Evolutionary Creation is for Everyone

In the estimation of Pope Pius XII, the crucial issue facing Christianity when interpreting evolution is not neglecting essential RCC dogma. This view was reinforced and expanded in 1996 by Pope John Paul II in his address to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. Pope John Paul II fully embraced the theory of evolution. He said, “Today, almost half a century after the publication of the Encyclical, fresh knowledge has led to the recognition that evolution is more than a hypothesis.”2 As a result, RCC has not made belief in the theory of evolution binding on the consciences of Roman Catholics, although it has maintained the essentialness of adhering to the imago dei of human beings.

While these are by no means the conclusive or exclusive contributions to the discussion of the RCC’s teaching on evolution, they do provide a window into how the RCC interpretation of evolution by natural selection has itself evolved. As a scientific theory, evolution by natural selection is permitted to be believed, so long as it is not conflated with atheistic materialism or used to contradict RCC dogma. God is to be believed as the primary cause of creation who established secondary causes that act in accordance with the natural laws that he has established. Evolution by natural selection is compatible with the Catholic faith in so far as it is maintained that God is Creator, and evolution by natural selection is a secondary cause that follows the natural laws established by God.

Roman Catholic theology and Evolutionary Creation, then, fit together. God is the creator, man is made in his image, and all of creation has evolved following the natural laws as a secondary cause. Evolution is not a philosophy that makes sense of life, rather it is a secondary biological process by which life changes and new lifeforms arise over time.

Isaac the Syrian argued that scientific knowledge is only about the physical reality, and therefore is a “lower” knowledge than knowledge about the spiritual reality. Scientific knowledge is based solely on knowledge gained from physical reality as it appears to the senses, whereas the spiritual knowledge corresponds to what really is. Scientific knowledge gives us insight into how reality appears, but not how reality actually is.³ The evolutionary narrative, therefore, moving from simple organisms to complex humans fits neatly within the EO compatibility perspective because it reflects the creation story of Genesis leading from simple light and darkness to complex humans. For the compatibilists in the EO faith, the “lower” narrative of evolution compatibly follows the “higher” narrative of Scripture.

The EC perspective maintains that the “two books” of Scripture and nature are compatible and in harmony. They are telling two different sides of the same story. Evolution is telling the story of the development of nature. Christian theology tells us what it means, why it is, and how God relates to it all.

EC is for Protestants

The first responses in the late nineteenth century to Darwin’s theory of evolution from Protestant theologians came in the form of two primary areas of concern. The first concern was about the issue of the transmutation of species (species changing over time). The second concern was about the role of design in nature and how evolutionary theory could potentially replace it. However, other issues, such as the literalness of the days of creation week, and the existence of sin and death before “the fall,” were not concerns that Protestant theologians had when they interacted with Darwin’s theory.

Most scientists, as well as theologians, prior to the publication of Darwin’s book On the Origin of Species believed that the geological record revealed that species do not change over time. Moreover, Genesis chapter one describes the various animals and plants of God’s creation being made “each according to its kind.” And so, evolution presented a real challenge to some Protestant theologians’ interpretation of both the geological record and the Bible.