The origin of man from the point of view of religion. Religion and science about the origin of man on earth

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Introduction

Within the framework of the religious worldview, we will consider the view of the three world religions - Christianity, Islam and Buddhism - on this problem.

We will consider these creationist theories in sequence, starting with Christianity. Our goal is to show the originality of these theories. At the same time, to identify common and special features of these religions on this issue. Religion as a specific form of social consciousness, the main principle of which is the presence of a perfect transcendental principle - God, who is the source of being and all that exists.

In the Christian interpretation, there are two options. One is creationism. That is, the creation of man by God literally as described in the Bible. And the second option: divine-evolutionary. “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul, ”it is written in the biblical book of the Old Testament. This interpretation is authentic not only for Christianity, but also for Judaism. But how and when this happened in the Old Testament is quite unambiguous and concise.

This happened on the so-called sixth day, the day when God began to create mammals. In this interpretation, the term sixth day is understood literally, not allegorically. In the second version (evolutionary), the term day is understood as a geological epoch, and all creations of God are manifestations of evolution. An ancient message says that, in the end, the creator god set about creating a truly unique form of life on Earth. He said to his heavenly son, “Let us make man in our image; and he has dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” Old Testament. Genesis, chapter, verse 26. Thus, man had to reflect the spiritual image of his creator, manifesting his inherent qualities. In addition, a person was able to absorb vast knowledge. Therefore, people could act much more intelligently than any animals. Also, unlike animals, man was created with the ability to act with his own free will, and not be guided by mere instincts. And he settled him in a place similar to a garden, "to cultivate and keep it." The Bible in no way admits that the first man, Adam, was merely a myth. On the contrary, he was a real person - a man with reason and feelings, who enjoyed working in a paradise house. Every day Adam learned more and more about the deeds of God and about what kind of person he is, what qualities he has. After some time, God created the first woman who was to become Adam's wife.

Then God brought great meaning into their lives, giving them an important assignment: "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over every living creature that moves on the earth." Thus, it is emphasized here about man as a kind of crown of creation and his role. In general, the Christian religion dates the beginning of the existence of mankind to 5509. BC. At the same time, the entire history of mankind was divided into two main periods - “antediluvian” and “post-flood”.

According to the biblical story, in the antediluvian era, Adam was created, and then Eve from his rib. The new “post-Flood” humanity descended from the only one of the divine people of the “antediluvian” era (i.e. direct descendants of Adam and Eve) - Noah and his descendants, who were preserved during the flood in the ark.

Attempts to question this one of the main dogmas of Christianity were considered as the most dangerous heresy, and were severely persecuted. So, in 1450, Samuel Sars was burned at the stake of the Inquisition, suggesting that humanity is much older than the Bible says. The religious concept of the origin of man was an influential element of public consciousness until the middle of the 19th century. So, for example, the famous French paleontologist, Georges Cuvier, for religious reasons, denied the existence of a fossil man. The Christian theory, carrying out the symbiosis of the evolutionary path of the appearance of man and creationism, appeared in the 20th century.

In Islam, there is no unambiguous interpretation of this issue. But one of the versions of the presentation in the Qur'an interprets this issue in approximately the same vein. According to the Koran, the creation of man by Allah was preceded by the act of creating angels and jinn, his heavenly winged support. Surah “Angels” says about this: “Praise be to Allah, the creator of the heavens and the earth, who made the angels messengers with double, triple and quadruple wings. He increases in creation whatever he pleases. Klimovich L.I. Book about the Quran M. 1986 p.192. Allah (who, according to the Koran, has a face, hands, eyes, sits on a throne, etc.) molded a human body from clay, and then spiritualized it: “breathed into it from his spirit.” “God created you and what you do,” says the Koran. And yet, judging by the ancient Arabic legend set out in the Koran, Allah attaches great importance to the act of creating a person. Even after he fashioned a kind of human dummy and left to revive him, Allah decided to discuss his deed with the many-winged helpers he had previously created. Some of the newest commentators tried to see in this "discussion" a sign of the special democracy of the Almighty.

