Death, the Fall, and Evolution.
This may be silly, but I'm quite curious.
A lot of Catholics (even bigger, more prominent Catholics) seem to hold that evolution is totally compatible with the faith. But is it?
I mean, the story of Eden involves death being introduced to mankind via the sin of Adam and Eve. I think that's very clear (though I read that maybe this was a 'spiritual death'? If so, what does that mean?).
But, if that's the case, how can evolution be compatible? Adam and Eve, at least to me, seem very clearly to be fully-developed humans. And if death does not exist yet, then how could evolution- a process which involves death- happen?
And I was trying to work this out myself, but I came to several roadblocks:
1.) The Allegorical solution: Genesis, Adam and Eve, Eden, purely allegorical. Which, to some extent, yeah. The first Chapter of Genesis is clearly poetry, which establishes simply that God created the world from nothing out of Goodness. But I think this poses some issues with Christ's ultimate sacrifice (at least in my mind). Like, did he come to fulfill the literary requirements of an ancient Hebrew author he inspired?
2.) 'Spiritual death' as the punishment. If this means that we can die separated from God, then... What's the point of Eden? The lifespans of Adam and Eve? Or even our glorified bodies, which would be in a state of Theosis (unlike Adam and Eve seemed to have been), would we still be susceptible to death?
3.) Adam and Eve and other humans. It seems to be a very common belief that Adam and Eve were not the only two, but this seems rather fickle. Were Adam and Eve just made to be fully modern humans while people evolved around them and died slowly? How did Adam and Eve represent humanity?
I know this may be a silly post, but Catholicism's main subreddits seem to be filled with a wide number of often problematic figures and responses.
Any help would be appreciated.