The Six Days of Creation

Allegorical Interpretations

It was not by accident that the allegorical exegesis of the creation account found its first development at Alexandria. The Jewish theologians who had flourished there favoured this type of interpretation. Philo (born c. 25 B.C.), in particular, interpreted the account of the creation of the world and of man as symbolic and figurative. He taught that creation was instantaneous and that the six days of Genesis were a device for expressing the perfection of order to be found in the universe. Undoubtedly influenced by Philo, Clement of Alexandria (c. 200) held that all things were produced simultaneously by God and that the distinction of days was not to be taken as marking a temporal succession, but rather as a method of exposition adapted to human intelligence to indicate various gradations in being. Origen likewise took up the theme of simultaneous creation, which was thenceforth to occupy the attention of many exegetes. It is noteworthy that Origen was born at Alexandria while Ptolemy was perhaps still living, and that he taught in a school that was guided by the thought of the great astronomer.
Origen wrote a commentary on Genesis, and from the fragments that survive, it appears that he understood the astronomy of his day quite well; because of the allegorical character of his teaching, however, it is difficult to know how he evaluated the Ptolemaic theories. Other Alexandrians worthy of mention include St. Athanasius (373), who held that all species had been created together and by the same command, and St. Cyril (444), who, while sympathetic to the methods of the school, was somewhat more reserved in his conclusions.

Thirty Theses against the Theistic Evolution

. . .based on the conviction that "Theistic Evolution" is heresy, debilitating the Church today and causing more harm ultimately than atheistic evolution because of its reduction of God to a mechanism for the supposed natural processes of evolution, its lack of reverence for Holy Scripture as the revealing Word of God, and its insidious attack upon Catholic doctrine and tradition. - December 1976 Dedicated to Mary Immaculate, the Woman of Genesis 3:15 Who Crushes the Serpent's Head and Destroys All Heresies Throughout the World. I cannot stress enough...the absolute necessity for a Catholic to understand, to know, what is meant by CATHOLIC FAITH. In order to have a deep love for this priceless possession, a Catholic must know what it is, and how it is different from any other Faith. We...read the warning of Pope St. Pius X: that the axe is being laid at the very root, that is to the Faith itself... (from F. Albers, The Hidden Schism, p.5, International Catholic Priests' Assoc., St. George's, Polegate, E. Sussex, BN26 5DG England) Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve Him in sincerity and in truth; put away the gods which your father served on the other side of the river and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. And if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. (Joshua 24:14:15)

Proofs of the existence of God

1. INTRODUCTION Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), Italian Dominican priest, has been honored by the Church more than any other theologian in history. Canonized in 1323, he has since been acknowledged as the Angelic Doctor, both for the purity of his life and for his incomparable writings on the angels. He has been named the Common or Universal Doctor and Patron of all Catholic schools. And yet, because the Church is catholic, that is, universal, there can and do co-exist within it many schools of thought, all faithful to the same dogmas of revealed Faith. And so, it would be untrue to say that Thomism is the only representative of Catholic theology and philosophy. However, it may and can be held that the systematic theology of Saint Thomas represents the best, the highest, and the most comprehensive Catholic theology that exists. And because of the organic nature of truth, it may be predicted that time will reveal the pre-eminence of the Thomistic synthesis over all others. Most of the theologians of the Middle Ages held the existence of God to be self-evident. Now, self-evident facts can not be demonstrated. For example, I cannot demonstrate to anyone the fact of my own existence or the existence of that tree out there. Nor can it be demonstrated that a thing can not be and be at the same time. These facts must be accepted as given or else denied as given. But Saint Anselm and before him Saint Augustine claimed to demonstrate God's existence by reason, even though they held it to be self-evident. How can this be?

The Garden of Eden and Entropy

The Garden of Eden and Entropy

A Catholic theology of creation must include a consideration of the laws of thermodynamics in relation to the nature of the created universe and the state of innocence of our first parents. Rather than beginning with definitions from modern physics, I suggest a reading of St. Thomas Aquinas without any preconceived notions. This method will enable us to see whether the laws of thermodynamics are really universal and so, of scientific certitude, because if they are, then St. Thomas will make some acknowledgement of them in his writings, perhaps not in the words of present-day scientists, but certainly as presenting the same ideas of perceived reality.

Some preliminary considerations are necessary. We must understand clearly the relation between the natural and the supernatural orders.

The supernatural life of divine grace does not exist in itself but in something else. It is therefore not a substance but an accident. Thus the supernatural life pre¬supposes a created nature which receives it and in which it operates. (Ott, p.102)

This Catholic doctrine is essentially different from the modernist heresy which teaches a “vital immanence” according to which everything of a religious or spiritual nature develops out of the necessities of human nature in a purely natural fashion. (Ott, p.102) The modernist thus makes divine grace to be of the very substance of the soul as belonging to it by some inherently natural right. On the contrary, divine grace is an entirely gratuitous gift super-added to human nature and is therefore subject to humble and grateful acceptance or to prideful rejection on the part of a free will.

The Catholic doctrine of grace is also radically different from that of many if not most Protestants who simply have no clearly defined or developed theology of divine grace and the soul or of which includes Sacramental theology, virtue, sin, etc, etc.

According to St. Thomas, as soon as God formed Adam's body from the earth and infused the rational soul, He also raised him to the supernatural order of divine grace. (Ott, p. 103 and ST, I, Q 95, a 1)

The State of Original Justice or Innocence had its source in the sanctifying grace that permeated Adam’s soul. This supernatural endowment included in addition to the gift of sanctifying grace, certain preternatural gifts which depended on grace alone and flowed directly from it. These additional gifts were:

1) The gift of rectitude or integrity, meaning freedom from irregular desires in the physical order and a perfect control of the passions by reason;

2) Bodily immortality or freedom from bodily death;

3) Bodily impassibility or freedom from suffering and bodily degeneracy, i.e., sickness;

4) The gift of science or knowledge of natural and supernatural truths infused by God.

This State of Original Justice was intended by God to be hereditary. (Ott, pp. 103-105)

We know of only two human beings who by reason of their being absolutely sinless possessed these gifts in their fullness and never lost them: Our Divine Lord and His Immaculate Mother Mary.

We know from Holy Scripture that the sentence of bodily death was not carried out immediately upon Adam's fall from grace. Quite the contrary. Adam and the Patriarchs -- and so, we may reasonably assume, everyone else -- lived to extremely long ages. The same may justly be inferred regarding the other gifts.