This means that these two human species (apparently they did not interbreed)
lived together for 5-7000 years and shared an advanced culture with
manufacture of tools, ornaments and rites. The fact that a human species,
Homo neanderthalensis, with a cultural advancement indistinguishable from
contemporary Homo sapiens went extinct is not easy to accept.
The implications for a Christian interpretation of the goal of evolution are
difficult to define immediately. Right off one wonders whether Neanderthals
might have thought about matters like a Creator, imperfections of nature,
sin and redemption. While this may never be cleared up, one implication
seems certain: there is no a priori reason to assume that we, Homo sapiens
sapiens, constitute the ultimate step in the realisation of God's creative
miracle. Previous human species have gone before us and perhaps new species
will come after us.
While the body of the Universal Christ of St. Paul may well encompass both
us and other human, God-knowing species, one is nevertheless left with a
rather open ended question: if our species is not the one to experience the
end of time, what then is the point Omega like?
John-Erik Stig Hansen, MD, DMSc
Laboratory for Infectious Diseases, Hvidovre Hospital, Denmark
E-mail: infejesh@inet.uni-c.dk Homepage: http://inet.uni-c.dk/~infejesh