CTNS Public Forum with Oliver Putz, God’s Self-Communication in an Evolving World: Evolution, Self and Transcendental Being
A fundamental assumption of traditional Judeo-Christian anthropology is that humans alone are capable of knowing and loving God as both, their whence and wither. While all of creation is intimately related to a wholly transcendent and immanent divine, only humans are aware of this relationship and can respond to it appropriately. The present paper challenges this anthropocentric view on the basis of both transcendental theological anthropology and insights from the biological sciences. It argues that some nonhuman animals are self-conscious and consequently capable of the transcendental experience of absolute being, which renders them in “species-specific” personal relationship with God and, as such, events of the divine self-communication.