Meanwhile, if we proceed from the Koran, this “discussion” or “advice”, “conversation”, “competition” with the “supreme host” of angels looks very despotic. In any case, this "discussion" did not feel any tolerance, attention to the convened angelic host, even a sign of tolerance. The Creator predetermined his decision in advance and, having listened to the only objector, he immediately severely punished him. “Behold, your Lord said to the angels: “I create man from clay. And when I complete it and breathe into it from my spirit, then fall, worshiping it!” and the angels fell on their faces all together, except for Iblis - he became proud and turned out to be unfaithful. So, the creation of the first man, according to the Koran, was at the same time an act of the fall of a genie or an angel "from among the highest", who became the devil, Satan, shaitan, the king of the underworld. However, in the second sura of the Qur'an, the fall of Iblis, as well as the introduction of a person into paradise, is already depicted with other details. First of all, here it is said not only about the first person, but also about his wife. Adam is already animated and presented to the angels as Allah's "viceroy" on earth. And the angels make it clear to Allah that they already know what people are capable of, and clearly do not approve of them. The angels say to Allah: “Will you establish on the Earth one who will create wickedness on it and shed blood, and we praise you and sanctify you. This text gave rise to one of the Egyptian theologians and reformers of Islam, Muhammad Abdo (1849-1905), to assume that we are talking about the creation of the ancestors of the Arabs alone, and not of all mankind, otherwise, how would the angels know what people are like? In subsequent chapters of the Qur'an, there are changes related, in particular, to clarifying what man was created from. It should be noted that the Qur'an does not have a single view on this matter. So in Sura 15 it is repeated three times: "from sounding, from clay clothed in form." In addition, it is said that God created man from dust (Sura 3), from the essence of clay (Sura 7), from dry clay that sounds like a vessel (Sura 550, finally - “from water”. From moisture - “from a drop” - man and multiplies (Sura 35).The difference between these versions once again confirms the complexity and heterogeneity of the compilation of the Koran.The content of the Koran largely reflected the public consciousness of the Arabs of the middle of the 7th century AD and at the same time retained a lot of what relates to ancient religious legends. Thus, the statement that Adam's wife was created simultaneously with the delivery of "eight cattle in four pairs" to him as food (Sura 39) fixed in the minds of people the subordinate position of a woman in relation to a man. religion god creationism self-preservation

In Buddhism, with its strong orientation towards the search for ways of moral self-preservation and self-improvement, the question of the origin of man is not so directly formulated, since the material world is regarded as continuously created by the beginningless absolute consciousness - drachmas. Therefore, the suffering of the world and the people in it is without beginning. But on the other hand, an individual person is formed at all these stages (nidans) of his growth under the direct influence of a supernatural spirit.

Divine consciousness permeates the soul of a person even at the stage of his embryonic development and then accompanies him throughout his life. As the Vedas testify, all things and all gods have one purpose - sacrifice. This legend also says that the cosmic giant Purusha was divided into parts, and they became the source of life for all living beings. According to Buddhism, the diverse world of the universe is filled with people and spirits. They inhabit not only the Earth, but also cosmic worlds, stars. People with their complex social structure, animals, plants have an immortal soul. Therefore, in Buddhism, the relationship between human life, earth and space is obvious.

Conclusion

Religious ideas about the origin of man and the time of the appearance of man were mythologized. Religious consciousness also creates more or less complete concepts, but not only rational thinking, but also emotional understanding of the world plays a significant role in them, due to which religious concepts use not so much logical as psychological evidence, and therefore, to a lesser extent, are given into the system, sometimes revealing direct illogicality and inconsistency. Within the framework of the religious worldview, the origin of man was seen as a direct, immediate creation by God. Radugin A.A. Introduction to Religious Studies M. 1999. p.45. In one form or another, this view is characteristic of all three world religions - Christianity, Islam and Buddhism.

Literature

Klimovich L.I. The book about the Koran M.1986

Kryvelev I.A. History of religion. M. 1975

Radugin A.A. Introduction to Religious Studies. M. 1999

Popov L.A. "Religion and morality: interaction in modern conditions" / / social sciences and modernity, 1999 No. 3.

Bible M. 2001

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Modern "science" cannot tell anything intelligible about this, therefore there is nothing else left but to turn our gaze to legends, myths and religions. The basis of most world religions of the present time is JUDAISM. All branches of Christianity "COMED" FROM Judaism, since the OLD TESTAMENT is the TALMUD adapted for non-Jews, which itself is an interpretation of the Torah, more precisely the Pentateuch. Islam, in turn, is an interpretation of Christianity and was a SECT until 1180, when the church hierarchs of Constantinople proclaimed an anathema for excommunication): “... The excommunication of God Mohammed, about whom they say that he is God, all forged with a hammer, who did not give birth, is not born, therefore no one is like ... ". At the Church Council that followed soon after, the excommunication was supported. In other words, Islam is PROTESTANTISM OF THE EASTERN CHRISTIAN SECT. Thus, turning to the Old Testament, one can get the dominant religious ideas about the origin of man:

26. And God said, Let us make man in our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

27. And God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

28. And God blessed them, and God spoke to them; be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. Old Testament. Chapter 1. Genesis. 1:26-1:28.

Note to you reader that in the Talmud goyim are also called cattle, these are all who are not Jews.

