Abstract
The writer states in the Introduction that "faith can benefit from our scientific knowledge of the universe, and from the insights of process philosophy." Korsmeyer refers in the first chapter to Pope Pius XII’s 1950 encyclical Humani Generis where we read that Roman Catholics cannot support a theory which states that after Adam a human race developed which did not descend from Adam. That idea cannot be reconciled with the doctrine of original sin. Korsmeyer writes that original sin resulted from fifteen billion years of persuasive divine creativity and the co-creative response of all entities in our universe (p. 122). Original sin is the biologically and culturally inherited state responsible for the human characteristics of survival and self interest. Korsmeyer uses the fact that the Roman Catholic doctrine of the soul is based on Platonic philosophy to argue that modern science and philosophy should assist us in explaining biblical texts. He speculates about what might happen to the doctrine of original sin when we meet extraterrestrials. After all, they are also God’s creatures.