“Can he who made the ear, not hear? Can he who made the eye, not see?” — Psalm 94.

“Unfortunately, a significant number of the most influential theologians treat the issue as if evolution were already an established ‘dogma’. Meanwhile, the evidence of Tradition, as well as contemporary science, again poses the question regarding the formation of the world. Did God create matter and energy, with laws pursuant to which, under God’s Providence, everything incessantly evolves, heading towards the ‘Omega Point’, towards ultimate self-realization? Or rather, did God create the world, and then during six days decorate it (St. Ambrose), that is, add the bounty of new natures…? And after He completed this act of formation on the seventh day He took his rest, and this is when the history of salvation started, a history in which God also acts, albeit in a different manner.” — Michael Chaberek, O.P., Catholicism and Evolution, 2015.

“The truth is that the Church was actually the first thing that ever tried to combine reason and religion. There had never before been any such union of the priests and the philosophers.” — G. K. Chesterton, Everlasting Man, 1925.

I.

Fr. Michael Chaberek’s carefully researched and argued book Catholicism and Evolution examines how the magisterium of the Catholic Church has dealt with Darwin and the subsequent theories of evolution since about one hundred and fifty years ago. Adam and Eve have, of course, been with us for a long time and, indeed, they are still with us in this book. But was there one Adam or many? Where did Adam’s body, if not his soul or whole being, come from? What about Eve? Did she, to provide for future generations, just settle among us by chance or by a special creation? And what about the cosmos itself? Is it still worth reading Genesis and its account of “the Beginning”? Or, if we insist on accepting the chance version of cosmic and human origins, what does this theory do to Christian revelation? Did the Church just “rubber stamp” the latest scientific “theories”, “hypotheses? or speculations no matter how much they contradicted Scripture? Is there a reason to take a “second” look at what the Church Fathers had been saying all along?

Read the article “Catholicism, Evolution and Divine Revelation: A Second Look” on catholicworldreport.com.