As follows from these provisions, man, with all his imperfections, was created in the likeness of God. And if GOD'S LIKELIHOOD is so IMPERFECT, then this means that either the LORD GOD HIMSELF IS FAR FROM PERFECTION, or he really can't create anything, which also doesn't beautify him and speaks of his IMPERFECTION AS A CREATOR. However, one thing is clear - man is the likeness of God. Further in the Old Testament it says:

7. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.

8. And the Lord God planted a paradise in Eden in the east, and placed there the man whom he had created.

15. And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden, to dress it and keep it.

16. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, From every tree in the garden you shall eat,

17. And from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil do not eat from it, for on the day you eat from it you will die by death.

18. And the Lord God said, It is not good for the man to be alone; Let us make him a helper suitable for him.

21. And the Lord God brought a deep sleep upon the man; and when he fell asleep, he took one of his ribs, and covered the place with flesh.

22. And the Lord God made a wife out of the rib taken from the man, and brought her to the man.

23 And the man said, Behold, this is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, for she was taken from man.

24. Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother, and cling to his wife; and they will be one flesh.

25 And they were both naked, Adam and his wife, and were not ashamed.

Old Testament. Chapter 2. Genesis 2:7, 2:8, 2:15-2:18, 2:21-2:25.

Interestingly, the Lord God lied to a person about the danger to life from the fruits of the Tree of Knowledge, probably he was afraid that a person would learn more than he would like to allow a person. A very strange attitude towards his own likeness. In addition, the Old Testament says that Adam and Eve are NAGI, that they instantly translate everything as naked, naked. But, this may not be the case. The fact is that before the first arrival of the Aryan tribes in Ancient India, which took place 4821 years ago (in the summer of 2817 from the SMZH or 2692 BC), which was then called Dravidia, it was inhabited by Negroid tribes - DRAVID AND NAGA. The Aryan tribes brought them Vedic knowledge, having driven out the BLACK MAGICS from Dravidia, who cultivated the cult of the Goddess of the CALI-BLACK MOTHER, to whom they made human sacrifices. And it is quite possible that the phrase… And both were NAGA, ADAM and his wife, and were not ashamed… may also mean that they were people of the black race and worshiped the Goddess of the CALI-BLACK MOTHER and were not ashamed of it. The Jews, using ancient Vedic sources in writing their sacred books, could misunderstand the meaning or did not want to focus on it. The fact is that the Jews belong to the GRAY SUB-RACE, which arose as a result of the mixing of two races - WHITE AND BLACK.

Introduction

The view of the main world religions and myths and other religious philosophies on the origin of man on Earth

Scientific view on the question of the origin of man on Earth

The clash of science and religion in the question of the origin of man on Earth

Conclusion

Literature

Introduction

The topic “Religion and the science of the origin of man on Earth” has been causing enough controversy for many centuries and is still relevant today. Initially, I chose the topic “Mesopotamia and Egypt - the first civilizations on Earth. Ancient Civilizations in Europe. But, since this topic has repeatedly been the object of my research earlier at the Belarusian State University of Transport when studying the discipline "Culturology", I decided to choose the topic of questions of the origin of man on Earth.

Carried away by the study of various world religions, I noticed more than once that the question of the origin of man is the basis of any religious philosophy.

More attention has recently been paid by me to the ancient category of religion - paganism, both Slavic and more ancient - Scandinavian. This area opened up new aspects of history for me.

From a scientific point of view, over the past centuries there have also been many changes in views on the question of the origin of man on Earth. And at the present time, the progress of research in this area that excites all mankind has not stopped.

In this work, I will describe the historically established views in the religious sphere and in the sphere of science separately and in interaction with each other over the centuries to the present day.

.The view of the main world religions and myths and other religious philosophies on the origin of man on Earth

I will consider the religious views of Ancient Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt.

In the IV-I millennium BC. e. in Mesopotamia and Egypt, myths played an important role, constituting the entire worldview of the peoples of these civilizations. However, the views of the people of Mesopotamia differed significantly from the views of the ancient Egyptians. According to the inhabitants of Mesopotamia and their myths, people were created from the blood of the monster Kingu, defeated by Marduk. Their place in the world is not significant, and people are called only to appease the gods: to make sacrifices to them, build temples, honor priests and kings.

In ancient Egypt, according to three types of myths about the creation of the world and man, people were created by gods. And unlike the inhabitants of Mesopotamia, the Egyptians saw in the afterlife the possibility of further existence. In Egyptian mythology, there were no unified ideas about the creation of the world. The main religious centers of Ancient Egypt - Heliopolis, Hermopolis and Memphis - developed various variants of cosmogony and theogony.

