>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.
>
I think that evidence of ritual buriel of the dead with items associated
with everday life suggest that Neanderthals may well have had some ideas
about an afterlife. Also the evidence that Neanderthals cared for the sick
and injured (fossil remains of arthritic or otherwise older and incapacated
individuals) indicate that Neanderthals may very well have had a spiritual
life of some sort. While certainly not conclusive, it is certainly
suggestive that our species is not the first to develope spirituality.
>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
>
Joe Janney