{"id":19,"date":"2009-05-11T08:04:44","date_gmt":"2009-05-11T08:04:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/scienceandthesacred\/2009\/05\/evolution-and-the-imago-dei.html"},"modified":"2014-05-19T09:16:37","modified_gmt":"2014-05-19T13:16:37","slug":"evolution-and-the-imago-dei","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/scienceandthesacred\/2009\/05\/evolution-and-the-imago-dei.html","title":{"rendered":"Evolution and the Imago Dei<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\"bible_DNA.jpg\"<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Genesis 1:26-27 reads: “Then God said, `Let us make man in our image,
\nin our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the
\nbirds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all
\nthe creatures that move along the ground.’ So God created man in his
\nown image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he
\ncreated them.”\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Immediately
\nafter Darwin published “The Origin of Species” in 1859, the
\nconsequences for human origins, biblical interpretation and people’s
\nrelationship with God were apparent. The potential disparity between
\nthis Genesis creation story and Darwin’s theory leads people to assume
\nthe church at the time felt threatened and opposed evolution. But many
\nchurch leaders in the late 19th century actually embraced Darwin’s
\ntheory as insight to the means by which God created the world. As just
\none example, the conservative Christian theologian B. B. Warfield
\nwrote,”I am free to say, for myself, that I do not think that there is
\nany general statement in the Bible or any part of the account of
\ncreation, either as given in Gen. I & II or elsewhere alluded to,
\nthat need be opposed to evolution.”\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The
\nidea that humans might be related to the great apes was not universally
\nwell received, however. The wife of the Bishop of Worcester, England, upon
\nhearing this news, reportedly responded with some alarm. “Descended
\nfrom the apes? My dear, let us hope that it is not true,” she said.
\n“But if it is, let us pray that it will not become widely known.”\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Now
\n150 years later, we still seem to be fighting this battle. A recent
\nGallup poll indicates that 44 percent of people in the United States
\nbelieve God created humans in their present form fewer than 10,000
\nyears ago. The Washington Post<\/i>
\nwriter Kathleen Parker points out<\/a> one of the serious consequences of
\nthis situation in her recent column. “The problem of not believing in
\nevolution as one might not believe in, say, goblins or flying pigs has
\nrepercussions beyond the obvious — that the United States will
\ncontinue to fall behind other nations in science education,” she writes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\nThe study of DNA — the hereditary material — has enabled the study of
\nhuman origins to achieve a level of detail Darwin never could have
\nimagined. The decoding of the entire DNA sequence of humans — the Human
\nGenome Project, which I had the privilege of leading — along with the
\ngenomes of dozens of other vertebrates has been a rigorous test of
\nwhether the data actually fits a model of evolution from a common
\nancestor. And the evidence is overwhelming. Although some people might
\nstill argue that DNA similarities do not prove common ancestry — after
\nall, God might have chosen to use the same DNA motifs for animals of
\nanatomic similarity — the details of the analysis make that conclusion
\nno longer tenable. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\nMost mammals, for example, do not need dietary sources of vitamin C
\nbecause they can make their own using an enzyme encoded in their
\ngenomes. But primates, including humans, require vitamin C in their
\ndiet, or they will suffer a disease called scurvy. What happened here?
\nWell, if you search through the human genome, you will find a
\ndegenerated copy of the gene for this vitamin C synthesizing enzyme.
\nBut it has sustained a knockout blow, losing more than half of its
\ncoding sequence. A claim that the human genome was created by God
\nindependently rather than being part of descent from a common ancestor
\nwould mean God intentionally inserted a nonfunctioning piece of DNA
\ninto our genomes to test our faith. Unless you are willing to
\ncontemplate the idea of God as a deceiver, this is not a comfortable
\nexplanation. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\nThis past week I attended a meeting about the human genome at Cold
\nSpring Harbor Laboratory in New York. I heard many astounding
\npresentations on comparisons of our own genome to that of other species
\n— all consistent in exquisite detail with an evolutionary explanation.
\nA particularly interesting paper described the latest findings on
\nNeanderthals, whose DNA sequence is being painstakingly pieced together
\nfrom several 30,000-year-old bones of different individuals. The DNA
\nsimilarity to Homo sapiens<\/i> is striking; but the evidence is most consistent with a separation of humans and Neanderthals nearly 500,000 years ago.\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\nOne particular finding about genetic variation caught the audience’s
\nattention immediately. To explain this discovery, it’s first important
\nto know that we humans are a lot alike at the DNA level. But if you
\ncompared your DNA sequence to mine, about one of every 1,000 letters of
\nthe code would be different. Most of these differences are common in
\nthe human population and fall in parts of the genome that tolerate
\nvariation. Therefore, those differences don’t seem to have much effect.
\nBut they are interesting reflections of our history. So here’s the new
\ninformation: about one-third of those exact same variations are also
\nfound in Neanderthals. That means a precise location of the human
\ngenome where some individuals have the letter A and others have the
\nletter G will often show that same exact variation in DNA from
\nNeanderthal bones. That does not imply there was interbreeding between
\nhumans and Neanderthals in Europe 30,000 years ago — so far, there is
\nno DNA evidence to support that. Instead, this new discovery points
\nunequivocally to a population of common ancestors of both humans and
\nNeanderthals with these exact genetic variations living more than
\n500,000 years ago.\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Why
\ndo so many people find it difficult to accept these conclusions? First
\nof all, there is the general problem that evolution is somewhat
\ncounterintuitive. Our own human experience does not easily accommodate
\nthe vast intervals of time necessary for natural selection to produce
\nthe marvelous diversity of living things we see all around us. For
\nbelievers, there is the additional problem of fitting together the
\nconcept of the creator God and the imago Dei, or<\/i>
\nimage of God, with the words of Scripture and a process that seems so
\nrandom. But does this struggle need to exist? Suppose God chose to use
\nthe mechanism of evolution to create animals like us, knowing this
\nprocess would lead to big-brained creatures with the capacity to think,
\nask questions about our own origins, discover the truth about the
\nuniverse and discover pointers toward the One who provides meaning to
\nlife. Who are we to say that’s not how we would have done it? If you
\nbelieve that God is the creator, how could the truths about nature we
\ndiscover through science be a threat to God? For many scientists who
\nbelieve in God — including me — it’s just the opposite. Everything we
\nlearn about the natural world only increases our awe of the God the
\ncreator. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\nYet many evangelical churches continue to fear the whole fabric of
\nfaith will be torn apart if the words of Genesis 1 and 2 are not taken
\nliterally. It surprises many to learn this ultraliteral interpretation
\nwas not considered necessary by many profoundly dedicated believers
\nlong before Darwin arrived on the scene. In A.D. 400, St. Augustine
\nwrote no fewer than four books about the interpretation of Genesis,
\nultimately concluding it was not possible to arrive at a confident view
\nof how creation occurred. In words that presciently warn against the
\ncurrent conflict, he writes, “In matters that are so obscure and far
\nbeyond our vision, we find in Holy Scripture passages which can be
\ninterpreted in very different ways without prejudice to the faith we
\nhave received. In such cases, we should not rush in headlong and so
\nfirmly take our stand on one side that, if further progress in the
\nsearch for truth justly undermines this position, we too fall with it.”\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