The priests of Heliopolis, the center of the cult of the Sun, placed the solar god Ra at the center of the universe and considered him the father of all other gods. He and eight of his descendants formed the so-called ennead of Heliopolis. According to the Heliopolis legend, Atum appeared from the primordial waters, and by his will, the sacred stone Benben began to grow from them. Standing on its peak, Atum gave birth to Shu, the god of air, and Tefnut, the goddess of moisture. This couple gave birth to their children, Geb, god of the earth, and Nut, goddess of the sky. These first generations of gods represent the basis of creation in the ennead. Geb and Nut gave birth to Osiris, Isis, Set and Nephthys, personifying, respectively, the fertile floodplain of the Nile and the barren desert.

The opposite version existed in the city of Hermopolis, where it was believed that the world originated from eight ancient deities, the so-called Ogdoad. This eight consisted of four pairs of gods and goddesses, symbolizing the elements of creation. Nun and Naunet correspond to the primordial waters, Hu and Hauhet to the infinity of space, Kuk and Kauket to eternal darkness. The fourth pair changed many times, but starting from the New Kingdom, it consists of Amun and Amaunet, personifying invisibility and air. According to the Germanic version, these deities were the mothers and fathers of the sun god, who brought light and further creation into the world.

Another version of creation appeared in Memphis and centered on the creation myth of Ptah, the patron god of crafts, builders, and the city itself. Memphis theology has much in common with Heliopolis, but teaches that Ptah preceded the sun god, and the latter was created by his tongue and heart. This is the first known theology based on the principle of logos, that is, creation by word and will.

The ancient Egyptian religion itself is like an inexhaustible supply of secrets and unexplored knowledge, the study of which is beneficial. But I will not dwell on this, since there are many other issues that I would like to describe.

I would like to immediately touch upon the religion, which at one time supplanted the ancient Egyptian - Christianity.

From the point of view of Christianity, the progenitor of the human race is Adam, created by the Supreme and only God. According to Judaism, Adam and Eve fully represent human relations, reflecting the image of the entire human race, their history can be considered as a prototype of the history of all mankind. According to the teachings of Kabbalah, the creation of Adam was preceded by the creation of a spiritual prototype of man "Adam Kadmon" (original man). Adam is a man who includes all people. Followers of the mystical direction in Judaism believe that the souls of all people not only come from Adam and Eve, but also continue to depend on them.

In Christian theology, Adam is a symbol of man in his relationship with God: God's grace rested on Adam, as on the crown of creation, he possessed absolute righteousness and personal immortality, but all this was lost by him in the fall. This sinfulness Adam passed on to his descendants - to the whole human race. Original sin was redeemed only by the "second Adam" - Jesus Christ. The biblical story of Adam became the basis for such important provisions of the Christian faith as the subordination of a woman to a man and the dogma of original sin.

This is a very pragmatic theory. In my opinion, there is a clear similarity with other religious views. But I will consider this point later.

It makes no sense to talk much about Islam, which arose in the 7th century AD, since there is a specific analogy with the Christian view of the origin of man.

All monotheistic religions have a common core story about the origin of man. So now I want to touch on the so-called polytheistic religions.

Consider the concept of paganism. Paganism - literally, “religion of peoples” or “foreign religion”, that is, religions and religious beliefs, from the point of view of Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), which do not have a revealed origin. Pagan beliefs are based on mythology, since otherwise the most ancient form of preserving historical information cannot be called. The division of mythology into Slavic and Scandinavian is purely symbolic, since these types have one fundamental principle. This is clearly seen in the study of anthropogonic myths.

Anthropogonic myths - myths about the origin (creation) of man (the first man), the mythical first ancestors of the people, the first human couple, an integral part of cosmogonic myths.

The most archaic are the totemic myths about the transformation of animals-totems and people or about the “completion” of people by cultural heroes from embryos with undivided body parts. There are widespread myths about the creation of people (or anthropomorphic creatures) by demiurges from wood (cf. the Scandinavian Aska and Emblu, literally - "ash" and "willow", etc.) or from clay. In the mythological model of the world, humanity is associated with the Earth, the "middle" world. According to other myths, the mother goddess (mother earth) gives rise to gods and the first ancestors of people. A special anthropogonic act is the revival of people or endowing them with a soul, especially in dualistic myths: the opponent of the demiurge is not able to create a person of normal appearance and revive him, the demiurge gives the creation an anthropomorphic appearance and breathes a soul into a person; the opponent of the demiurge seeks to spoil the created man, instills diseases in him, etc. As a rule, the creation of man completes the cosmogonic cycle; the first man becomes the first mortal, which marks the end of the golden age. In another common version of anthropogonic myths, the whole world is created from the body of the first anthropomorphic creature (Scandinavian Ymir).

