Actually it says "עפר מן האדמה" but yes, from soil, is soil just as 'degrading' as an Ape ? I think you can understand the bibles description as saying that Man is made from the same matter that the rest of the earth is made, but that man also has רוח a soul that G-d gave only to man. There is nothing between such a philosophical-religious statement to evolution. Besides evolution is not a pure scientific theory, it is basically a principle, but it is not a physical entity such as gravity or electricity.
It is not deranging because it doesn't say "man evoluted from soil, i.e man is an upgrade of soil". Soil (matter) was a "natural resource" to create human's body. But man is absolutely new creature. You said correctly: "Man is made from the same matter that the rest of the earth is made, but that man also has רוח a soul that G-d gave only to man". Man is commanded to fulfill G-d's will here, in physical world, so to do this he has a physical body.
Do you really understand it so literally that G-d played with mud, then puffed on it and walla- man !
G-d really created man from soil (taken from the place where the Temple afterwards stood). Judaism says so.
עיין רש"י על בראשית ב:ז
Ultimately God creating everything from himself. And clearly soil itself doesn't have the natural property of spawning men out of itself, there must be some God 'magic' involved in the process. I think that 'degrading' is subjective, I don't find it degrading that man should evolve from lower life forms.
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