Theistic Evolution: A Contemporary Aristotelian-Thomistic Perspective – By Fr. Mariusz Tabaczek

The Angelicum Thomistic Institute is pleased to announce that Theistic Evolution: A Contemporary Aristotelian-Thomistic Perspective by Fr. Mariusz Tabaczek is now available through Cambridge University Press. The book was released on October 26, 2023. Tabaczek, a Polish Dominican, is a researcher for the Angelicum Thomistic Institute and professor of Theology at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome, Italy.

The book offers a fresh, intriguing, and convincing way of reconciling and promoting an inspiring mutual exchange between the well-known Aristotelian-Thomistic tradition of philosophy and theology and the most recent version of biological evolution. It addresses a whole range of topics, including: the metaphysics of evolutionary transitions; the essentialist and hylomorphic notion of biological species and species transformation; the status and role of natural selection, teleology and chance in evolution; divine action in evolution; and the question concerning theological anthropogenesis as confronted with evolutionary biology.

The book has received positive responses from various reviewees. James Hofmann from California State University, Fullerton says about the publication:

This book is required reading for anyone interested in a contemporary Thomistic approach to theistic evolution based upon a careful delineation of primary and secondary causality. Tabaczek’s integration of a hylomorphic conception of substance into a theology of creation results in a detailed theological model for evolutionary change that includes human origins.

It has received a similarly positive review from Catholic University of America professor, Reinhard Huetter:

Theistic Evolution advances a complex and compelling Aristotelian-Thomist account of human evolution in an integrated emergentist-teleological framework. Scientifically informed, philosophically astute, and theologically robust, Tabaczek’s sophisticated proposal is a cutting-edge “must-read” for anyone interested in the highly complex and controversial field of anthropogenesis and its theological interpretation.

The book is Fr. Tabaczek’s third monograph on science-theology dialogue. He has previously published Emergence. Towards A New Metaphysics and Philosophy of Science (Notre Dame Press, 2019) and Divine Action and Emergence: An Alternative to Panentheism (Notre Dame Press, 2021).