I’m a Cave Man Too

Last updated on: December 26, 2014 at 8:23 am by Fr. Dwight Longenecker

I’m a Cave Man Too 2014-12-26T08:23:09-05:00 Fr. Dwight Longenecker

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

This picture essay from the Daily Telegraph chronicles the existence of the Koroway tribe in Indonesia who live a totally primitive life. The continued existence of human beings living in such stone age conditions always makes me wonder about the received understanding of human evolution. You know how you go to the Natural History Museum and they show you dioramas of Neanderthal Man. The wax figures are squatting there with heavy brows and thick lips and long hair. They’re dressed in skins and looking like missing links.

I’m dubious. First of all, how do they know how these people dressed? Their clothes didn’t survive did they? They assume they dressed in skins, but maybe they dressed in colorful woven clothes. They don’t really know do they? So they dug up their burial sites. Maybe they wore three piece suits everyday, but buried their people in wolf skin so they would be predatory in the afterlife. How do they know they were hairy and unshaven? The North American Indians and many other primitive tribes had extravagant grooming with plucked hairs, fancy haircuts, shaved heads, the works. How do they know they lived in caves? Maybe they lived in nice wooden houses which have not survived. Maybe they lived in sophisticated tree houses like these folks in Indonesia.

Furthermore, who is to say the ‘cave men’ were quite so sub human as the smart anthropologists make out. We judge them by our standards. I dare say they’re a darn sight better at surviving in the jungle than we are, even if they don’t have an iPad. Also, who’s to say they’re all that unsophisticated? Many tribes had and have a fascinating mythology, a complex religion, an organized cosmology, a strict set of internal moral standards and a developed language and cultural structure.

In fact what do we know about the ‘cave man’ at all? Chesterton points out that the one thing we do know about them is that they were artists. They left beautiful paintings on the walls of those caves in France, but that doesn’t mean they lived in caves. It just means they went there to make paintings, and maybe they did so because the cave was their temple, or perhaps the cave was their art gallery. Who knows?

To stand things on their head even further, who are we to say that we are so much more civilized or sophisticated than this tribe in Indonesia or the ‘Cave Man’? If you want to see primitive tribal behavior go to a rock concert. If you want to see barbaric human behavior take a peek at the gangs in any of our inner cities. If you want to see a cross between a gorilla and a human check out the British football hooligan or the American meathead. Huge numbers of people in our own society live out their lives in virtual illiteracy, moral ignorance, brutish violence, boorishness and downright beastly behavior.

This was impressed upon me once when I was walking through a British seaside town in the height of summer and a barefoot youth with a Mohican haircut, covered in tattoos, with pierced ears, nose and other stuff, and wearing nothing but a filthy speedo swimsuit came walking up the street. I was aghast. Give him a spear and he could have stepped right out of the jungle. I said good morning and he grunted at me. “It was a Neanderthal!”, I thought, “alive and well in modern Britain”, and lest I be shot at for Brit bashing, the same could have happened in an American city.

I’m not convinced that we’re any more sophisticated than the primitive people or that they are necessarily any more backward than us. Sure, we have better technology. Maybe they know how to talk to each other more. Maybe they’re more spiritual. I’m not being romantic about them, or getting down on us. Just being skeptical about the idea that we’re better than they are or they’re better than we are or vice versa.

The idea that we are better than them simply because we’re alive now and the cave man was alive a long time ago is hogwash. It’s a heresy called historicism–the false belief that we’re better and more enlightened and more wonderful just because we live now and not then.

Fact of the matter is: human beings are human beings. They are our brothers and sisters. I’m a cave man too. We’re all created in God’s image and we’re all therefore good. They are too in their own way. We’re all good, but we’re not perfect. The image of God in us is wounded by original sin. We all (Koroway tribe and Catholic tribe) need the healing redemption of Christ. That’s why I was encouraged to find in the article that this primitive tribe has had contact with missionaries.

I just wonder if the missionaries are Catholic.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

July 6, 2010

Hitler's Pope--Not

Next Post

July 10, 2010 Anglo Catholics at the Brink

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Anglican Matters Apologetics Architecture Blobble Study Book Reviews Brideshead Caitlin O'Rourke Catholic Art Catholic Culture Church Politics Chust for Nice Contemporary Culture Duane Mandible Ed Blanch Film Reviews Fr Harvey Nicolaitan Frank Viola Mantilla the Hon More Christianity Mrs Brady Catholic Old Lady Mystery of the Magi Norman Anderson Queen Hillary Saints and Supernatural Spirituality The Inklings The Vicar Theology Todd Unctuous Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz