Many who read this blog regularly will know of my interest in
human genetics and the evolutionary process by which God guided the creation of
humans and imprinted the imago dei upon us. I have frequently written about
various creation and evolutionary theories and I recognize that this is a
controversial topic in some Christian circles and in discussions with
humanistic evolutionary theorists. Some of the greatest evidence that God used
evolution to create all life can be found in contemporary DNA studies. We now
have the capability to analyze our entire human genome at detailed levels and
compare it to ancient humanoid DNA and the genome of other animal species. This
has led to remarkable findings as shown in the following quote.
Less than a decade ago, scientists
discovered that human ancestors mixed with Neandertals. People outside of
Africa still carry a small amount of Neandertal DNA, some of which may cause
health problems (SN: 3/5/16, p. 18). Bohlender and
colleagues calculate that Europeans and Chinese people carry a similar amount
of Neandertal ancestry: about 2.8 percent. Europeans have no hint of Denisovan
ancestry, and people in China have a tiny amount — 0.1 percent, according to
Bohlender’s calculations. But 2.74 percent of the DNA in people in Papua New
Guinea comes from Neandertals. And Bohlender estimates the amount of
Denisovan DNA in Melanesians is about 1.11 percent, not the 3 to 6 percent
estimated by other researchers.
While investigating the Denisovan
discrepancy, Bohlender and colleagues came to the conclusion that a third group
of hominids may have bred with the ancestors of Melanesians. “Human history is
a lot more complicated than we thought it was,” Bohlender said. (from Science News October 21, 2016)
My own theological paper
regarding Denisovan DNA carried by some humans was written in
2010 and 2011 (as partial fulfillment of an MA in Theological Studies at Regent
College) just a few months after ancient Denisovan DNA had been analyzed. The
paper allowed me to wrestle with theological questions about the nature of the
image of God and what makes us human. Such discussion, questioning, and
research leads me to understand that my faith in the scientific process and my
faith in Jesus, the Son of God, are both well-founded. Both the Bible and the
biological world are ways in which God reveals himself to humans. Our
theological understandings of both the natural world and the Bible are what
must adapt so that we might have a greater perception of God's message for his
people.
I encourage us to read widely and in a scholarly fashion. We
need not fear what science discovers for it is God who gives us our minds and
allows us to discover the insights of our universe. Let us read with the Bible
in one hand and scientific writings in the other.
Links:
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/neandertal-dna-may-raise-risk-some-modern-human-diseaseshttp://www.sciencenews.org/article/dna-data-offer-evidence-unknown-extinct-human-relative
http://spasique.com/genes-of-