Re: continued human evolution
George Murphy (gmurphy@raex.com)
Fri, 24 Apr 1998 16:11:39 -0400David Campbell wrote:
>
> >Now my question. Are we humans still evolving (speciating into some
> >other species)? If the answer is in the affirmative, what about the
> >man Jesus who lives today in flesh and blood, is he speciating too
> >into another god (sounds like mormomism doesn't it)?
>
> There are some ongoing physical changes, e.g. increase in average height
> and decrease in jaw size, that show shifts since Jesus' day. We change our
> environment to suit ourselves rather than adapting to it, so it seems as
> though only something drastic would cause more significant mutation. The
> problem of species definitions also arises here.
> I don't think such physical shifts would affect our relationship with God.
> Glenn Morton strongly argues that previous hominid species have also been
> human in the sense of made in God's image; this would imply that future
> species could be incorporated, too.
> C.S. Lewis suggested that becoming a Christian could be viewed as the next
> step in human evolution. Although I think he was thinking more
> teleologically than is accepted in modern evolutionary thought, it is an
> idea worth further examination, at least as a metaphor.
Teilhard de Chardin argued that the superpersonal Body of Christ
is the next stage in evolution: As individual cells evolved into
multicellular organisms [I know that's a sloppy way of putting it],
individual persons are to come together into a corporate entity whose
head (in the Pauline sense) is Christ. The idea has a good deal to
recommend it - I Cor.12 e.g. But it needs clearer working out than
Teilhard gave it.
(Of course one has to recognize the distinctive role of the Holy
Spirit in the life of the Church/Body of Christ - but the Spirit is also
"the lord and giver of life" - i.e., all life.)
George
George L. Murphy
gmurphy@imperium.net
http://www.imperium.net/~gmurphy