Evolution and Creation 0268009171, 9780268009175

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0134196

231.765 E93

Evolution and Creation

GLORIA, GAINES MEMORIAL LIBRAHY MARYMOUNT COLLEGE TARRYTOWN, N.Y. 10591-3796

UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME STUDIES IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION Number 4

Evolution and Creation ERNAN MCMULLIN, EDITOR

UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME PRESS NOTRE DAME, INDIANA 46556

Copyright ® 1985 by University of Notre Dame Press Notre Dame, Indiana 46556 All Rights Reserved

Manufactured in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Main entry under title: Evolution and creation. Bibliography: p. 1. Evolution —Congresses. 2. Creation —Congresses. 3. Evolution —Religious aspects —Christianity —Congresses. I. McMullin, Ernan, 192484-40818 QH359.E89 1985 231.7’65 ISBN 0-268-00917-1

In memory of GEORGE N. SHUSTER

(1894-1977) A man for all occasions

CONTENTS

Preface

xi

Contributors

xiii

Introduction: Evolution and Creation • Ernan McMullin 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

Two Notions 1 Evolution: Early History 3 Creation 8 Augustine’s “Seed-Principles” 11 Aquinas on Creation 16 A New Kind of Scientific Explanation The Rise of Physicotheology 27 The Long Time Scale 32 Postscript 38 Evolution and Philosophy 38 Evolution and Physics 43 Evolution and Politics 45 Notes 48

1

21

PART ONE: EVOLUTION The Theory of Evolution: Recent Successes and Challenges • Francisco J. Ayala 1. The “Fact” of Evolution 59 2. Evolutionary History 61 3. The Molecular Clock of Evolution 68 4. The Origin of Genes 71 5. The Multiplicity of Genes 74 6. “Nonsense” DNA and “Horizontal” Transfer of Genes 7. Hereditary Variation 78 8. Natural Selection and Chance 82 9. Gradual and Sudden Evolution 84 References 89 Vll

59

76

Contents

Modern Cosmology and the Creation of Life • Jol?n Leslie 1. Some Alleged Weaknesses of Design Arguments 91 2. Why Many of the So-Called “Weaknesses” Could Fail to Impress Cosmologists 94 3. Some Main Lines Which Further Research Could Take 4. One Way of Understanding ‘Creation by God’ 115 Notes 118

The Question of Natural Purpose • Phillip R. Sloan 1. Historical Review

91

107

121

122

1.1. Final Causation and Seventeenth-Century Science 122 1.2. Nature and Natural Purpose in Eighteenth-Century Biology 127 1.3- Buffon: Nature As Subservient to Divine Law 128 1.4. Hume: Nature As Profligate Mother 129 2. Natural Purpose in Darwin’s Biology

132 133

2.1. Nature As Selecting Demiurge 2.2. Post-Malthusian Darwin: Nature As Internal System 135 2.3. Darwin’s Critique of Natural Purpose 138 3. Purpose and Evolution: Necessary Clarifications Notes 144

l4l

PART TWO: CREATION Creation According to the Old Testament • Dianne Bergant, C.S.A., and Carroll Stuhlmueller, C.P.

153

Introduction 153 1. Creation in Genesis 155 1.1. Genesis 2 156 1.2. Genesis 1 159 2. Creation in Prophecy and Psalms 162 2.1. Prophecy and Creation 162 2.2. The Psalms and Creation 167 Conclusion 171 Notes 172

The Doctrine of Creation from Nothing • David Kelsey 1. Scope

176

God’s World-Relatedness World’s God-Relatedness

176 177

176

Contents

IX

Creation As an Event Interrelations 182

180

2. Theological Warrants Appendix 192 Notes 195

184

God’s Action in the World • William P. Alston 1. The Problem 197 2. Determinism and Divine Agency

197

198

3. Is Direct Divine Intervention Possible? 206 4. Is Direct Divine Intervention Required? 210 5. Special Acts of God without Direct Intervention 6. Conclusion 218 Notes 218

214

PART THREE: EVOLUTION AND CREATION Christians Get the Best of Evolution • James F. Ross 1. Introduction

223

223

1.1. A Question of Human Nature, Not Causation 223 1.2. A Question of Unity in Being 224 1.3- Evolution Suggests Emergence, but Emergence Does Not Require Evolution 225 1.4. Prospects for Analogy of Being: Psychic vs. Material 225 1.3. Initial Approximation 226 1.6. Humans Both Native and Emergent 226 1.7. Human Being and Material Being Are Analogous (Analogia Entis) 228 1.8. Is This Novel? 229 2. A Theological Reflection

