Created For Everlasting Life: Can theistic Evolution Provide an Adequate Christian Account of Human Nature?

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Zygon

Abstract

Christians who affirm standard science and the biblical doctrine of creation often endorse theistic evolution as the best approach to human origins. But theistic evolution is ambiguous. Some versions are naturalistic (NTE)-God created humans entirely by evolution-and some are supernaturalistic (STE)-God supernaturally augmented evolution. This article claims that NTE is inadequate as an account of human origins because its theological naturalism and emergent physicalist ontology of the soul or person conflict with the Christian doctrine that God created humans for everlasting life. Both the traditional Christian account of the afterlife and its modern Christian alternatives involve God's supernatural action and a separation (dualism) of person and body at death. STE can combine with several philosophical accounts of the body-soul relation to provide an adequate Christian account of original human nature. © 2013 by the Joint Publication Board of Zygon.

First Page

478

Last Page

495

DOI

10.1111/zygo.12013

Publication Date

6-1-2013

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