'Four Views on the Historical Adam' edited by Barrett, Caneday and Gundry
Let’s face it. Most of us tend to take one
of two different approaches when we are asked to consider whether we believe
Adam and Eve were real life people who lived at some point in history:
Approach
1: A little fidgeting, followed
by some vague non-committal murmurs and then a hurried attempt to change the
conversation or discover an excuse to leave the room. Avoidance is key!
OR
Approach
2: A gradual, but almost
inevitable, growing dogmatism (and perhaps even obsession) about the whole
subject to the point that even we get tired of listening to ourselves talk
about it!
I know. Those are massive generalisations.
But, like most generalisations, there is a kernel of truth to them. In a
secular world where current scientific thinking is regarded as authoritative –
and where the Bible certainly isn’t – it has become increasingly difficult and
uncomfortable for Christians to know how to engage with the world on this
issue. Unfortunately, not only do we struggle to engage meaningfully with the
world, we also often struggle to know how to engage meaningfully with each other on it.
And so, enter ‘Four Views on The Historical Adam’ edited by Barrett,
Caneday and Gundry.
Over the next couple of weeks I’ll be
reviewing this thought provoking book that presents the views of four different
evangelical scholars on the question of the historicity of Adam and Eve. This
book is not a quick read, but it is
intriguing and it really does exercise those brain cells! It also has a couple
of unique strengths which I think makes it a helpful read for those of us who
want to learn to engage helpfully and meaningfully on this topic.
Firstly, in presenting a number of
different views it avoids giving a definitive answer to the question it asks.
Whilst some might find this frustrating, its strength is that it doesn’t tell
us what to think about this issue, so
much as it teaches us how to think
about it. As we consider the sometimes very distinct, and at other times very
subtle, differences between the contributors we are compelled to work them
through ourselves, raise our own questions, follow through on the implications
and so on. By the time we have finished, perhaps we might have arrived at a
firm conclusion or perhaps we might still have some questions. But we will be better
for the reading experience because we’ve been compelled to think about it ourselves.
Secondly, while this is a book concerned
with theology, it does not divorce theology from the everyday life of the
Christian. The editors write:
Too
often in debates of this nature we fail to take the next step. While we may
rise to the highest levels of intellectual debate, we easily neglect that which
is most important, namely, applying the debate concerning Adam’s historicity to
the Christian life. (Pg 34)
And
so, in order to ensure that their book does not neglect that which is ‘most
important’, the editors have also included two pastoral reflections at the end
of the book designed to look ‘at the big picture and how this issue
changes (or doesn’t change) the Christian faith and the church’. For many of us readers, this is where the
rubber really hits the road. More on that later. In the meantime, there are a
couple of other observations that help set the scene for us as we read.
Firstly, all the views presented in the
book are from self confessed evangelical Christians. Although they hold
divergent views on the historical Adam, all of the contributors affirm important
gospel beliefs in common.
Secondly, the central issue of this book is
not ‘Evolution vs. Creation’ (to put it rather crudely), but the question of
whether Adam and Eve were actual historical figures from which mankind were
descended. That is, it is chiefly concerned with the ‘unity’ of the human race
rather than its ‘antiquity’. The editors do acknowledge that ‘how one
understands the days of Genesis, evolutionary theory and even the age of the
earth to a certain extent will impact in one way or another what one believes
about Adam and Eve’ . And
so, the question of humanity’s antiquity is not one that the book can afford to
avoid.
Finally, the authors of each view were
asked to address three particular questions in their response. These were:
1. What is their
biblical case and how do they reconcile it with other biblical views?
2. Why is their
view more theologically consistent/coherent?
3. What are the
implications of their view for the church and individual believers?
In the next post we’ll take a bit of a
closer look at one of the views that answers the question of whether Adam was
historical with a resounding ‘No’.
About this month's contributor, Dani Treweek
After training at Moore Theological College, Dani went on to serve as the Women's Minister at St Matthias Anglican Church for over six years. Recently she has said a sad goodbye to her brothers and sisters at St Matthias in order to (God willing) pursue PhD studies commencing in 2016. She loves reading, and so is constantly perplexed that the pile of unread books waiting next to her bed (or on her kindle) doesn't ever seem to get any smaller. She's also a Les Miserables tragic, would choose Pepsi Max over Coke Zero any day and continues to maintain that her best ever organisational decision was ditching all those misshapen, mismatched wire coat hangers in favour of lovely, matching, consistent and aesthetically pleasing plastic black ones.