I wrote this article after attending a conference where Chris Baglow was the speaker. \u00a0Dr. Baglow is a theology professor and initiative director\u00a0at The McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame. He spoke on the theme of science, faith and truth. \u00a0This topic is a big interest of mine \u2013 I wrote my master\u2019s dissertation on the topic.<\/p>\n
One of the psalms may be the best resource to start to consider the place of human beings in the universe.\u00a0 \u201cWhat is man that you are mindful of him?\u00a0 Yet you have made him little less than a god, crowned him with glory and honor.\u00a0 You have given him rule over the works of your hands, and put all things at his feet (Psalm 8: 5-9).\u00a0 The recent images captured by NASA\u2019s James Webb Space Telescope give us a glimpse into the vastness of the universe, and remind us of our littleness.\u00a0 Many consider that man in the universe is but a speck of dust, the current handiwork of biological evolution.\u00a0 Though there is an element of truth in this thinking, God has revealed to us at the very same time that human beings are the pinnacle of creation.<\/p>\n
The 14th<\/sup> century German mystic Meister Eckhart wrote that in the \u201ccore of the Trinity the Father laughs and gives birth to the Son.\u00a0 The Son laughs back at the Father and gives birth to the Spirit.\u00a0 The whole Trinity laughs and gives birth to us.\u201d\u00a0 Eckhart\u2019s intriguing suggestion implies that the creation of our first parents is the result of the love and joy shared by the persons of the Trinity in the way one shares a laugh with a loved one. The place of man in the universe is in the heart of the God who creates and sustains him.<\/p>\n In 1981, Pope John Paul II addressed a Plenary Session of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, during which he stressed that \u201cHoly Scripture does not wish to teach how heaven and made but how one goes to heaven.\u201d\u00a0 He taught that the Book of Genesis discusses the origins of the universe not as a scientific exposition, but rather, as a description of the relationship between God and human beings.\u00a0 Despite our insignificant stature when compared to the grandeur of the universe, the Book of Genesis teaches that God declared everything He created \u201cgood\u201d, and when He created our first parents, He declared them \u201cvery good.\u201d\u00a0 The last day of creation does not come to an end as the other days in the narrative, indicating God\u2019s fashioning of humankind has not ended.<\/p>\n The place of humans in the universe is decisively revealed at the Baptism of Jesus when the voice of God the Father was heard saying, \u201cthis is my beloved Son; with whom I am well pleased.\u201d\u00a0 God\u2019s declaration of the goodness of humanity is heard.\u00a0 We may be an insignificant speck of dust, yet God has chosen to fashion us throughout history, and in Jesus His Son has revealed that we are beloved children.<\/p>\n It is in Jesus Christ that God\u2019s relationship with humans comes to perfection and where we find our place in the cosmos.\u00a0 All that we can learn from the natural sciences about human beings comes to fulfillment in Jesus Christ who opens everything we are to eternal life.\u00a0 Some suggest the final day of creation concludes on the cross, when a darkness descends over the earth.\u00a0 At that point, God\u2019s creation is finished \u2013 and we come to know perfectly our identity in Jesus the Son of God.<\/p>\n Poor Job cries up to God in pain, \u201cwhat are human beings, that you make much of them, or pay them any heed? (Job 7:17).\u201d\u00a0 Despite our littleness, God does make much of us, and raises our humanity to be sharers of His divinity.\u00a0 Jesus Christ, true God and true man, teaches us our true place in the universe.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I wrote this article after attending a conference where Chris Baglow was the speaker. \u00a0Dr. Baglow is a theology professor and initiative director\u00a0at The McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame. He spoke on the theme of science, faith and truth. \u00a0This topic is a big interest of mine \u2013 I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2533,"featured_media":7145,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[217],"tags":[32,61,231,1796],"class_list":["post-7142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","tag-catholic-church-and-evolution","tag-evolution","tag-faith","tag-science"],"yoast_head":"\n