Introduction

This book is addressed to those who ask whether Christian belief and acceptance of evolution are compatible. (They are.) More particularly, it seeks to show how the Christian doctrine of original sin can be understood in an evolutionary worldview, and why this view actually does away with the otherwise insoluble theological and philosophical problems of evil and suffering. Written from a standpoint and presupposition of religious faith (specifically, that of Roman Catholicism and of non-fundamentalist Christianity in general), this book does not seek to win over the skeptic to a belief in God or in other Christian doctrines. It follows instead in the theological tradition of “faith seeking understanding,” to show what Christian faith can look like when it takes fully into account the present state of knowledge about human origins. Intellectual honesty requires no less of any believer; and I submit that this particular understanding requires no compromise in the essentials of that faith. I argue, in short, that there is no more reason now than in centuries past to think that the Book of Nature contradicts the Book of Revelation.