The Fall and the Redemption of Man in the Light of Evolution
There is a Christian conception of evolution, and in the light
of it, I propose to interpret the fall and the redemption of
man. To prevent misunderstanding, I must define what I mean by
evolution and what I mean by Christianity. The evolution I have
in mind is not an atheistic and unteleological evolution.
Evolution is not a cause but a method. God is the cause. He is
in his universe, and he is the source of all its activities with
the single exception of the evil activity of the human will.
When I speak of evolution as the method of God, I imply that the
immanent God works by law; that this law is the law of
development; that God makes the old the basis of the new, and
the new an outgrowth from the old. In all ordinary cases God
works from within and not from without. Yet this ordinary method
does not confine or limit God. He is transcendent as well as
immanent. He is not simply "in all" and "through all," but he is
also "above all."  This conce