I
\nurge us all to step back from the conflict and look soberly at the
\ntruth of both of God’s books: the book of God’s words and the book of
\nGod’s works. As people dedicated to truth, let us resolve to move
\nbeyond a theology of defensiveness to a theology that celebrates God’s
\ngoodness and creative power.<\/p>\n

For answers to the most frequently asked questions about science and
\nfaith, see http:\/\/www.biologos.org<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n


\nDr. Francis S. Collins is former director of the Human Genome Project
\nand founder and president of The BioLogos Foundation. <\/i>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\nShare<\/a>
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Genesis 1:26-27 reads: “Then God said, `Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ So God created man in his…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":252,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weekly-feature"],"yoast_head":"\nEvolution and the Imago Dei - Science and the Sacred<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/scienceandthesacred\/2009\/05\/evolution-and-the-imago-dei.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Evolution and the Imago Dei - 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With Collins at the helm, the Human Genome Project produced a finished sequence of human DNA in 2003. He then used this new data to help create powerful tools and strategies to advance biological knowledge about humans and improve their health. Along with his research, Collins has also stressed the importance of considering the ethical and legal issues surrounding genetics. Collins founded the BioLogos Foundation in November 2007 and served as its president until nominated by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the United States Senate as the 16th Director of the National Institutes of Health. He resigned from the BioLogos Foundation on August 16, 2009, and was sworn in as NIH Director the following day. Formerly an atheist, Collins became a Christian in his 20s after realizing his perspective did not provide answers to profound questions about the meaning of life and was inconsistent with observations about the nature of the universe and humankind. He wrote about finding harmony between the scientific and spiritual worldviews in The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief, which spent 20 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list. Collins coined the term BioLogos to define the conclusions he reached about how life, or bios, came about through God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s word, or logos. DNA, therefore, may be considered God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s language. Collins received a Bachelor of Science from the University of Virginia, a doctorate in physical chemistry from Yale University and a medical degree from The University of North Carolina. He was elected to the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences, and in November 2007 was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor given by the president, for revolutionizing genetic research. Collins gives frequent lectures about science and faith on college campuses that regularly attract more than 1,000 people. His book on personalized medicine will be published by HarperCollins in January 2010.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/scienceandthesacred\/author\/fcollins"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/scienceandthesacred\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/scienceandthesacred\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/scienceandthesacred\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/scienceandthesacred\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/252"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/scienceandthesacred\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/scienceandthesacred\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":827,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/scienceandthesacred\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19\/revisions\/827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/scienceandthesacred\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/scienceandthesacred\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/scienceandthesacred\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}