Theological attention to the Catholic doctrine of original sin has a history that extends from the letters of Saint Paul through the Council of Trent and Pius XII’s 1950 encyclical, Humani generis. The doctrine has traditionally been articulated through the Genesis narrative of Adam and Eve as the first human beings from whom all others descend, an account known as monogenism. In the course of the nineteenth century, scientific research into human origins increasingly relied upon polygenism, the descent of humanity (...) from non-human ancestors through a transitional population. Subsequent Catholic engagement with evolution included resistance to polygenism from the Vatican due to a perceived conflict with the doctrine of original sin. Humani generis included a prohibition that remains in place today in spite of widespread de facto acceptance of polygenism among theologians. Understanding the origin and persistence of this disparity stands to benefit from comparison to a corresponding ambivalence toward the sixteenth century Copernican hypothesis of a moving earth, only conclusively resolved in 1992. In Part I of this essay I introduce this historical comparison and describe the origins of monogenism and polygenism terminology in nineteenth century debate over the unity of the human race. I then describe the conceptual changes that transpired during the first half of the twentieth century and the resulting role of polygenism in the nouvelle théologie of the decade prior to Humani generis. Subsequent developments and implications follow in Part II. (shrink)

Professor Engelhardt’s After God sets out in fine detail a “j’accuse” of the Western project from the medieval Scholastic doctors, through the Enlightenment, to Kant and Hegel, and finally to its telos in postmodernity, which in fact was the logical outcome of what Professor Engelhardt sees as the abuse of reason, for reason could never endure the demands made of it. I propose that Professor Engelhardt is correct in his description of our present epoch, though partially but critically misguided in (...) his diagnosis of why, and thus falls short in a prescription for the restoration of salus. (shrink)

The Second Vatican Council, also referred to as Vatican II, was the most momentous event in the life of the Roman Catholic Church during the twentieth century and it brought to a close what some commentators have described as 'the long nineteenth century', a timeline stretching from the period of the French revolution to the 1960s. The council was a call to renewal, or 'aggiornamento', whereby the church returned to its sources in order to strengthen and deepen its capacity to (...) engage with modern society. This thesis assesses the degree to which Vatican II was received in the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland under the headings of collegiality and 'communio', the modernisation of Irish society, ecumenism and liturgy. In advance of that, it will examine the historiography of church councils together with various understandings of reception. While the reception of a church council is an ongoing process, the thesis is primarily concentrated on the period from the announcement of Vatican II by Pope John XXIII in January 1959 to the death of Cardinal William Conway in April 1977. The reception of Vatican II in Ireland was, on the one hand, aided by a model of church more accustomed to loyally receiving change by directives from above. On the other hand, it was hampered by a lack of theological and intellectual preparedness among clergy and laity. This affected the capacity of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland fully to realise the renewal which the council sought to achieve. Ireland's deep-rooted identification with an institutional-based traditional and devotional form of Catholicism, the divided nature of the communities in Northern Ireland, the homogenous nature of Irish society in the Republic of Ireland, and the beginnings economic and social change within that society, all impacted upon the capacity of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland to receive fully the council from the beginning. (shrink)