Four Views on the Historical Adam (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology) Paperback – Box set, December 10, 2013

In this counterpoint book the subject of the Historical Adam takes center stage. There are four views presented: (1) No Historical Adam - presented by Denis Lamoureux, Professor of Science and Religion at St. Joseph.s College in the University of Alberta; (2) A Historical Adam: The Archetypal Creation View - presented by John Walton, Professor of Old Testament at Wheaton College; (3) A Historical Adam: Old Earth Creation View - presented by C. John Collins, Professor of Old Testament at Covenant Theological Seminary; and (4) A Historical Adam: Young-Earth View - presented by William D. Barrick, Professor of Old Testament at The Master's College.The format of the book is as follows: Each Professor writes on essay addressing three essential questions: (1) What is the biblical case for your viewpoint, and how to you reconcile it with passages and potential interpretations that seem to counter it? (2) In what ways is your view more theologically consistent and coherent than other views? (3) What are the implications your view has for the spiritual life and public witness of the church and individual believers, and how is your view a healthier alternative for both? Upon answering these questions each scholar counters followed by a rejoinder from the presenter. At the end of the book there are two essays representing two different stances on the debate and impact on the Christian faith by Greg Boyd (Senior Pastor at Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, Minnesota) and Philip Ryken (President of Wheaton College and the former pastor of Tenth Presbyterian in Philadelphia).I Appreciated the personal testimony of Denis Lamoureux's pursuit of truth in the fields of science and theology. He has definitely wrestled with and struggled with all the issues at hand - as a non-believer, as well as a believer in Christ. Lemorourex concludes that his view of evolution disallows for belief in the historical Adam that is revealed in the Scriptures. He argues at length that the realities of history conflicts with modern science. He believes that ancient science (the view of the biblical writers) conflicts with modern science and therefore what we have in the Bible is God accommodating inerrant spiritual truths.In summary "Lamoureux rejects scientific concordism, the idea that God chose to reveal through the Scriptures certain scientific facts and that modern science, properly understood, can be aligned with the Bible. To the contrary, he says the authors of Scripture had an ancient perception of the world, apparent in their belief in a three-tiered universe, their view of the 'firmament,' and elsewhere. When it comes to humanity's biological origins, the biblical authors likewise had a primordial understanding. They held to 'de novo creation,' the belief that God created man and everything else directly, immediately, and completely, that is fully mature."Lamoureux argues that Adam did not exist, but that Jesus Christ is a historical person who died and rose again for our sins. He attempts to show how modern science has changed his views on interpreting the Bible through understanding distinctions between ancient and modern science, language accommodation, and his rejection of concordism.I found his essay to be interesting, but unconvincing. I especially struggled with his weak theological explanation of the historical "Adam" from the lips of Jesus and the Apostle Paul in the New Testament. I also struggled with his interpretation of Genesis 1-11 as not being historical. Lastly, I found his interpretation and methodology in arriving at his conclusions insufficient - leaving me with more questions than answers. I agree with C. John Collins assessment of his essay when he writes, "Lamoureux has followed a style of reasoning that is oversimplified, specifically in that he generally poses either/or questions with only two options; he does not consider whether there are alternatives."In contrast to Lamoureux, John Walton believes that Adam was a historical person. He believe's that the primary emphasis of the Bible and Ancient Near Eastern literature is to demonstrate that Adam (and Eve) are archetypal representatives of humanity. He believes that Genesis 2 is not about the biological origins of Adam and Eve. He argues that Adam and Eve may not even be the first humans who came into existence or the parents of all humankind. Walton doesn't reject or accept evolution, but his view does allow for evolution and an old earth. I found Walton's essay to be difficult to follow and his discussion of archetypes to be interesting, but not totally sustainable.C.J. Collins, like Walton, agrees that Adam and Eve were real historical persons. He demonstrates in his essay with great theological precision how a real Adam and Eve are necessary to demonstrate our need of Savior (the second Adam - Jesus) to save us from the sin we inherited as legitimate children of Adam's race. He does a wonderful job of showing that the story line of the Scriptures reveals three major truths: (1) Adam and Eve as a pair represent humankind as one family; (2) Adam and Eve were created supernaturally by God; (3) Through Adam and Eve came forth sin. As a result all humanity is guilty before our creator God for our experience as sinners, and in need of redemption from the perfect Adam - the Lord Jesus Christ.An interesting aspect of Collins' view of Adam is that he may have been the chieftain of his tribe, i.e., there were perhaps many more people around when Adam and Eve were around. He is also critical of theistic evolution because it fails to account for the special creation of human beings as made in the image of God. He does not believe that a literal twenty-four hour days in Genesis One is required to maintain inerrancy.Michael Barrick, expounds the most traditional of the four views presented. He argues for the supernatural creation of Adam by God, who is the father of all mankind. Barrick gives the most emphasis of the four views to the significance of Adam in understanding and applying the gospel. He holds to a literal twenty-four days and young earth perspective. He holds to a high view of the Scriptures and believes his view best accounts for the consistent testimony of the biblical authors (Moses and Paul) with Jesus' teaching. Barrick's essay argues that when science and the Bible have a conflict - science must always concede for Scripture is inerrant and totally authoritative on all matters it addresses.In the concluding section of the book Greg Boyd and Phil Ryken (Theologian/Pastors) address the following issues raised by the other essayists by answering the following six questions: Does Adam's existence or nonexistence (1) affect the rest of the Christian faith and those doctrines Christians have historically affirmed throughout the centuries? (2) shape a Christian worldview, especially the biblical story line from creation, fall, and redemption, to new creation? (3) have an impact on the gospel, or how the gospel is preached and applied, specifically in church? (4) have influence on how we live the Christian life and 'do church' as the body of Christ? (5) make a difference in our evangelical witness to a watching world? and (6) What is at stake in this debate for evangelicals in the church today?Of the four views presented I found myself in the most agreement with Barrick, followed by Collins, then Walton, and lastly by Lamoureux. I think that Barrick's essay was the easiest to read because it was the essay that took the passages of Genesis at face value - literally. The other three essayists seemed to have to do a lot of hermeneutical gymnastics to make their views work. This is a complicated issue. I appreciated the grace reflected by Lamoureux, Collins, and Walton in particular. Barrick came across more defensive and dogmatic than the other three. At the end of the day, this book deserves a wide reading. It shows the immense complexities of hermeneutics, science, theology, history, and inerrancy. I appreciated what each writer taught me - I gained new knowledge and insights on all five of these topics. I had many questions answered, and yet still have many unanswered questions. My hope is that this book will continue to spark theologians and scientists to work together in the pursuit of truth. I am grateful for the time invested by all the contributors and heartily recommend this book. It is a challenging read, but well-worth the effort.