Here it becomes obvious that Scandinavian mythology is primary. According to Scandinavian myths, a couple was born from Ymir's sweat - a man and a woman, and one leg on the other conceived a son. These were the first frost giants. Ymir, on the other hand, was created at the merger of the realm of ice - Niflheim and fire - Muspellheim. This mythology can be considered generic, because it has the most complete description of all the worlds, all the gods and their relationships. Myths carry not only a narrative, but a whole wisdom.

The creation of Ask and Embla (can be identified with Adam and Eve) carries with it a whole history of creations. Having created the world, the god Odin and his brothers decided to populate it. On the seashore they found two trees: ash and alder (according to other sources - willow). They made a man from ash, and a woman from alder. This is Ask and Embla. Then one of the aces (in Scandinavian mythology, the gods who inhabited Asgard - the highest city) breathed life into them, the other gave them reason, and the third - blood and rosy cheeks.

As for the ancient Slavic mythology, this is how it was formed over a long period, and has rather strong roots from the German-Scandinavian mythology. So in ancient Slavic mythology, the ideas about the origin of man on Earth are similar to the ideas of the Scandinavian pagans. Although ancient Slavic mythology can also become a reasonable subject of research in this area.

Ancient Greek mythology has been much better studied earlier and it is more informationally accessible. It also traces the divine origin of man.

Considering other religious views, I can say that they carry more of the philosophy of life than they are a classical type of religion. Oriental religions can be attributed to religious philosophical directions. They are focused on meditative knowledge of being and oneself. These are teachings that do not pay much attention to questions about the origin of man on Earth. Greater importance is given to such moments as rebirth and the essence of being.

In some mythologies, the gods create an entire nation at once. In Hinduism, as well as in Greek mythology, the human race arose several times.

In philosophy and culture, the idea of ​​man goes a long way from a fragment of nature to a person.

It can be concluded that man has a divine origin - from a religious point of view.

2.Scientific view on the question of the origin of man on Earth

The scientific point of view on the origin of man differs significantly from the religious one. Therefore, further I will consider the scientific view of this issue. Subsequently, I will compare the two main points of view.

The theory of polycentrism was put forward in 1939 by Franz Weidenreich, who believed that modern human races descended from different races of Neanderthals. Thus, the beginning of racial genesis falls on the Lower and Middle Paleolithic. The disadvantage of this theory is that the origin of a person from different races contradicts species continuity. The most widespread theory of broad monocentrism, according to which neoanthropes descended from progressive forms of paleoanthropes that lived in the territory of Central and Western Asia and Northeast Africa.

In the Neolithic era, neoanthropes appear on all continents. At first, neoanthropes lived simultaneously with the Neanderthals, but 40-35 thousand years ago, the neoanthrope became the only species on Earth. There are even several theories about the enmity between Neanderthals and neoanthropes, which boil down to the fact that the more developed neoanthropes destroyed the less developed Neanderthals.

For the emergence of the neoanthrope, the destruction of the isolation of the Neanderthal community was required. Therefore, modern scientists attach great importance to exogamy.

There are two dominant theories on the origin of the modern human population. The out-of-Africa theory suggests that the ancestors of modern humans migrated out of Africa and settled in different parts of the world. According to the multiregional theory, modern humans are, at least in part, descendants of various hominid populations. The out-of-Africa versus multi-regional theory is supported by DNA sequence comparisons of modern humans and is currently accepted by most paleoanthropologists.

According to some researchers, the source of evolutionary ideas stems from the cosmogony of ancient religions. The ideas of creation and development of the universe and life run in them parallel to each other, sometimes closely intertwined. But the mythical way of thinking makes it difficult to crystallize harmonious concepts from them. The first such concept was developed by Anaximander, a student of Thales of Miletus. Anaximander's scheme became known from the historian of the 1st century BC. e. Diodorus Siculus. In his presentation, when the young Earth was illuminated by the Sun, its surface first hardened, and then fermented, rotting appeared, covered with thin shells. All sorts of animal breeds were born in these shells. Man, on the other hand, seems to have arisen from a fish or an animal similar to a fish. Although original, Anaximander's reasoning is not supported by observations. Another ancient thinker, Xenophanes, paid more attention to observations. He identified the fossils that he found in the mountains with the imprints of ancient plants and animals: laurel, shellfish, fish, seals. From this, he concluded that the land once sank into the sea, bringing death to land animals and people. It turned into mud, and when it rose, the prints dried up. Heraclitus, despite the impregnation of his metaphysics with the idea of ​​constant development and eternal becoming, did not create any evolutionary concepts. Although some authors still refer to him as the first evolutionists.

Here I would like to note that the first evolutionists created quite mythological concepts, despite some support and validity. No less wonderful ground for fantastic works than mythology.

