>These days I read my way through some good books all
>written by authors holding a TE viewpoint. I certainly
>enjoy the reading, but there is one issue I just can't
>find in these books, and that is the spirited/souled
>man as made in God's image (God breathed his spirit
>into the nostrils of man etc.). It is perfectly fine
>with me that man is a product of an evolving nature,
>but how do TE's account for man being a creature with
>a soul/spirit? I mean, how did the soul of man evolve?
>Can biological evolution explain that? And, if not,
>who can?
I know of two major categories of explanation. One is that the soul did not evolve. God took a body He created via evolution and stuck a soul into it when the time was right.
Alternatively, there might be some sort of supernatural evolution analogous to biological evolution.
The evolution of the soul could be a relatively gradual process, or it could be an emergent property of biological complexity.
Somewhat intermediate between the two would be the assumption that God created life such that, at a certain point, a soul would come in.
I'm not sure how to try to decide among these unless we find other organisms with souls.
Dr. David Campbell
"Old Seashells"
Biology Department
Saint Mary's College of Maryland
18952 E. Fisher Road
St. Mary's City, MD 20686-3001 USA
dcampbell@osprey.smcm.edu, 301 862-0372 Fax: 301 862-0996
"Mollusks murmured 'Morning!'. And salmon chanted 'Evening!'."-Frank Muir, Oh My Word!
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