In this book, editors Barrett and Caneday have assembled a diverse group of evangelical scholars and pastors in order to address a particular aspect of the burgeoning debate within Christian evangelical theology concerning the relationship between science and faith. Specifically, this book seeks to explore the question of the ‘historical Adam’ in light of advances in evolutionary science, especially as it relates to larger evangelical concerns such the reliability of scripture and the integrity of traditional Christian doctrines. The book is divided into three sections: an introduction by the editors to the scope of the debate; the presentation of each of the four views; and a pair of pastoral reflections on how different conclusions drawn from the debate over Adam’s historicity will potentially affect Christian faith and life. Each of the four main viewpoint essays are followed by a brief set of responses from the other contributors, as well as a final rejoinder from the original essayist.Following an insightful introduction by the editors, the book begins in Chapter 1 with Denis O. Lamoureux defending the most potentially controversial viewpoint, namely the ‘Evolutionary Creation View.’ In his essay, Lamoureux distinguishes himself from his fellow contributors by asserting that Adam never existed as a historical figure, and is rather ‘the retrojective conclusion of an ancient taxonomy’ (p. 58). Lamoureux contends that evolution is a purpose-driven natural process through which humans descended from pre-human ancestors, and is simply the method God employed to create life. The heart of Lamoureux’s argument is his rejection of what he terms ‘scientific concordism’, or the ‘assumption that the facts of science align with the Bible’ (p. 45). While affirming the divine inspiration of scripture, Lamoureux suggests that the Holy Spirit employed the ancient Hebrew understanding of science and human origins to reveal spiritual truths. This interpretive move allows Lamoureux to conclude that although Adam was a result of an ancient conception of origins and therefore did not actually exist, Christians are still able to maintain Adam’s pivotal role within both the Old and New Testaments as ‘an incidental ancient vessel that delivers numerous inerrant truths’ (p. 65).Chapter 2 features John Walton’s presentation of the ‘Archetypal Creation View’. In his essay, Walton argues that while Adam and Eve were, in fact, real people who existed in a real historical past, the primary intent of the scriptural authors was to use Adam in an ‘archetypal’ sense. Here, Walton defines an ‘archetype’ as that which ‘serves as a representative of all members of the group’ (p. 90). While stating that the mere fact that Adam and Eve are used in this archetypal fashion throughout scripture does not preclude their being historical figures, Walton contends that ‘we miss the mark if we do not see that all biblical authors are more interested in them as archetypes’ (p. 90). The bulk of Walton’s essay is a case for the archetypal usage of Adam and Eve throughout scripture, and he concludes by affirming that although the Genesis creation accounts are not making a claim about material human origins, Adam and Eve are nonetheless important as historical figures with respect to the origin of sin through the fall. For Walton, the theology of sin is ‘built on the archetypal profile’ (p. 117) of Adam and Eve, who were real, historical people used in an archetypal fashion in scripture.In Chapter 3, C. John Collins offers his ‘Old-Earth Creation View,” which distinguishes itself from Walton’s view insofar as not only is Adam a real, historical person, but that the only way to make sense of the Bible’s overarching story line (particularly salvation history) is to affirm Adam as a historical figure. Collins asserts that the texts of scripture ‘consistently testify to a unified origin of humankind in Adam and Eve’ (p. 159). However, while Collins concludes that Genesis 1-11 provides us with the ‘true story of how the world began’ (p. 167), he allows that the nature of the biblical narratives does not preclude the possibility of intermediate, evolutionary steps leading up to Adam over long periods of time.The last viewpoint considered is the ‘Young- Earth Creation’ view, defended in Chapter 4 by William D. Barrick. The distinguishing feature of Barrick’s essay is that in addition to emphasizing the need for Adam to be a real, historical person, Barrick parts ways with his fellow contributors by rejecting any