A new stage in the development of evolutionary theory came in 1859 as a result of the publication of Charles Darwin's seminal work, The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favorable Races in the Struggle for Life. According to Darwin, the main driving force behind evolution is natural selection. Selection, acting on individuals, allows those organisms that are better adapted to life in a given environment to survive and leave offspring. The action of selection leads to the disintegration of species into parts - daughter species, which, in turn, eventually diverge to genera, families and all larger taxa.

However, there are many refuting hypotheses. Here I would like to note the works of Michael Kremo, who believes that man did not evolve from apes. In his opinion, creatures like us lived on Earth 50 million years ago.

Many scientific hypotheses tell us about the origin of man. And in general, we can say that from a scientific point of view, man descended from a more primitive form of primates.

.The clash of science and religion in the question of the origin of man on Earth

For some reason, it is generally accepted that science and religion are not compatible on the issue of the origin of man on Earth. Modern man has sufficient knowledge to combine them in his own way. Also, we ourselves have the right to choose belief in something.

At present, church dogma is not so categorical as to refute scientific hypotheses. It is even known that the Catholic Church has officially recognized the evolutionary theory of the origin of man.

I want to note that the accusations of atheism and the denial of religion, cited by some opponents of evolutionary doctrine, are based to a certain extent on a misunderstanding of the nature of scientific knowledge: in science, no theory, including the theory of biological evolution, can either confirm or deny the existence of such otherworldly subjects, like God (if only because God, when creating living nature, could use evolution, as the theological doctrine of “theistic evolution” claims).

Efforts to oppose evolutionary biology to religious anthropology are also erroneous. From the point of view of the methodology of science, the popular thesis “man descended from apes” is only an oversimplification of one of the conclusions of evolutionary biology (about the place of man as a biological species on the phylogenetic tree of wildlife), if only because the concept of “man” is ambiguous: man as an object physical anthropology is by no means identical to man as a subject of philosophical anthropology, and it is incorrect to reduce philosophical anthropology to physical anthropology.

Some believers of different religions do not find evolutionary teachings contrary to their faith. The theory of biological evolution contradicts only the literal reading of the sacred texts that tell about the creation of the world, and for some believers this is the reason for rejecting almost all the conclusions of the natural sciences that study the past of the material world. This is so-called literalist creationism.

Among believers who profess the doctrine of literal creationism, there are a number of scientists who are trying to find scientific evidence for their doctrine (so-called "scientific creationism"). However, the scientific community disputes the validity of this evidence.

Religion cannot be opposed to science. The proof of this is that many of the scientists who have explored this area were deeply religious people.

Conclusion

human origin religion science

In conclusion, I would like to say that, in fact, religion and science cannot oppose each other because in various descriptions and evidence there are temporary inconsistencies between one evidence and another.

A lot of time will pass before the moment when humanity will create a single doctrine of the origin of man on Earth, containing all the true moments from both religious beliefs and scientific hypotheses. After all, another area of ​​research remains completely unknown - linguistic roots. And through the study of languages, both modern and dead, one can get to the bottom of the truth. But this is a topic for another work.

But today the question of the origin of man on Earth remains open.

Literature:

1. Petrukhin V.Ya. Myths of ancient Scandinavia. - M: Astrel, AST, 2002 - 464 p.

2.Scandinavian mythology: Encyclopedia. - M: Eksmo, 2004. - 592 p.

Vorontsov N.N. Development of evolutionary ideas in biology. - M.: Progress-Tradition, 1999.

Toporov VN Research in the field of Slavic antiquities. Moscow: Nauka, 1974.

Klein L.S. The Resurrection of Perun. To the reconstruction of East Slavic paganism. St. Petersburg: Eurasia, 2004.

Christianity. Encyclopedic Dictionary / Ed. S. S. Averintseva and others - M., 1993-95. T. 3.

Abstract of lectures on the discipline "History of Belarus", teacher Bessolnov A.B., BelSUT, 2005-2006.

Abstract of lectures on the discipline “Culturology. Religious studies and aesthetics, teacher Elopov A.P., BelSUT, 2006-2007.

How to explain the striking resemblance of monkeys to humans? A variety of answers have been given to this question in the past, one more contradictory than the other. Many scientists not so long ago, about two hundred years ago, believed that great apes are a breed of some kind of wild "orangutans", that is, "forest people" (orangutan in Malay means "forest man"). Orangutans are found in South Asia - on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo). Some naturalists even believed that orangutans pretended to be dumb and unable to understand human speech for fear that they could be turned into slaves and forced to work beyond their strength. In a separate article, we have already considered.

ancient egyptian god Khnum on the potter's wheel he molds the first people from clay.

In some books published at the beginning of the last century, one can read fables about orangutans who allegedly worked on ships as sailors, etc.

This is how the great apes were depicted in past centuries, who were mistaken for forest wild people.

