Does Darwinian Evolution Challenge Catholic Theology of the Human Person? Anne Clifford

Anne Clifford is the Msgr. James Supple Chair of Catholic Studies in the Philosophy and Religious Studies Department at Iowa State University. She is the author of Introducing Feminist Theology, co-editor of Christology: Memory, Inquiry, Practice and a contributing editor of the revised New Catholic Encyclopedia. She has participated in conferences on theology and science sponsored by the Vatican. Her doctorate in theology is from the Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C.

Controversy has swirled around Darwin’s theory of evolution and natural selection since On the Origin of Species was first published nearly one hundred and fifty years ago. Does Darwinian evolution put the teaching shared by Jews and Christians that humans were created in the image of God at risk of being a meaningless symbol of a by-gone age?

This lecture will respond to this question with attention to Catholic perspectives on Darwinian evolution and the species known as homo sapiens sapiens. Msgr. James A. Supple Lecture.