ABSTRACT
Within the field of theology and science, discussions regarding the relationship between evolutionary biology and theological anthropology have tended to focus on the themes of “human nature” and “human uniqueness.” The way these concepts have traditionally been formulated, however, has been rendered problematic in light of evolutionary biology and paleoanthropology. Even while divisions between the human and non-human, and between species, intuitively appear to be real, the common ancestry and evolutionary continuity of all life entails that there are no sharp and unambiguous dividing lines between various species, or between humans and other animals. Moreover, taking into account an evolutionary perspective, there appears to be no philosophically consistent or theoretically unproblematic way to establish biological essences or empirical natures. Consequently, the task of scientifically demarcating an unequivocal concept of human nature through which one might assert the essential biological uniqueness of homo sapiens would seem perennially elusive. It is precisely through an affirmation of an essential human uniqueness, though, that many projects in theological anthropology have proceeded, and many traditional and contemporary theological anthropological models have sought a scientifically discernible human nature that can be distinguished from that of other creatures. This chapter will discuss the empirical and methodological dimensions of various approaches to theological anthropology as they relate to evolutionary biology. 1
