Augustinian Theological Thought and Biological Evolution

Abstract

In this paper, we are looking at a philosophical approach on creation and evolution. We try to search for the possibility of an evolution in Augustine theological thought and Thomas Aquinas’ works. St Augustine thinks that Earth received from God a capacity to produce plants, Thomas Aquinas claims a progressive development of plants’ species in their characteristics. Concerning animals, Augustine thinks that water received the capacity to produce fishes and marine animals. In his worldview, he takes account of spontaneous generation. During the modern period, the theologians no more understood perspectives about a progressive creation: God created each living species in a Linnaean sense. An Augustinian rereading removes the opposition between evolution and creation. Keywords: creation, St Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, evolution, spontaneous generation