For September/October 1998
Volume 1 Number 1
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Our Editorial
Neanderthals
Again? Has the Media Got It Right?
Neanderthals are
newsworthy, but did they mix their genes with early humans? Some members
of the media report no. Are they right? Or do we need to get the data
straight?
by
Michael P. Germano
Neanderthals always seem to make the news. There is even a Web site devoted to them and
those whose genetic endowment is decidedly on that side. Would you believe that a species
that became extinct 20,000 years ago would command such interest in the lay public?
Several folks brought to my attention the recent stories that science now has evidence
that Neanderthals were not our ancestors. I suppose they found it comforting that we mere
mortals did not arise from the Neanderthal family Uncle Bubba notwithstanding. They were
after all, big brutish looking creatures. So, they are not near kin. So what?
What bothers me most is not the lay misconception about present-day models seeking to
explain the origin of anatomically modern Homo sapiens. Rather, it
is the misconception held by the press. Statements in the secular and the
religious press, reporting on the recent Neanderthal DNA research stating that Neanderthals "never
mixed their genes with early humans" and "are not the ancestors of humans,"
are not particularly accurate
accounts. Apparently relying on secondary sources some well-meaning fundamentalist
Christian writers claim the new findings once and for all disprove human evolution.
Hardly. It appears to me that the authors of such statements simply do not know enough
about the concepts and vocabulary of the discipline they are talking about to accurately
report such research let alone to suggest its implications. The study did not rule out a
Neanderthal genetic contribution to anatomically modern H. sapiens (that is us
folks). Now I do not suggest anything about the origins of modern humans for that would
miss my point.
Neither the public nor members of the press know much about genetics, Neanderthals,
archaic H. sapiens, nor the issues involved in the scholarly discussion of the
origin of anatomically modern Homo sapiens. This is what we should expect. Our
public high schools, under-funded as they are, do not offer courses in anthropology
although these topics may appear in high school biology. Moreover, colleges and
universities generally do not require students to study anthropology as part of their
general education requirements. So learning in this discipline is a hit and miss
situation.
My suggestion to you, my friend, is that you spend some time with anthropology. In my
own case, I consider myself a biblical anthropologist. I enjoy the Bible and its central
truths as well as the holistic approach of anthropology. Both help me make sense in
understanding the natural world and lifeways of humans. One provides me knowledge through
spiritual insight and the other through application of the scientific method. For me the
two complement each other and assist me in extending my understanding in both. Remember
education is more than preparing for a career to make money. Education also makes you into
the kind of person you are and shapes your values and worldview. It enriches you
culturally.
If you are a college student, I suggest you round out your education with three
courses: (1) cultural and social anthropology, (2) biological anthropology, and (3)
introduction to archaeology. Some colleges and universities combine cultural anthropology
with archaeology. If you are beyond traditional college age, and think you cannot take
courses, study the subject on your own. It is worth it. At least you will know what the
issues are and will be capable of communicating an informed understanding. We suggest
helpful readings for you in our Research Aids
page.
Letters to the Editor
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Churches or Synagogues?
Did not early Christians meet in synagogues? If so, why do Christians now refer to their
meeting places as churches and not synagogues?
–P. McNair Minnetonka, MN
The Greek word �kkles�a, translated “church” in
English language editions of the New Testament, means “assembly,”
“congregation,” “group of people,” or the “community” but
not a building or assembly hall. Its derivation is from the association of two Greek words
�k denoting “out of" and kale�n meaning “to call.”
In a literal sense �kkles�a referred to a class of individuals
“assembled” or “called together.” In Christian parlance, the word came
to refer to the group of individuals called together from the world to form the people of
God and the community of faith. In a non-religious sense, it implied the calling of an
assembly by a crier or herald for an event such as a town meeting.
Quite early the less formal designation “church” �kkles�a
became an abbreviated form for the designation of the congregation-at-large (II
Corinthians 11:8, Ephesians 5:23, I Timothy 3:5) as well as specific congregations (I
Corinthians 14:23, 34; Revelation 2:1, 8, 12, 18; 3:1, 7, 14) but was still used in the
sense of an assembly. In this sense the more appropriate description of a Christian
congregation in English would be "the assembly" and that is the form followed in
the Romance languages.
The normal gathering places, or meeting locations, of local Christian
congregations were synagogues not churches. The Greek word synagogue simply means
“a gathering” or “a bringing together” and is the Greek equivalent for
the Hebrew edah or for bet knesset, meaning “a gathering
place.” The term could infer a group (Revelation 2:9; 3:9) but more often refers to a
gathering place where such a group would meet (Matthew 23:6; Acts 6:9, 9:20, 13:14). Jews
of the first century preferred synagogue to describe their local meeting places.
The writers of the New Testament generally used the word synagogue
with respect to its meaning as a meeting place, e.g., “in the synagogues” (Acts
9:20 NASB), “the chief seats in the synagogues” (Matthew 23:6 NASB), “they
went into the synagogue and sat down” (Acts 13:14 NASB). They did not refer to their
community as a “synagogue” in the sense of an assembly or congregation. Rather,
Judeo-Christians met in synagogues but saw themselves as the new elect people of God or
assembly of God. New Testament writers did not use the word synagogue to describe their
assembly. Nevertheless, they did use synagogue in reference to various Jewish and opposing
“christian” sects (Revelation 2:9).
The English word “church” is problematic and comes to us from
paganism. Ebenezer Brewer in his Dictionary of Phrase and Fable under the entry
“church” states that “the etymology of this word is generally assumed to be
from the Greek, Kurious oikos (house of God); but this is most improbable, as the
word existed in all the Celtic dialects long before the introduction of Greek. No doubt
the word means ‘a circle.’ The places of worship among the German and Celtic
nations were always circular (Welsh, cyrch; French, cirque; Scotch, kirk;
Greek, kirkos, etc.). Compare Anglo-Saxon circe, a church, with ‘circol,’
a circle” (Brewer, 1910, p.
252).
In Homer’s Odyssey the sorceress Kirke, a daughter of
Helios and Perse who lived on the island of Aeaea, was an enchantress who turned men into
swine. In Greek mythology Helios, god of the sun and light, as an omniscient figure was
all seeing and all knowing. Perse personified the underworld aspects of the moon. The sun
and moon, presumably, came together in an ancient solar eclipse. The disk of the sun
blackened by the disk of the moon produced a glowing ring of fire—the flaming circle
(Kirke, Circe). Echoes of this fiery circle are present in nimbus and
halo symbolism. This is the symbolic ring of light, shown around the head of divinities,
dignities, and saints, emanating a bright glow. A full disk mirrors sun god symbolism.
The word church, in Middle English chireche, chirche, kirke,
and in Anglo-Saxon circe, cirice, cyrice, finds its derivation
in neither �kkles�a nor kyrios but in kirke. The Romance
languages do not reflect this derivation as �kkles�a—Greek: �kkles�a;
Latin: ecclesia—provides the basis for contemporary words for “the
assembly,” e.g., French: �glise; Italian: chiesa; Portuguese: igreja;
Spanish: iglesia.
–editor
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