St. Thomas Aquinas (echoing Aristotle) in De Ente et Essentia famously said, “a little error in the beginning leads to a great one in the end.” When considering the immensely important topic of theological anthropology, Aquinas’ words ring even truer today. Our present culture is rife with dangerous ideological anthropologies that seek to distort and deny the reality of the human person. To destabilize a Judeo-Christian anthropology is to undercut the foundation of human dignity and leads to the slippery slope of dehumanization.

Into this dangerous breech steps Monica Migliorino Miller and her new book, In the Beginning: Crucial Lessons for Our World from the First Three Chapters of Genesis. Miller, a theologian and well-known pro-life leader, sees in Genesis the answer to so many of our present anthropological missteps.

Getting God’s vision for man square is essential to understanding the rest of the journey of Scripture. When compared to the surrounding pagan cultures and philosophies, the author of Genesis sets a competing anthropology: Man’s creation in the “image and likeness” of God places him as a unique actor in human history, as one who moves history forward toward completion. The prevailing pagan cyclical and fatalist vision of time and history is overcome by the hope-filled and empowering Genesis narrative. For Miller, this is the first “Good News” about man that sets the tone for the rest of Scripture and human history.

In this interview, Miller speaks about her new book and delves into a few related topics concerning Christian anthropology, including the dangers of artificial intelligence (AI).

This book is a summation of your experiences as a theologian and pro-life leader. Can you speak a bit more about your motivations for writing this?

Actually, I have more than one motivation for writing this book. In the Beginning is certainly providing an apologetics for the Christian religion, but it is really the most basic, most fundamental form of apologetics — stripped to its basics, as this book argues how and why the Judeo/Christian religious tradition per se is the religious tradition that, more than any other religious system, upholds the dignity of the human person. Additionally, I wanted to show how Judaism was truly revolutionary — dare I even say progressive in terms of its optimism and respect for the world of nature. Furthermore, contrary to that ancient pagan dualist pessimism, Judaism is the first religion to insist that spirit and matter are not opposed, that there is a true harmony between God and the world of matter that he deliberately willed to exist.

As I say in the introduction to the book, “Ideas matter! — the point being that there are consequences to how one sees and understands the world; and depending on that worldview, consequences that lead to what is good for the human person or what is evil. And, too, In the Beginning seeks to reestablish respect for natural law, that this world speaks a truth infused within it by the Divine Mind — as I argue that the primary crisis of our culture right now is a denial of natural law, a denial that ultimately leads to denigration, one may even say a desecration, of human nature.

Genesis 1-3, as you’ve laid out in your book, is so foundational for a proper understanding of Christian anthropology. How can the Church do a better job in presenting these truths in her catechesis?

Indeed, this book is very focused on the Judeo-Christian meaning of what it means to be human, as Christianity, and indeed ultimately Catholicism, provides us with the true anthropology. Honestly, not only is our culture at the stage that what it means to be either a man or a woman is doubted — even what it means to be a human person is debated, as the abortion controversy itself so clearly illustrates.

How can the Church do a better job “presenting these truths in her catechesis”? First, by not being afraid to preach the truth in and out of season. By correcting Catholic leaders and politicians who lead others astray by promoting ideas and policies that are contrary to the faith, and that means contrary to the rights and dignity of persons.

The Church needs to support married couples and the family so sorely under assault by the cultural breakdown of sexual morality and ethics. And since we have a cultural crisis that rejects natural law, bishops, priests, Catholic leaders and educators need to emphasize natural-law morality; catechize those in the pew; and explain to the secular world how such morality frankly makes sense, as it upholds human dignity and really is the sure defense against actions that are an assault on the good of the planet.

The book does an excellent job in touching on so many modern ills: contraception, abortion, transgenderism, etc. Of course, all of these share a common root, but how do you envision the conclusions you’ve drawn as weapons against these evils?

My book is heavily focused on what I call the heresy that will never die — namely that ancient pagan pessimism called Gnosticism — that dualist worldview that believes spirit and matter are opposed, that spirit must overcome matter and eventually that matter will cease to exist. This is the common root of the modern ills to which my book refers.

First of all, my book intends to point out the problem, and certainly for Christian readers help them to see, how utterly contrary this is to a Christian view of the world — meaning the very world that God himself created. So, the first line of offense in combating these evils is to understand that they are the result of a Neo-Gnostic view of reality and that, ultimately, it is Catholicism that provides the answer. So my book intends to educate readers on the danger of this gnostic worldview and to affirm the goodness, the design and beauty of the created order. But, frankly, after recognizing the problem, we have to have the courage to resist the insanity imposed by a culture that has thrown off not only the divinely revealed truth of what it means to be human but the anthropology based on natural law. For instance, will there be any pushback in the state of Wisconsin, whose Democrat governor, Tony Evers, announced that in state statues he wants to remove the word “mother” and replace it with “inseminated person”? Incredible.

One topic in the news that could serve as a topic in the appendices of the second edition is AI. Based on what you’ve written here, do you see AI as providing humanity with greater opportunities or greater temptations? And what are some moral guideposts that you’d like to see the Church put in place concerning AI and human dignity?

All one has to do is a quick internet search through Google on “dangers of artificial intelligence” and you will be overwhelmed by the number of results. Frankly, we always have to be cautious that our technology doesn’t actually replace human beings themselves — as robots take over jobs and tasks that human beings once performed — all the way from making cars to artificial wombs.

Max Tegmark, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the president of the Future of Life Institute, and Yoshua Bengio, dubbed one of the “godfathers of AI” and a professor at the Université de Montréal, have both warned of the dangers of AI — that indeed we are creating systems that are smarter than the most intelligent humans — that, in a sense, we are creating a new human “species” that could grow itself and replace human beings themselves.

Most of the experts fear that eventually we will lose control of this artificially generated intelligence. In any case, if indeed AI actually winds up controlling the human race, this is a most serious issue and needs to be addressed and remedied — but many fear that the Pandora’s box has been opened. We need to be aware of these scientific developments, and, according to the principles of Catholic social doctrine, act legally, socially and politically to defend against the dangers.

Overall, I found your book to be an excellent primer on the Catholic anthropological tradition. As such, this would be a great text for anyone approaching this very important topic for the first time. What advice would you give to someone combing through your book? And how can they best share this work with others?

I am glad that you used the word “primer” because that is exactly what I had intended this book to be: a primer on the most important lessons in Genesis Chapters 1 to 3 regarding the nature of man, the goodness of the created order, and God’s relationship with world and the human race.

You also refer to my book as a “great text” — well, again, indeed this is a good book for anyone teaching “Introduction to Catholicism” or courses in comparative religions because I really explain what makes Judeo-Christianity this particular religion. This book would serve well for discussion groups at parishes, for those involved with religious-education programs and even those who are attending the Order of Christian Initiation for Adults. But may I say the best way for anyone to “share this work with others”: Buy a copy and give it away!

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In the Beginning is published by Catholic Answers and is available here at EWTN Religious Catalogue.

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