Quiddity
UndertheInfluenceofGiants
Bible, evolution are perfectly compatible, says Jesuit magazine
By John Thavis
Catholic News Service
ROME (CNS) -- Properly understood, the Bible and evolutionary science are perfectly compatible, said an influential Jesuit magazine.
To use religious arguments against evolution shows ignorance of the nature of the Bible, the magazine, La Civilta Cattolica, said in its Nov. 19 issue.
On the other hand, science cannot pretend to exclude a divine role behind the creation of the world and man, it said.
The magazine's contents are reviewed prior to publication by the Vatican's Secretariat of State, and its views are thought to reflect Vatican opinion.
In response to its own question -- Is there really an opposition between the widely accepted theory of evolution and the account of creation in Scripture? -- the magazine said: "The answer is no. And the reason is that the Bible is a book that does not try to give a scientific teaching, but a religious teaching.
"In other words, it doesn't try to teach 'how' man appeared historically," it said. Instead, the Bible teaches who man is in relation to God and the world, what is man's spiritual condition, and what is man's destiny, it said.
The article said that when it comes to creation scientists and believers should be careful not to invade each other's fields of competence.
Scientists should not presume to exclude God as the first cause of all creation and, more specifically, as the creator of man, it said. Science cannot say that man was not created by God and is simply the result of chance.
When evolution is presented correctly, however, there is no contradiction with Scripture, it said.
"These are two visions of the origin of man that not only do not contradict each other but complete each other, on the condition that the scientist does not try to exclude any intervention of God in the formation of man and the believer does not try to find in science a confirmation of the biblical account," it said.
By John Thavis
Catholic News Service
ROME (CNS) -- Properly understood, the Bible and evolutionary science are perfectly compatible, said an influential Jesuit magazine.
To use religious arguments against evolution shows ignorance of the nature of the Bible, the magazine, La Civilta Cattolica, said in its Nov. 19 issue.
On the other hand, science cannot pretend to exclude a divine role behind the creation of the world and man, it said.
The magazine's contents are reviewed prior to publication by the Vatican's Secretariat of State, and its views are thought to reflect Vatican opinion.
In response to its own question -- Is there really an opposition between the widely accepted theory of evolution and the account of creation in Scripture? -- the magazine said: "The answer is no. And the reason is that the Bible is a book that does not try to give a scientific teaching, but a religious teaching.
"In other words, it doesn't try to teach 'how' man appeared historically," it said. Instead, the Bible teaches who man is in relation to God and the world, what is man's spiritual condition, and what is man's destiny, it said.
The article said that when it comes to creation scientists and believers should be careful not to invade each other's fields of competence.
Scientists should not presume to exclude God as the first cause of all creation and, more specifically, as the creator of man, it said. Science cannot say that man was not created by God and is simply the result of chance.
When evolution is presented correctly, however, there is no contradiction with Scripture, it said.
"These are two visions of the origin of man that not only do not contradict each other but complete each other, on the condition that the scientist does not try to exclude any intervention of God in the formation of man and the believer does not try to find in science a confirmation of the biblical account," it said.
