The Church and
Adam and Eve
When it comes to Adam and Eve, the
Church seems to get it from both sides.
What do I mean? Often,
Fundamentalists and Evangelicals accuse the Church of taking a modernist approach
and denying the inerrancy of Scripture.
The secular world, on the other hand, accuses us of ignoring scientific
discovery and stubbornly clinging to outdated mythology. The only thing both sides seem to agree upon
is that the Church is wrong. How do we
respond?
The ironic thing is that there is no
more biblical institution on the planet than the Catholic Church, and over the
past 2,000 years, no institution has done more to advance scientific knowledge
than the Church. We have to set the
record straight.
First, we have to look at the
accusations of some of our Protestant brethren.
They, to me, are a little more understandable, and more genuine. The truth is that the Church gives a lot of
freedom when it comes to theological study, which is good. But we have definitely had theologians that
have gone off the deep end. (Then the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith responds and we are accused of
launching a modern-day Spanish Inquisition.)
What many Protestants don’t understand is the difference between the speculation
of individual Catholic theologians and the magisterial teaching of the Church.
That is understandable. None of the Protestant communities are
structured the way the Church is and it’s natural to view someone else through
one’s own reference point. The important
question, however, when it comes to the interpretation of Scripture is, what is
the actual teaching of the Church? You
will find plenty of dissenting theologians, many of whom make plenty of money
undermining Church teaching, and causing confusion both within and without the
Catholic community.
I chose to focus this article on Adam
and Eve. So what is the Church’s
teaching on them? First it should be
noted that the Church acknowledges that there are spiritual and literal
meanings to Scripture and that the book of Genesis is certainly ripe with
symbolism.
Being involved in Catholic education,
I’ve heard multiple educators say that Adam and Eve were not real people, only
symbols. But is this what the Church
teaches?
One of the great treasures of the
Church is the Catechism. So if we hear
something suspicious, we never have to wonder if it is true or not, we can
simply find out what the Church really teaches for ourselves. On Adam and Eve:
374 The
first man was not only created good, but was also established in friendship with
his Creator and in harmony with himself and with the creation around him, in a
state that would be surpassed only by the glory of the new creation in Christ.
375
The
Church, interpreting the symbolism of biblical language in an authentic way, in
the light of the New Testament and Tradition, teaches that our first parents,
Adam and Eve, were constituted in an original “state of holiness and
justice.” This grace of original
holiness was “to share in…divine life.”
390 The
account of the fall in Genesis 3 uses figurative language, but affirms a
primeval event, a deed that took place at
the beginning of the history of man. Revelation
gives us the certainty of faith that the whole of human history is marked by
the original fault freely committed by our first parents. (emphasis in the
original)
Finally, Pope Pius XII, in the same
encyclical in which he permitted Catholic scientists to study evolutionary
theory (albeit to do so responsibly) said:
For
the faithful cannot embrace that opinion which maintains that either after Adam
there existed on this earth true men who did not take their origin through
natural generation from him as from the first parent of all, or that Adam
represents a certain number of first parents. Now it is in no way apparent how
such an opinion can be reconciled with that which the sources of revealed truth
and the documents of the Teaching Authority of the Church propose with regard
to original sin, which proceeds from a sin actually committed by an individual
Adam and which, through generation, is passed on to all and is in everyone as
his own. (Humani Generis)
Wow, very strong language; perhaps
the secular scientific community is right about us? Nope.
Not even close. As I mentioned
before, no institution has been more instrumental in the development and even the
birth of modern science than the Catholic Church.
(For all the grief that’s given over
the Galileo situation, it should be remembered that heliocentrism was developed
by Nicolaus Copernicus, a Catholic priest who received accolades. Galileo was reprimanded for personal
irresponsible actions, not for believing in heliocentrism. But that’s another article.)
Even today, I would contend that the
best scientists are Christians. The
reasons are at least three: 1) Christian scientists are not afraid of the
truth. Secular scientists have to skew
results because they fear where the truth might lead them. Christians know truth can’t contradict truth,
so they are unafraid as they seek greater understanding. 2)
Christian scientists are coming from a set of “givens” that are
accurate, as opposed to secular scientists, whose world view is often slanted,
which results in their science being slanted.
3) Integrity and honesty are
fundamental Christian values. Just look
at any secular high school science text book and you will find piles of
“information” that is outdated, biased, or outright lies. Take, for example, Haeckel’s Embryos, which are
inaccurate and were exposed as falsehoods years ago, and yet which appear
consistently in science text books.
The Church gives incredible lee-way
when it comes to scientific hypotheses.
It does ask that science be performed honestly, but after that, it goes
back to point #1 above. The Church sees
good science as simply an opportunity to better understand God’s creation. I think we should recall, however, that
science, being performed by fallible human beings, will always be fallible,
while Revelation comes from an infallible God.
One of Pope John Paul II’s most important documents is Fides et Ratio, on the relationship of
faith and reason.
What about the Church’s stubborn
teaching that Adam and Eve were real, individual people then? Secular scientists have mocked us for years
and even suggested that such silly beliefs are reason enough to dismiss us out
of hand altogether.
But scientific discovery has betrayed
them. Recent study of mitochondria has
shown that all human beings descend from an original female. The scientific community has unoriginally
called this woman “Mitochondrial Eve.”
What they have actually stumbled upon is a cellular connection to the
real Eve.
But there’s even more. Modern study of the Y-chromosome has
demonstrated that all males are descended from a single male ancestor somewhere
in the distant past. Such a
determination can not be made about modern females because they lack a
Y-chromosome, of course. Scientists are
quick to point out that the original male ancestor of all modern males lived
many years after Mitochondrial Eve, and therefore must have started the chain
with one of her progeny. However, the
dating of this man so much later is based on assumptions that we have no real
cause to believe are legitimate. And of
course I suppose it’s possible (perhaps likely) that Mitochondrial Eve is Eve
and Y-chromosomal Adam is actually Noah.
It’s funny that, though some
scientists have tried to discredit the research (presumably because they know where it
leads), no one dismisses it as superstitious fantasy. What Christians can be mocked for, a scientist
can offer for peer review, if it is dressed up properly.
This brings me back to the beginning
of this article. As Catholics we should
make no apologies. We are often come at
from multiple angles, but we need not back down. It may take some time, but the truth will always
vindicate the Church.
