Adam and Eve at Bryan College

In the wake of some Catholic schools’ attempt to strengthen faculty fidelity to the moral teachings of the Catholic Church, a recent New York Times story highlights a similar effort underway at a Bryan College, a Christian college in Dayton, Tenn., which is tweaking its statement of belief and causing division as a result: 

Since its founding in 1930, Bryan College’s statement of belief, which professors have to sign as part of their employment contracts, included a 41-word section summing up the institution’s conservative views on creation and evolution, including the statement: “The origin of man was by fiat of God.” But in February, college officials decided that professors had to agree to an additional clarification declaring that Adam and Eve “are historical persons created by God in a special formative act, and not from previously existing life-forms.”

It’s hard to see how this statement squares with the overwhelming evidence furnished by modern science. For an overview of the Catholic understanding of Genesis and the complications of a literal interpretation of the Adam and Eve story, see this post of America contributor John W. Martens.