and all integration of evolutionary science into our understanding of origins. Barrick asserts that ‘the declarations of Genesis bear the stamp of divine truth’ (p. 200), and as such, Genesis is an objective and literal description of God’s creative activity. For Barrick, the historicity of Adam is absolutely fundamental to the Christian faith, and concludes that a denial of Adam as a historical person entails the denial of Christ’s resurrection and ‘destroys the foundation of the Christian faith’ (p. 223).The final section of the book is composed of a pair of pastoral reflections, offered by Gregory A. Boyd and Phillip Ryken. These closing reflections are included by the editors in the interest of achieving their stated goal of ‘applying the debate concerning Adam’s historicity to the Christian life’ (p. 34). In his reflection, Boyd defends the position that belief in Adam as a historical person is not essential to the Christian faith, and that the essentials of the Christian faith are able to be affirmed even if the historicity of Adam is denied. In contrast, Ryken’s pastoral reflection emphasizes the foundational nature of the historical Adam, and he asserts that ‘Adam’s history and identity help us understand everything from the creation to the consummation’ (p. 278).The editors of this book are to be commended for drawing together a group of scholars who hold distinct enough viewpoints on the topic of the historical Adam to have a stimulating and fruitful discussion, while at the same time operating within the desired contours of the book. The strongest and most valuable portions of the book are the lively and substantive exchanges between Lamoureux, Walton, and Collins, particularly in the back-and-forth responses and rejoinders from the contributors which followed each of the main essays. This interaction between the authors elevates the book from a mere set of essays to a genuine discussion and debate between differing viewpoints. The weakest offering was Barrick’s essay on the ‘Young-Earth Creation’ view. While Barrick quite ably articulated the commitment to a historical Adam and a rejection of evolutionary science required by a Young-Earth view, his essay was hampered by frequent mischaracterizations of opposing positions. Further, the two pastoral reflections, while nicely drawing together the practical concerns of the debate, did little to advance the discussion, and at times muddied the waters by unnecessarily revisiting issues which had already been discussed at length in the previous chapters.Those who are familiar with the larger interdisciplinary discussion between science and religion will find little that is new or groundbreaking here. Readers in search of a more in-depth treatment of the challenges to Christian theology offered by human evolution (particularly with respect to theodicy and original sin) are advised to look elsewhere. However, in spite of these potential shortcomings, this book is well worth reading for the purpose of understanding and assessing the increasing influence of evolutionary science within the evangelical Christian community. The fact that a discussion such as this is able to take place within the evangelical community speaks to the continued potential for open dialogue between evangelical scholars who hold widely different viewpoints, yet are united in their deep commitment to the Christian faith. In that way, this book exemplifies the very best features of Christian scholarship.Christopher LilleyMarquette [email protected]

This is a great series and this book is a worthy addition. The dialogue is very good and Walton and Lamoureaux were very strong. Highly recommended

A very helpful book for an essay I wrote on the Adam of Genesis and Romans 5. Highly recommend for more general interest too.

I just recently have started to cram through this issue (in Germany among reformed Christian it's not so much discussed yet).There might be no better overview and instructive guide towards the issues at hand with Evolution, creation and thus a historical adam.I very much appreciate the book and find it very helpful. I enjoy the high level thinking which is nonetheless accesible for non-academic theologian (though I am one).Get it!

The "four views" books summarise points of disagreement and dispute within evangelical Christianity. They are generally excellent and this is no exception.

Excellent book. Uses the only way I know how to show an unbiased understanding of a topic: having multiple authors with opposing views.