Context Affects Content

229 229

3. Emergence and Inaccessibility

230

3.1. The Formality (the Formal Structure) of the Universe 3.2. The Cosmos Is Gddel-Incomplete 231 3.3. Now We Enter the Realm of Supposition 232 4. Emergent Systems 234 5. Physical Organization and Psychic Energy: Energy Manifested in Meaning 238 What is Pivotal? 241 6. Special Creation? 241

231

Contents

X

7. Cosmic Comments 243 To Be Is To Continue To Be 8. Conclusion 245 Notes 246

243

Evolutionary Explanations of Religion and Morality: Explaining Religion Away? • William H. Austin

252

1. Summary Judgment Denied 255 2. Wilson’s Account of Religion 258 3. Religion As Adaptive 264 4. The Alternatives of Scientific Naturalism Notes

266

270

Production and Prospect: Reflections on Christian Hope and Original Sin • Nicholas Lash 1. An “Aboriginal Calamity” 2. The Quest for Coherence

273 275

3. Anthropocentrism 277 4. Theology and the “Constituted Sciences” 5. “In the Beginning” 6. Darkness and Hope Notes 287

273

280

283 285

Teilhard: Evolution and Creation • Christopher F. Mooney, SJ.

290

1. A Guarantee for the Future 290 2. Science, Philosophy, Religion 293 3. Christian Spirituality 4. Conclusion 300 Notes 301

Index

298

303

PREFACE

Modern natural science depends on a few simple organizing ideas, one of these being the idea of evolution, according to which each natural kind has come to be what it is along a path of gradual development that can be traced backward in time. Theology in the Christian tradition likewise can be seen as the working out of a few fundamental ideas, one of which is that of creation, according to which the universe depends on a transcendent God for its being. These two ideas have interacted in complex ways over the ages and continue to do so today. In recent centuries the tendency has been to see them as opposed to one another. They have been presented as mutually exclusive principles of explanation. In the recent “creationist” debates in the United States the impression has often been given by protagonists on both sides of the issue that one is forced to choose, that one cannot admit both evolution and creation at the same time as complementary approaches to the same natural reality. The conference from which the core of essays in this book derived was inspired by the conviction that this opposing of evolution to creation betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of one or both concepts. Plans for such a conference go back as far as spring 1972, when George N. Shuster, then assistant to the president of the University of Notre Dame, brought together a group of faculty whose researches bore in one way or another on the interactions of science and religion, to discuss the possibility of a major symposium. The group was enthusiastic, but as often happens, enthusiasm did not translate into immediate action. George Shuster’s death in 1977 took away the prime mover, the man who more than any other had labored at Notre Dame to break down the disciplinary barriers that impede the discussion of so many fundamental issues. The long-planned conference finally took place on March 24-26, 1983, under the joint sponsorship of the Program in History and Philosophy of Science and the Center for Philosophy of Religion at the University of Notre Dame. The Program in History and Philosophy of Science has as one of its special concerns the interactions, both historical and philosophical, between science and religion over the ages. It is one of the few degree programs in history and philosophy of science to have this as a focus of its research and teaching. Hence the topic was seen as a peculiarly appropriate one for the first conference to be sponsored by the program. XI

Preface

Xll

The conference was supported by grants from the Lecomte du Nouy Foundation, the Franklin J. Matchette Foundation, and the Center for Philosophy of Religion at the University of Notre Dame. May this volume serve as a tangible expression of gratitude for these generous expressions of support. The papers delivered at the conference have been revised by their authors in the light of discussions at the conference and afterward. In addition, several papers have been added to supplement the original offerings in areas not covered at the conference. The paper by Phillip Sloan, and the joint paper by Carroll Stuhlmueller, C.P., and Dianne Bergant, C.S.A., were specially written for this volume, and the paper by Christopher Mooney, S.J., which appeared originally in Chicago Studies, is reprinted here with permission of the author and editor. I am grateful to Julie McDonald, who prepared the index, to Ryan Welsh, who can convert the messiest manuscript into neat pages of type, and to John Ehmann and the staff of the University of Notre Dame Press for their patience and their help in bringing this anthology to completion.

