★★★★★ 5
The Best Book on the Creation-Evolution Debate
Format: Paperback
“The book The Evolution of Adam is an accessible study of the hermeneutical issues involved in reading Genesis and Paul on Adam in view of evolution.” - Peter Enns
In my opinion The Evolution of Adam by Peter Enns is the best book available on the evolution versus creation debate because it goes right to the heart of the matter. Christians grossly misunderstand the creation stories in Genesis because they read them from a modern point of view.
The first part of the book deals with Adam in Genesis. The second part of the book deals with Paul's Adam in Romans. The book is short and very well written for the popular audience.
PART 1 ADAM IN GENESIS
Many stories in the Old Testament have parallels with other Ancient Near Eastern stories. The Adam story is no different as it has strong similarities to Atrahasis.
If I may quote Enns, “Israel's creation story was written to say something about their place in the world and the God they worshiped. To think that the Israelites, alone among all other ancient peoples, were interested in (or capable of) giving some definitive, quasi-scientific, account of human origins is an absurd logic. And to read the story of Adam and Eve as if it were set up to so such a thing is simply wrongheaded. It strains credulity to think that, of all the ancient peoples with origins stories, Israel alone escaped this story-telling mentality and gave us something approximating 'history' or 'science' in the modern sense.”
The Evolution of Adam shows conclusively that, “the Adam story in Genesis is part of Israel’s literature of national and religious self-definition, not the origin of humanity.” The Adam story is not concerned with human origins as most Christians assume. Adam is Israel.
Israel’s history as a nation can be broken down as follows:
1. Israel is “created” by God at the exodus through a cosmic battle (gods are defeated and the Red Sea is “divided”);
2. The Israelites are given Canaan to inhabit, a lush land flowing with milk and honey;
3. They remain in the land as long as they obey the Mosaic law;
4. They persist in a pattern of disobedience and are exiled to Babylon.
Israel’s history parallels Adam’s drama in Genesis:
1. Adam is created in Genesis 2 after the taming of chaos in Genesis 1;
2. Adam is placed in a lush garden;
3. Law (not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil) is given as a stipulation for remaining in the garden;
4. Adam and Eve disobey and are exiled.
PART 2 PAUL'S ADAM
Paul’s use of the Adam story, like Paul’s other uses of the Old Testament, is marked by creativity and the prior conviction that Jesus is God’s unexpected solution to a universal plight.
Enns' summary of Paul's Adam in Romans 5:12-21 is as follows:
1. Adam is hardly mentioned in the Old Testament.
2. Some see Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David as “new Adams.” Paul represents Jesus as a new Adam.
3. The Fall of man is not taught in the Old Testament.
4. The Fall of man is not taught in the Garden scene. The imputation of Adam’s sin is not taught in the garden story.
5. The Adam/Jesus Parallel in Romans 5 is both clear and not so clear. What does Paul mean when he says that through Adam’s sin, “death came to all, because all sinned.” One might have expected Paul to say, “because Adam sinned” (death is Adam’s fault).
6. Paul’s Jesus/Adam parallel does not stem from a “plain reading” of Genesis. It is selective and theologically driven. The Book of Romans is not about personal salvation, but about the Jew/Gentile relationship.
7. Paul was an ancient man and he had an ancient view of human origins.
8. Paul used the Old Testament in creative ways that violate the grammatical-historical-contextual approach. So he could be doing the same with Adam.
9. Adam was used creatively in Second Temple Jewish literature (Paul’s contemporaries).
CONCLUSION
Evolution and creation are not in conflict because the early chapters of Genesis have nothing to do with HOW God created the world or the first humans. Therefore science can be studied freely for what it is and the Old Testament can be understood as ancient Israel's story.
If I may quote Enns again, “The root of the conflict over evolution and creation for many Christians is not scientific or even theological, but group identity and fear of losing what it offers. The challenge of evolution is here to stay, and its effect on how Christians read Genesis and Paul must be addressed deliberately.”
“Evangelicals tend to focus on how to protect the Bible against the attacks of evolution. The real challenge before them is to reorient their expectation of what the story of Adam and Eve is actually prepared to deliver.”
If you are looking to solve the evolution-creation debate in your mind then the Evolution of Adam is the book to read. Evolution and creation are both true. God created through evolution. The Bible is not a modern science book.
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Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2012
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