Doddy brought up the subject of “The Upright Ape.” She posted a few quotes from the book and asked if anyone had read it. I have just finished reading it, and I posted a review of it on Revish.com.
The author has impressive credentials, both as an anthropologist and as a MD specializing in spinal surgery. His book is about a twenty-two-million-year-old fossil of several lumbar vertebrae from a hominoid primate. His skill as a spinal surgeon helped him recognize that this fossil is from an animal that stood erect and probably could not get about in a crouched position as modern-day apes do. He claims that twenty-two million years is seventeen million years too early for an upright ancestor for humans according to the present understanding of evolution. Therefore, the author felt some reappraisal of Darwinian Theory is justified to explain this fossil and also the very large number of new fossils and discoveries of the past twenty-five years. That reappraisal is what his book is all about.
I think his book is very well organized and contains much valuable information on what is happening in anthropology right now. I disagree with the author’s main conclusion because it does not fit with my Christian faith. I believe humans have spiritual souls; animals do not. I have no problem accepting that humans probably descended from apes. I do have a problem accepting what Doddy quoted from the book:
quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The first upright ape was also the first human. In the millions of years that followed, new species branched off and abandoned their upright posture to descend to what we now call "ape."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Edited by MauriceAWilliams, : I left out a few words
™ Version 4.2
