Did Neandertals have the image of God?

A few months ago I shared why I can't believe that Adam and Eve literally existed.  One of the pre-modern-human species I mentioned were Neandertals, who are thought to be an evolutionary dead end.  Pinpointing a literal Adam and Eve after the Neandertals, or leaving their species out of those who would have the image of God, is problematic to me because Neandertals left flowers at burial sites.  They had some understanding of the meaning of death, so to consider them soulless is troublesome.

I recently discovered a great blog by Jim, a self-described "Christian, librarian, palaeoanthropologist, and evolutionary biologist with an all-consuming interest in apologetics and controversies in science and religion."  At Science and Religion: A View from an Evolutionary Creationist, Jim linked to an intriguing new finding on the Neandertals.  Researchers found that this species lived in house-like structures.  The report says: 

Researchers from the Museum National d'Histories Naturelle in Paris said it suggests the early human ancestors settled in areas where they built structures to live for extended periods of time.

The circular house was made up of 116 large bones, including mammoth skulls, jaws, 14 tusks and leg bones.

And inside at least 25 hearths filled with ash were also found, suggesting it had been used for some time, the Mail said.

Jim adds that the Neandertals "were every bit as intelligent as we are, just very environmentally-challenged."  This discovery complicates the notion that two individuals were suddenly infused with God's image.  That a group of not-quite-human beings had the capacity to build homes, albeit crude, makes a bright-line rule with regard to who has a soul seem arbitrary.  

 

Comments

[Jason_shep]

I would assume that if for most western Christians an unborn fetus is a person and has a soul the same would be said for a Neandertal????

[Jason_shep]

BTW, one visit to the Natural History Museum and there is no possible way a rational person could ignore evolution.

[Natalie]

I'm embarrassed for otherwise intelligent people (not just evangelicals!) when they try to argue against evolutionary theory! If you don't already read Peter Enns' blog, he has a great post up today about evangelicals' rejection of evolution - it quotes my hero Mark Noll...