Book reviewed by Oscar Gonzalez, August 2024
On the (Divine) Origin of Our Species
by Darrel R Falk
Eugene, Oregon: Cascade Books, 2023; 252 pages
ISBN 9781666757019, first edition, paperback
AUD$56.00
Dr Falk is a committed Christian and an expert in genetics who is well-known in the science and faith debate. He is past president of the BioLogos Foundation and has authored “Coming to Peace with Science” (2004, Intervarsity Press) and, with Todd Charles Wood, “The Fool and the Heretic” (2019, Zondervan). He advocates for scientific integrity and reasonable Christian Faith.
Despite its academic nature and many quotations, the book maintains an engaging and accessible tone, ensuring readers of all levels can grasp its content. The book has seven chapters, five starting with “The Origin of Our Species and…”, and includes a foreword by geneticist Philip Batterham, and afterword by biblical scholar Robert W. Wall and evolutionary biologist Cara Wall-Scheffler. Both fore- and afterword are essential sources of information and not to be overlooked. The foreword prepares the reader for the journey of human evolution with Christ in mind, and the afterword summarises the author’s argument. Fun fact on this last section: father and daughter, respectively.
Falk’s central thesis is that our species (Homo sapiens) originated as evolutionary theory describes but with the guidance of the Spirit of God. He explains the genetic evidence that links us with the rest of the primates. A simple mutation in our evolutionary history “significantly impacts the number of nerve cells (neurons) in the brain” (p. 63). However, our origin was not by chance. God guided this process. Falk explains the current theory of mind, which is the development of consciousness that makes us human. We can do science, art, religion, and language as unique human features. This consciousness is the mind, a gift of God, which allows us to ask questions about God’s creation. H. sapiens needed genetic and physiological traits different than other species to become the image of God. Falk guides us to several archeological discoveries of hominids, depicting burials and paintings. Those could indicate the human soul’s presence because these individuals imagined and depicted the afterlife or beings in their minds. Individual accountability for the sake of the group was crucial for the emergence of morality, which means a sense of understanding the difference between good and bad behaviour that will affect the community. Falk describes this behavioural change as something such as “a garden-of-Eden-like experience for some period of time where individuals, under the guidance of the Spirit of God, were effectively policing themselves, holding each other accountable in a manner that was good for the group as a whole” (p. 209).
As dogs evolved from wolves through domestication, we domesticated ourselves, reducing aggressiveness, which was caused by genetic changes. Falks explains this process with the Baldwin effect, a driving evolutionary force started by a behavioural change. It is possible that when our behaviour became more “friendly,” human language evolved, and humans became more social and empathetic. An exciting example of genetics influencing our personality is found in individuals with Williams syndrome, who are hypersocial. It is possible to trace these genetic changes in vertebrate embryos. Mice mutations on the same gene as those with Williams syndrome have the same effects. The same mutation also differentiates wolves from dogs.
According to Falk, the Spirit of God guided our evolution using the Baldwin effect. God loved primitive humans, who became H. sapiens through a long cooperation process (p. 90). The sense of responsibility towards others and the choice of good and evil could be infused by God, as well as the perception of the afterlife, depicted in the first human burials at the beginning of our species. “Many of our unique human features —the basis for our success —may well have emerged because belief in the transcendental reality made death-awareness tolerable” (p. 130). In this way, God could have been in those primitive human communities that showed love to one another. He states that not all individuals of H. sapiens responded to God’s Spirit. Still, those who did acquired the genetic change crucial to becoming humans. Then, the search for meaning came, which is typical of our species.
On God’s providence in the origin of our species, Falk goes as far as the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs and affirms that this event made it possible for us to exist now. If the asteroid had crashed in another part besides the Yucatan peninsula, the dinosaurs would have been here, not us. The low probability of our existence would be God’s providence. God is free to use natural laws or miracles to fulfill his purposes.
In my experience as a science educator in a Christian university, most of the young are open to evolutionary theory except for human origins. They can’t fit Adam and Eve with Australopithecus and other hominids. Falk recognises this puzzle, and he does not disregard the challenge it implies. Famous atheists in academia, such as Jerry Coyne, stated that “Christianity must be grounded in real historical events” (p. 42). Besides Christ’s resurrection lies the question of whether Adam and Eve were historical. If we brought faith into the discussion, Stephen Pinker’s definition of faith is “belief in the unreasonable” (p. 44). Falk rejects these scholars’ arguments as having a “perfunctory knowledge of [Christianity]” (p. 46). As John Walton said, Adam could be an “archetypal representative of us all” (p. 73). He also acknowledges the metaphorical language in Genesis 1–11 and Adam as a symbolic representative of the origin of sin, explained by the apostle Paul. Falk recognises the topics outside the science domain: love and goodness. However, they were crucial for forming H. sapiens, and we Christians state that God is love. Christians shall not deny science but bridge scientific findings with our Christian practice.
Falk states six principles “that brought our species into existence” (p. 159). I summarise these principles in this way: Love made some pre-human communities thrive because God is love; these communities came in communion with the Spirit of God. After several generations of living with love as a standard (which could have been expressed in cooperation and reducing aggressiveness), genetic variation changed this community, and the Spirit of God originated humankind.
In summary: this book is a crucial milestone in the science–faith debate, touching the spiny subject of the integration of human evolution and Christian belief. Falk provides an excellent resource for understanding the origin of our species and solid arguments on how divine intervention was possible over the course of evolution. These arguments have many references to scholarly publications, which Falks quotes as support. There is no mention of young earth creationists or intelligent design apologists. This book will appeal to anyone curious about human evolution and to Christians striving to reconcile their Christian faith with evolutionary science.