Man is descended from apes

Churchmen approached the question of resemblance of apes to humans. For them, to admit that the great apes are people means also to admit that the god who created people in his own image and likeness must be similar to monkeys. Therefore, churchmen categorically rejected the idea that anthropomorphic monkeys- wild people. Instead, the Church Fathers argued that orangutans were human in the distant past. But they sinned before God, who turned them into animals as a punishment. Belief in this version was so strong that some churchmen, according to surviving legends, went to Africa to preach the Bible among monkeys in the hope that they would again be able to transform into people and reconcile with the almighty "creator".

The notion that man appeared on Earth by a supernatural means, that he was created by God, is a relic of a very distant past.

Various theories of human origin

Different peoples have preserved many of the most diverse tales about origin of man. The most ancient of them say that the first people fell to Earth from the Moon, that they grew up on trees, hatched from an egg laid by some wonderful bird, etc. At a later time, with the development of crafts, when people more and more begin to act as craftsmen, creators of various objects, legends appear that state that the first people were created by some kind of heroes or gods: they were carved from wood, carved from stone, etc. Among the ancient peoples who knew how to make pottery, the idea arose that the first people were made by gods from clay. So, in ancient Egypt, they believed that God, by name Khnum, fashioned the first man on a potter's wheel.

According to ancient Greek legend, god Zeus, like a potter, fashioned people from clay, and the goddess Athena "animated" them, that is, revived them.

The Greek god Zeus sculpts the first people from clay, and the goddess Athena "animates" them.

Bible on the origin of man

There is a similar legend in bible- the holy book of the Jews and Christians. This legend tells that a god named Yahweh, or Jehovah, fashioned the first man - Adam- from the "red earth", that is, from clay, and "breathed a living soul into it." When Adam fell asleep, God took a rib from his body, from which he created a woman - Eve. From these two first people, as the Bible assures, the whole human race went.

The clergy claim that everything written in the bible is " divine revelation". For not believing in the Bible, tens and hundreds of thousands of people were sentenced by the Inquisition - the courts of the Catholic Church - to imprisonment in dungeons and burning at the stake. Only according to the verdicts of the chief inquisitor in Spain, Torquemado (XV century), more than ten thousand people were burned. The militant church for many centuries waged a bitter war against science. “Only what is recognized by the Bible can be recognized, since its authority is of greater importance than all the powers of the human mind.”

So wrote one of the most influential churchmen - Saint Augustine.

And the church brutally cracked down on those who disagreed with her in their views. 14th century Italian scholar Cecco d'Ascoli, who believed in the sphericity of the Earth and believed that people live on its opposite side, about whom the Bible does not mention anything, was burned as a heretic, that is, an infidel. Miguel Servet (XV century), who came close to discovering the law of blood circulation in humans and animals, died at the stake. In 1600, the greatest astronomer Giordano Bruno was burned, who also taught that “on the other side of the Earth” people live - antipodes. To the remarkable scientist of the 17th century Lucilio Vanini, who expressed the idea that everything is changing and that people did not always live the way they did in his time, according to the verdict of the Inquisition, they cut out the tongue, and burned it at the stake.

A lot of scientists died at the hands of "pious" fanatics in the dungeons and dungeons of the Inquisition. Not a few of them were forced to bow their knees before the church and curse all their previous activities. Galileo (XVI-XVII centuries), the church forced in his old age to declare all his great achievements "heresy".

People have always sought to know how they appeared, where the human race originates from. Not knowing the answer to their question, they conjectured, composed legends. The myth of the origin of man exists in almost all religious beliefs.

But not only religion tried to find the answer to this age-old question. As science developed, it also joined the search for truth. But within the framework of this article, emphasis will be placed on the theory of the origin of man precisely on the basis of religious beliefs and mythology.

In Ancient Greece

Greek mythology is known all over the world, therefore it is with it that the article begins the consideration of myths that explain the origin of the world and man. According to the mythology of this people, Chaos was in the beginning.

Gods appeared from it: Chronos, personifying time, Gaia - the earth, Eros - the embodiment of love, Tartarus and Erebus - this is the abyss and darkness, respectively. The last deity born from Chaos was the goddess Nyukta, who symbolized the night.

Over time, these omnipotent beings give birth to other gods, take over the world. Later, they settled on the top of Mount Olympus, which from now on became their home.

The Greek myth of the origin of man is one of the most famous, as it is studied in the school curriculum.

Ancient Egypt

The civilization in the Nile Valley is one of the earliest, so their mythology is also very old. Of course, in their religious beliefs there was also a myth about the origin of people.

