" humans and "evolved" Homo sapiens really comes down to the naive "creation or evolution" dichotomy. We are "created" but all those other species are only "evolved."

  Could someone more familiar with this topic than I am please elaborate on why this is a theological problem.

  Paul Bruggink

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Received on Sat Sep 30 12:05:51 2006