Is not the theory of theistic evolution a contradiction of both Christian theology and Darwinian evolution?”
The idea of theistic evolution has been promoted by some Catholic theologians since the beginning of the twentieth century. 1 Known technically as moderate transformism, this theory supposes an upward transformation of species from the non-living to the living and from the simple to the more complex along the lines suggested by Charles Darwin, but, contrary to Darwinism, according to a plan of development instilled in natural bodies by God the Creator. In 1931 Ernest Messenger came out with his Evolution and Theology, wherein he presented at length the arguments in favor of theistic evolution and gave ample quotations from Catholic theologians and from the Fathers and Doctors of the Church. As a starting point for a Catholic theistic approach to transformism (the theory of evolution), Messenger accepts the solemn Magisterium and the ordinary Magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church, 2 and he gives “religious and prudential assent” to the Decrees of the Pontifical Biblical Commission of
