Adam and Eve
"Evangelical Christians have generally resisted the demythologisation of the events of the gospels, whereby, for example, the resurrection of Jesus is interpreted as a mythical portrayal of the principle of new life. Indeed, they have argued strongly that it is the very historicity of the resurrection event that is so vital. However, when it comes to the biblical figures of Adam and Eve, there has been a far greater willingness to interpret them as mythical or symbolic. The simple aim of this chapter is to show, in sketch, that, far from being a peripheral matter for fussy literalists, it is biblically and theologically necessary for Christians to believe in Adam as i) a historical person who ii) fathered the entire human race."
Contents
Foreword
Wayne Grudem
Preface: A twenty-first century challenge
Phil Hills
1. Evolution and the Church
Alistair Donald
2. The language of Genesis
Alistair McKitterick
3. Adam and Eve
Michael Reeves
4. The fall and death
Greg Haslam
5. Creation, redemption and eschatology
David Anderson
6. The nature and character of God
Andrew Sibley
7. Faith and creation
R. T. Kendall
8. Towards a science worthy of creatures in imago Dei
Steve Fuller
9. Interpretation of scientific evidence
A. Homology
Norman Nevin
B. The nature of the fossil record
Norman Nevin
C. Chromosomal fusion and common ancestry
Geoff Barnard
D. Information and thermodynamics
Andy McIntosh
10. Does the genome provide evidence for common ancestry?
Geoff Barnard
11. The origin of life: scientists play dice
John Walton
Conclusion: Should Christians embrace evolution?
Phil Hills and Norman Nevin
Infomation
Book Price: £9.99
Paperback 192 pages
ISBN 9781844744060
Published 20/11/2009
Edited by
Norman C. Nevin
Foreword by
Wayne Grudem
Latest Comments
Wayne Grudem's Foreword
Does Dr. Grudem's equation apply to other scientific theories besides evolution? For example, Christians will listen to a weather forecast that explains the weather in terms o... Read More
12.02.13 18:43
By James McAdams
Creation, Redemption and Escha...
Thank you for meeting and available very nice articles. Read More
22.05.12 10:04
By Sanghyun Park
The Fall and Death
You object to the idea of death before the Fall. Paul speaks of the cross of Christ and the Fall of Adam as parallel events. We accept that the cross is an eternal event that ... Read More
25.04.12 14:03
By Ruth Campbell
Wayne Grudem's Foreword
I agree that evolutionary thought poses challenges for fundamentalist Christian faith, but I disagree that this means it's not true. Any lay person who spends more than a few ... Read More
25.07.11 04:09
By Ryan McGoff
Wayne Grudem's Foreword
Actually, I think the equation works. The proper mathematical illustration is some say 2+2+0=4, but others say 2+2+God=4, therefore God=0. In your illustration, nobody thinks ... Read More
22.07.11 18:56
By Tim
Comments
There are other plausible read-between-the-lines theories, such as the Gap Theory, which suggests a lot happened between the first two verses of the Bible (such as other creations!) It was proposed to try to understand where demons came from. Nowhere (that I know of) in the Bible does it explicitly explain these frightening entities. It does mention in Romans 8:38 that they are not angels.
Good verse (Acts 17:26) - it does say lineage from one man ...but it doesn't explicitly say who :) and goes on to say we're offspring from God. Is this part poetic? Maybe Adam was the first MODERN human.
I think your biology is correct, but I haven't studied genetics for awhile...
Anyways, good points, and I hope we all get more clear on whatever the truth is!
I don’t offer these as cast-iron evidence, but merely that there are fully reasonable explanations to the questions you’ve raised and thus it is perhaps not as clearcut as you have made out.
As an aside, the clearest verse for me in showing the Adam and Eve were the parents of the whole human race is Acts 17:26: “From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth.” (NIV) Perhaps Mike Reeves elaborates on these more in his chapter, I’ll have to get the book to find out!
However, I thought I would just address the questions you raised, which are often raised.
1. Who was Cain afraid of?
While Genesis 4 describes Cain's banishment it doesn't give a timeline to events. Thus (if the greater longevity of people at the time is accepted) it may have been many years, in which time Adam and Eve may well have had many other sons and daughters. It seems plausible that one of these may have sought to 'avenge' Abel by taking out Cain.
2. Who did he marry? Someone from Adam and Eve's family?
The frequent answer to this is that it could have been one of Adam and Eve's daughters, i.e. his sister. It's important not to impose the societal norms of later times onto this antediluvian period. One of the chief reasons why incest is (rightly!) prohibited today is the danger of genetic problems with any offspring.
While questions remain, I believe there are more questions in the other camps (creationism/ID and atheism). I look forward to reading this book and Alexander's to challenge my position.
From this extract, I disagree with point ii, and I have an example from the Bible:
In Gen 4:13-18, Cain is banished from the Garden of Eden and wander the earth. He is afraid of people killing him, so God puts a mark on his head indicating that whoever kills him would receive extra punishment. Cain wanders to the land of Nod, marries someone, has a son, and builds a city.
But who was Cain afraid of? Who did he marry? Someone from Adam and Eve's family?
This leads me, from a Biblical text understanding, to believe there were other people around at the time besides Adam and Eve, who were not fathered by Adam.
RSS feed for comments to this post.