Excerpt from Evolution and Dogma A striking illustration of the unwisdom of com mitting one's self to premature notions, or unproved hypotheses, especially before all the evidence in the case is properly weighed, is afforded in the long and animated controversy respecting the authorship of the Pentateuch. Many reasons have been assigned by the higher critics why it could not have been the production of Moses, to whom it has so long been ascribed by a venerable tradition, and one of the objections urged against the Mosaic authorship was, that written language was unknown in the age dur ing which the Jewish legislator is reputed to have lived. Now, however, the distinguished philologist and archaeologist, Prof. Sayce, comes forward and proves, beyond doubt or quibble, that the conten tion of the higher critics respecting the authorship of the Bible is ill-founded. So sure, indeed, is he, whereof he speaks, that he does not hesitate to assert not only that Moses could have written the Pentateuch, but that it would have been something like a miracle if he had not done so. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

In this book, John Augustine Zahm, C.S.C., makes a concerted effort to reconcile the biological theory of evolution with the Catholic dogma of Creation. Fr. Zahm threads the findings of science into an interpretation of the works of St. Gregory of Nyssa, St. Augustine of Hippo, and St. Thomas Aquinas, all the while defending the indisputable existence of God, the Creator of all things. The twist? Only the primordial matter was created out of nothing, and from it, through the laws with which God has endowed nature, all creatures were created secondarily. Fr. Zahm acknowledges that the six-day account of Creation in Genesis need not be read literally, so as to accommodate the evidence from geology regarding the age of the earth, and from paleontology, of that of plants and animals. He allows for a "two origins" theory of the creation of man, as follows: Man's body was subject to evolution, but that at a certain point in its development, God created and infused a soul into Adam, the first man, and into Eve, his wife. Adam and Eve are the ancestors common to all mankind. And, God created and will create a soul for every conception since the children of our first parents.This book earned Fr. Zahm harsh criticisms from many fronts, including the Jesuits in Europe who delated it to the Sacred Congregation of the Index. A decree of prohibition against it was written, but through the efforts of influential clergy, it was never published. Thereafter, a cloud hung over Catholic scholarship on evolution. It was only lifted in 1950 by the Encyclical Humani generis of Pope Pius XII. In it, the Pontiff allowed Catholic scholars to treat and teach evolution as a hypothesis. In 1996, Pope St. John Paul II, indicated his acceptance of the "two origins" theory, writing, "if the human body takes its origin from pre-existent living matter, the spiritual soul is immediately created by God."

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