Logos, Evolution, and Finality in Anthropological Research

1. Entity type Lemma
2. Original titleLogos, Evolution, and Finality in Anthropological Research
3. Language term English
4. lemma author Tampakis, Kostas
5. lemma category Orthodox Anthropology - Biology:evolution
6. Publication date 2003
7. lemma work Logos, Evolution, and Finality in Anthropological Research
8. lemma manifestations Science and religion: Antagonism or Complementarity?
9. Keywords Creationism - Evolution - Monergism
10. Lemma body

    1. The paper aims to summarize certain important aspects of the controversy between scientists and theologians regarding the origin and nature of man and to shed light on some of the causes of this conflict, to distinguish between the results of scientific research and the ideologies called upon to interpret these results, thereby questioning the legitimacy of the debate between creationism and evolutionism, to present a few of the problems of today’s scientific anthropology, as they appear from the perspective of the new cosmology, to present some of the main points of Orthodox anthropology and to suggest a solution to the conflict. In the first part, the author described the scientific viewpoint as one which mankind appears as a “strictly natural” occurrence, not necessarily the best and most certainly a random product of evolution. It is the products of a long development of inanimate matter and then cellular life, resulting in natural selection. For theologians, man is an occurrence outside of the history of the universe, to which he is superior by the manner of his creation, rather than by his position or role in it. The origin of man can only be explained by an act of God that has no equivalent in the history of universe. The article goes on to pinpoint the division between natural and supernatural as the reason for this divergence, which it assigns to a Western cultural milieu. In the second part, the article discusses creationism versus evolutionism. It identified both views as different views of the same error, which is monergism, as condemned in the Sixth Ecumenical Synod. He points that such errors are propagated when both domains overextend their reach. In the third part, the article deals with what the author calls a new cosmology and scientific anthropology. The author quotes Henry Stapp, Lonchamp and Kastler to show that science sees the universe as an idea transposed to physical matter, one whose actualizing factor is the presence of man. By invoking the anthropic principle, the article aims to show that science now hints at a universal design. In the fourth part, the article discusses the divine project, in relation to evolution and the principle of synergy. It argues that one could follow the example of the Fathers of the Byzantine tradition and reinterpret scientific anthropological research in the light of the Logos. By reading the Bible as exemplary history providing theological keys, human beings are to be seen in two levels, the iconic/theological and the biological. Thus science cannot have anything pertinent to say about the origin of man, since the mystery of man lies in his archetype and not in nature and theology cannot have anything to say either about this beginning or about the path mankind has crossed to arrive at its present form. However, both views are severely one-sided if they fail to take into account the final aim of this path, the reality of the animal called to become God. The paper ends by discussing ways to transcend the conflict, by recognizing it is essentially the product of historical misunderstanding.