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WORLD May 24, 2001 VNN6765 Related VNN Stories

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New Book On Human Origins

BY DRUTAKARMA DASA

USA, May 24 (VNN) — Over a year ago, Dr. Dennis Bonnette, head of the philosophy department at Niagra University, began corresponding with me about a book he was writing on human evolution. Bonnette, a Catholic, had somehow encountered the book Forbidden Archeology, and it had a profound influence on him and the book he was writing. For some years, the standard Catholic position has been that God created humans but He did it by evolution.

In his book, Bonnette confronts the possibility that evolution may not be a fact, and considers the implications this has for mainstream Christian theology. He proposes that although it may be possible to interpret the Bible in such a way as to accomodate Darwinian evolution, the Darwinian theory of evolution may not be true, thus giving support to those who wish to maintain a more traditionally creationist view of human origins and the Bible. In his book, Bonnette devotes an entire chapter to Forbidden Archeology. Please find below an announcement for the book, which is published as a volume in the series Studies in the History of Western Philosophy, as part of the Value Inquiry Book Series of Rodopi, an academic publishing company with headquarters in Amsterdam. The book is available on Amazon.com. If any of you do wind up getting the book and reading it, please post a reader's review to Amazon.com. Also find below an excerpt from the chapter dealing with Forbidden Archeology.

Ys. Drutakarma Dasa
(Michael A. Cremo)

Dennis Bonnette. Origin of the Human Species. Amsterdam-Atlanta, GA: Editions Rodopi, 2001.

Value Inquiry Book Series, No. 106. Studies in the History of Western Philosophy.

Peter A. Redpath, Editor. 217 pages. ISBN: 90-420-1374-5

"Using the tools of philosophy Professor Bonnette investigates the origin of true humanity. Along the way he considers the questions of animal intelligence, the philosophical meaning of the species concept, Adam and Eve, and more. His demonstration that the standard human evolution story is compatible with Christianity makes his conclusion that the story itself may be shaky all the more impressive."

Dr. Michael J. Behe
Professor of Biology
Lehigh University
Author, Darwins Black Box

"Origin of the Human Species is an explanation of how the human race came into existence. It is a clear exposition of what every Christian believes that humanity began with Adam and Eve, created by God as the parents of the human race."

Fr. John A Hardon, S.J.

Theologian

Synopsis of the book:

This book lays claim to its intriguing title, so closely reflecting Charles Darwins original, by clearly addressing central controversies begotten by the Origin of Species itself. It tests evolutionary theorys credibility, particularly regarding human origins. It evaluates the claims of scientific creationism versus materialistic evolution, while examining other possible scenarios. While consistently philosophical in methodology and perspective, the book is radically interdisciplinary in content, examining data and arguments drawn from natural science, philosophy, and theology. It critically evaluates the best arguments supporting and opposing biological evolution, while extensively analyzing the philosophical possibility of inter-specific evolution. Speculative and sometimes-original solutions are proposed for major disputed questions. These include: (1) detailed refutation of claims made on behalf of language-trained apes against human beings qualitative superiority, (2) critical analysis of claims made for extraterrestrial life, (3) detailed reconciliation of human evolutions standard theory with the Scriptural Adam and Eve, (4) detailed reconciliation of old-Earth chronologies with Genesis genealogies, and (5) critical examination of human evolutions current theory in terms of the radical thesis that true human beings may predate our alleged hominid ancestors. In every arena, careful scholarship presents classical philosophical analysis, reputable natural scientific judgments, and theologically accurate Scriptural interpretation. This book challenges the limits of human knowledge regarding every major question touching on human origins. It includes notes, bibliography, and an extensive index.

Excerpts from Chapter Fourteen:

In 1993, a thoroughly scholarly, 900-page work appeared. Co-authored by Michael A. Cremo and Richard L. Thompson, Forbidden Archeology offers detailed analysis of all significant paleoanthropological research done in the last two centuries. This work examines relevant literature pertaining to every major hominid claim or find and materials on other fossils and human remains that the evolutionary establishment has long overlooked or suppressed. Although this work has vigorous critics, Cremo and Thompson's methodical thoroughness and often good logic make many of their analyses and central inferences hard to trump and unscholarly to ignore. Forbidden Archeology, praised by Phillip E. Johnson, but condemned by Richard Leakey as "pure humbug," was bound to stir controversy.

In a twenty-two page Social Studies of Science review, Jo Wodak and David Oldroyd offer at least guarded acknowledgment that Cremo and Thompson have contributed to paleoanthropological literature because (1) "much of the historical material they resurrect has not been scrutinized in such detail before" and (2) they "do raise a central problematic regarding the lack of certainty in scientific truth claims." Wodak and Oldroyd maintain that "lack of certainty" arises "because the status of all knowledge is inherently a matter of degrees of probability and emerges as the result of social negotiation in concert with observation and inference." They suggest that "those scientists who insist that evolution is a fact might be better advised to recast this as highly probable theory." . . . . .

Cremo and Thompson are not evolutionary materialists or Biblical creationists. They openly state Hindu affiliation as Bhaktivedanta Institute members. Following Vedic literature, they hold that the human race is of great antiquity, hundreds of millions of years old. For this reason, many critics attack Forbidden Archeology, claiming its authors' belief system precludes unbiased handling of subject matter. Such personal attacks are unjust and ill founded. Every author has a philosophical stance which might, but need not, negate objectivity. Forbidden Archeology's historical evidence and argumentation stand on their own merits as sociological and epistemological critiques of contemporary paleoanthropology.

Earlier I discussed current human evolutionary theory's compatibility with divine revelation. My primary concern with Forbidden Archeology lies in analyzing the epistemological challenge it poses to present human evolutionary theory. (pp. 129-130)

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Cremo and Thompson offer many cases to show that, no matter how far back we go in paleontological time, evidence of true human beings presence appears.

This evidence deserves a hearing. A single valid piece of skeletal evidence indicating anatomically modern humans existing prior to the Late Pleistocene Period invalidates human evolution's current theory. Among Forbidden Archeology's extensive case documentation, I have presented evidence supporting anomalous anatomically modern human beings . . . appearing before the expected standard theory time-line.

If such cases were few, their enumeration might invite dismissal. Forbidden Archeology presents many dozens. Cremo and Thompson claim that the best proof for their thesis is a body of scientifically-reported evidence, accumulated during the last 150 years, that contradicts the current orthodox Darwinian accounts of human origins. To test that claim, nothing substitutes for careful investigation of Forbidden Archeology's extensive documentation. Cremo and Thompson's deeper purpose, one which I conclude they have achieved, is to shake the epistemological foundations of current human evolutionary theory. Serious, rational doubt about human evolution's standard theory is legitimate. (p. 136)