Human Uniqueness, the Other Hominids, and “Anthropocentrism of the Gaps” in the Religion and Science Dialogue

Abstract

The concept of human uniqueness has long played a central role within key interpretations of the hominid fossil record and within numerous theological understandings of the imago Dei. More recently, the status of humans as evolutionarily unique has come under strong criticism owing to the discovery of certain nonhuman hominids who, as language and culture-bearing beings, lived as contemporaries with early anatomically modern humans. Nevertheless, many scholars, including those in the field of religion and science, continue to interpret the remains of these other hominids in light of empirically ungrounded implicit assumptions about human uniqueness, which the author calls "anthropocentrism of the gaps." This paper argues that "anthropocentrism of the gaps" is philosophically unwarranted and thus should not be assumed by scholars in religion and science when evaluating contemporary findings in paleoanthropology.For thousands of years, philosophers, theologians, poets, and scientists have pensively pondered the question "Are we alone in the universe?" Though a multitude of life forms enfold human beings on all sides, and myriads of other animal species even share in the societies of Homo sapiens, the disparity between them and us is still too great for us to see our own reflection in them. The company of animals is not sufficient to break the eerie silence of our solitude, and thus civilizations have posed the question of human isolation and human uniqueness. Though humans may not differ in kind from animals, the differences in degree are sufficient to make us matchless. Consequently, these scholars conclude, H. sapiens are still unique among the animals and still desolately alone. But this was not always the case. Once upon a time there were others who reflected our likeness as through a strange-looking glass that bends the original visage. These others were the terrestrial intelligent life forms called the hominids. While it is agreed that Joshua M. Moritz is managing editor of the journal Theology and Science and Research Associate at the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences

WALKER PERCY, LANGUAGE, AND HOMO SINGULARIS

“…In other words, humans may have properties that are at present peculiar to our species, but are in principle possibilities for other species. Indeed, current thinking in human evolutionary biology and paleontology favors the view that, as recently as 25,000 years ago, Homo sapiens coexisted with at least four other hominid species who “shared with us all the key features we today identify with humans alone.” Summing up the similarities, Joshua Moritz concludes, “Beyond having opposable thumbs, a bipedal gait, and large brains, they also had well‐developed material, social, and symbolic cultures and in all likelihood possessed the capacity for spoken language” (Moritz , 85). It seems increasingly likely that the human family tree has had multiple branches, several of which became extinct as separate species.…”

THE IMAGO DEI AS A WORK IN PROGRESS: A PERSPECTIVE FROM PALEOANTHROPOLOGY

“…Prior to the emergence of evolutionary theory, it seemed quite natural and self‐evident to accord the status of imago Dei exclusively to humans. Indeed, in the Jewish and Christian exegeses of the rather scant mentions of imago Dei in the Hebrew Bible, there is a strong agreement that this concept applies to humans alone (Cortez ; Moritz ). This interpretation accords well with the intuitive distinction humans make between members of their own species and other animals.…”

“…Does the concept of imago Dei carry the implicit claim that humans are unique, and if so, how can we understand this notion within an evolutionary framework? Contemporary theologians (e.g., Van Huyssteen ; Moritz ) turn increasingly to paleoanthropology as a source of inspiration for empirically informed accounts of the imago Dei . Paleoanthropology is the multidisciplinary study of extinct and extant hominins, combining principles and methods from, among others, paleontology, archaeology, primatology, ecology, and physical anthropology.…”

Do Animals Have Souls? An Evolutionary Perspective

“…At what point in evolution did hominins cross the threshold to become human in the moral and theological sense? There is a presumption in isolating humans from the rest of nonhuman life …”