ERNAN MCMULLIN

CONTRIBUTORS

William P. Alston is professor of philosophy at Syracuse University. Previously he served on the faculties of the University of Michigan, Rutgers University, and the University of Illinois. He is a past president of the Western Division, American Philosophical Association, of the Society of Philosophy and Psychology, and of the Society of Christian Philosophers. Currently he is the editor of Vaith and Philosophy: Journal of the Society of Christian Philosophers. His main current interests are philosophical theology, epistemology, and the intersection thereof. Among his recent articles are “Christian Experience and Christian Belief’ (1983) and “Concepts of Epistemic Justification’’(1985). William Austin is professor of philosophy at the University of Houston, specializing in the philosophy of science and the philosophy of religion. He has written Waves, Particles, and Paradoxes {1%1) and The Relevance of Natural Science to Theology (1976). Among his recent articles are “Rational Credibility and Causal Explanations of Belief’ (1984) and “Theology and Natural Science: Beyond the Truce?’’ (1984). Francisco J. Ayala is professor of genetics at the University of California, Davis. Born in Madrid, Spain, he has lived in the United States since 1961 and became a U.S. citizen in 1971. He is author of more than 300 articles and eight books and has edited two other books. The books include Population and Evolutionary Genetics: A Primer {19^2), Modern Genetics (1980), Evolving: The Theory and Processes of Organic Evolution (1979), Evolution (1977), Molecular Evolution (1976), and Studies in the Philosophy of Biology (1974). He is a member of the National Academy of Science, the American Philosophical Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Dianne Bergant, CSA, is associate professor of Old Testament studies and director of the Master of Theological Studies Program at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. She is the author of Job and Ecclesiastes (1982), and What Are They Saying About Wisdom Literature'^. (1982). She is associate editor of The Bible Today, general editor of the Collegeville Bible Commentary Series, and a member of the Bishop’s Committee on the Liturgy, and the Inclusive Language Lectionary Committee of the National Council of Churches. She is a member of the Congregation of Saint Agnes. Xlll

XIV

Contributors

David H. Kelsey is professor of theology at Yale Divinity School, specializing in systematic theology. His books include The Tabric of Tillich's Theology (1967) and The Uses of Scripture in Theology (1975). Nicholas Lash is Norris-Hulse Professor of Divinity at Cambridge University. Recent books include Theology on Dover Beach (1979) and A Matter of Hope: A Theologian's Reflections on the Thoughts of Karl Marx (1981). A director of Concilium, he edited (with David Tracy) Cosmology and Theology (1983). As a fellow of the Wilson Center, Washington, D.C., in 1986, he will be preparing a study of human experience and the knowledge of God. John Leslie, professor of philosophy at the University of Guelph, specializes in metaphysics, philosophy of religion, and the philosophy of modern cosmology. His Value and Existence (1979) pictures the world as created by the ethical need for it to exist. His articles include “Anthropic Principle, World Ensemble, Design” (1982); “Observership in Cosmology: The Anthropic Principle” (1983); “Cosmology, Probability, and the Need to Explain Life” (1983). Ernan McMuUin is director of the Program in History and Philosophy of Science and occupies the O’Hara Chair of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. He is author of Newton on Matter and Activity (1978) and editor of several anthologies, including Galileo: Man of Science (1967) and The Concept of Matter in Modern Philosophy (1978). Some recent articles: “How Should Cosmology Relate to Theology?” (1981), “The Motive for Metaphor” (1982), “Values in Science” (1983), “The Goals of Natural Science” (1984), “Realism in Theology and in Science” (1985). Christopher F. Mooney, SJ., a member of the Pennsylvania Bar, is academic vice-president of Fairfield University. He has previously served as chair of the Theology Department at Fordham University, president of Woodstock College, and assistant dean at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He holds doctorates in both theology and law, and in recent years his major interest has become the interface between religious and legal values. He has written five books: Teilhard de Chardin and the Mystery of Christ (1966), which won the National Catholic Book Award, The Making of Man (1971), Man Without Tears {191Religion and the American Dream (1977), and Inequality and the American Conscience (1982). James Ross is professor of philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania, with interests in medieval philosophy and contemporary metaphysics, philosophy of language, and philosophy of religion. He wrote Philosophical Theology (1969, 1980), Introduction to Philosophy of Religion (1969), and Portraying Analogy (1982) and is currently completing a book on creation of kinds, possibilities, and eternal truths. Two recent articles are “Aquinas on Belief and Knowledge” (1984) and “Believing for Profit” (1984).

Contributors

XV

Phillip Reid Sloan is an associate professor in the Program of Liberal Studies at the University of Notre Dame, specializing in the history and philosophy of the life sciences, with a particular focus on evolutionary biology. His books include From Natural History to the History of Nature (with John Lyon) (1981). Recent articles include “Darwin’s Invertebrate Program: Preconditions for Transformism” (1985). Carroll Stuhlmueller, C.P., is professor of Old Testament studies at the Catholic Theological Union, Chicago. Recently he has published a two-volume commentary on the Psalms, with Donald Senior the book Biblical Foundations for Mission, and the three-volume set Biblical Meditations for Ordinary Time. He is past president of the Catholic Biblical Association (1978-1979) and of the Chicago Society of Biblical Research (1982-83). In 1973 he was visiting professor at L’Ecole Biblique et Archaeologique, Jerusalem, and has frequently directed graduate study programs in Israel. He is editor of The Bible Today and a priest of the Congregation of the Passion.

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