Here we can draw an analogy with the Greek myths already mentioned above. The Egyptians believed that in the beginning there was Chaos, in which Infinity, Darkness, Nothing and Nothingness reigned. These forces were very strong and sought to destroy everything, but the great eight acted in opposition to them, of which 4 had a male appearance with frog heads, and the other 4 had a female appearance with snake heads.

Subsequently, the destructive forces of Chaos were overcome, and the world was created.

Indian beliefs

In Hinduism, there are at least 5 versions of the origin of the world and man. According to the first version, the world arose from the sound Om, produced by Shiva's drum.

According to the second myth, the world and man emerged from an "egg" (brahmanda) that came from outer space. In the third version, there was a "primary heat" that gave birth to the world.

The fourth myth sounds rather bloodthirsty: the first man, whose name was Purusha, made a sacrifice of parts of his body to himself. Out of them came the rest of the people.

The latest version says that the world and man owe their origin to the breath of the god Maha-Vishnu. With every breath he takes, brahmandas (universes) appear in which the Brahmas reside.

Buddhism

In this religion, as such, there is no myth about the origin of people and the world. It is dominated by the idea of ​​the constant rebirth of the universe, which appears from the very beginning. This process is called the wheel of Samsara. Depending on the karma that a living being has, in the next life he may be reborn into a more highly developed one. For example, a person who has led a righteous life, in the next life will either again be a man, or a demigod, or even a god.

The one who has bad karma may not become a person at all, but be born as an animal or plant, and even an inanimate being. This is a kind of punishment for the fact that he lived a "bad" life.

About the very appearance of man and the whole world in Buddhism there is no explanation.

Viking beliefs

The Scandinavian myths about the origin of man are not so well known to modern people than the same Greek or Egyptian ones, but no less interesting. They believed that the universe emerged from the void (Ginugaga), and the rest of the material world arose from the torso of a bisexual giant named Ymir.

This giant was raised by the sacred cow Audumla. The stones that she licked to get salt became the basis for the appearance of the gods, among which was the main god of Scandinavian mythology, Odin.

Odin and his two brothers Vili and Ve killed Ymir, from whose body they created our world and man.

Old Slavic beliefs

As in most ancient polytheistic religions, according to Slavic mythology, Chaos was also in the beginning. And in it lived the Mother of darkness and infinity, whose name was Swa. Once she wanted a child for herself and created from the embryo of her fiery son Svarog, and from the umbilical cord the serpent Firth was born, who became a friend of her son.

Swa, to please Svarog, removed the old skin from the snake, waved her hands and created all living things from it. Man was created in the same way, but a soul was put into his body.

Judaism

It is the first monotheistic religion in the world, from which Christianity and Islam originate. Therefore, in all three creeds, the myth of the origin of people and the world is similar.

The Jews believe that the world was created by God. However, there are some discrepancies. Thus, some believe that the sky was created from the radiance of his clothes, the earth from the snow under his throne, which he threw into the water.

Others believe that God wove several threads together: two (fire and snow) used to create his world, two more (fire and water) went to create the sky. Later, man was created.

Christianity

This religion is dominated by the idea of ​​the creation of the world from "nothing". God created the whole world by His own power. It took him 6 days to create the world, and on the seventh he rested.

In this myth, explaining the origin of the world and man, people appeared at the very end. Man was created by God in his own image and likeness, therefore it is people who are the "highest" beings on Earth.

And, of course, everyone knows about the first man Adam, who was created from clay. Then God made a woman out of his rib.

Islam

Despite the fact that the Muslim creed takes its roots from Judaism, where God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh, in Islam this myth is interpreted somewhat differently.

For Allah, there is no rest, he created the whole world and all living things in six days, but fatigue did not touch him at all.

Scientific theories of human origin

Today it is generally accepted that humans appeared in the course of a long biological process of evolution. Darwin's theory states that man emerged from higher primates, so man and great apes in ancient times had a single ancestor.

Of course, in science there are also different hypotheses regarding the appearance of the world and people. For example, some scientists put forward a version according to which a person is the result of a merger of primates and alien aliens who visited the Earth in ancient times.

Even more daring hypotheses have begun to appear today. For example, there is a theory according to which our world is a virtual program, and everything that surrounds us, including the people themselves, is part of a computer game or a program used by more developed beings.

However, such bold ideas without due factual and experimental confirmation are not much different from the myths about the origin of people.

Finally

In this article, various options for the origin of man were considered: myths and religions, versions and hypotheses based on scientific research. No one today can say with absolute certainty how it really was. Therefore, each person is free to choose which of the theories to believe.

The modern scientific world tends to the theory of Darwinists, since it has the largest and best evidence base, although it also has some inaccuracies and shortcomings.

Be that as it may, people strive to get to the bottom of the truth, so more and more hypotheses, evidence appear, experiments and observations are carried out. Perhaps in the future it will be possible to find the only correct answer.