Old-Earth or Evolutionary Creation?: Discussing Origins with Reasons to Believe and BioLogos (BioLogos Books on Science and Christianity)

This book is the result of a series of meetings between representatives of BioLogos, advocates of evolutionary creation, and Reasons to Believe (RTB), advocates of old-earth creation.I liked the structure of this book. Each chapter begins with an introduction and questions by a Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) moderator, followed by responses from a representative of each organization. Then there is a redirect by the moderator with specific follow-up questions for each respondent, followed by their responses and a conclusion by the chapter moderator.Topics covered include biblical interpretation and authority, the range of viable positions concerning Adam and Eve, natural evil, divine action, the scientific method, biological evolution, the geological evidence, the fossil evidence, the biological evidence, and the anthropological evidence.The purpose of the book is to “help lay readers identify science-faith issues, comprehend what the two organizations stand for, understand the nature of their dialogue and what the two organizations hope to achieve through it, and appreciate how they and the church at large can benefit from the conversation.” (p. 6)BioLogos is committed to the following core doctrines: (1) Humans are created “in the image of God,” with a special relationship to God and a role to play in God’s creation, (2) All humans who have ever lived have sinned by rebelling against God’s revealed will, and (3) God has dealt with sin through Christ’s incarnation, death, resurrection, ascension, and promised return. (p. 50)Within that commitment, BioLogos suggests four potentially viable scenarios for interpreting Genesis 2-3 that could be consistent with both biological evolution and their core doctrines. In response, Ken Samples of RTB concisely states the traditional case for a historical Adam and Eve as the progenitors of all humanity. RTB’s objections to the creation of mankind via biological evolution focus on both the theological difficulties and the biological evidence.Loren Haarsma of BioLogos presents a good discussion of the interaction of science and biblical interpretation, including the observation that, “BioLogos does not believe that science trumps theology or biblical interpretation, but we do believe that theology and biblical interpretation can draw useful insights from scientific discoveries.” (p. 50)Darrel Falk of BioLogos points out that “many of us who subscribe to evolutionary creation do believe in a historical Adam and Eve. It is important to emphasize that mainstream science does not imply that Adam and Eve did not exist, just that they could not have been the only two progenitors of the human race.” (p. 136)The most interesting chapters are the two where BioLogos and RTB disagree the most, namely interpreting the evidence for biological evolution (Chap. 7) and interpreting the anthropological evidence for the uniqueness of humans (Chap. 11).The brief final chapter (“What is the Next Step?”) has a very promising title but contains very little meat to chew on.It is no surprise that the SBC moderators tend to side with the RTB position whenever it differs from the BioLogos position. It is also no surprise that I tend to side with the BioLogos position. RTB is very good in the area of cosmological evolution but leaves a bit to be desired in the area of biological evolution. Fazale Rana, the VP of research for RTB, demonstrates in the book that there are a number of things that he doesn’t accept about biological evolution, including the Cambrian explosion and convergence in evolution. Perhaps this explains why RTB has such a problem with biological evolution.This book provides the clearest-yet description of the positions of these two organizations as well as a clarification of their differences. I can recommend it to Christians who want to learn more about the intersection of biological evolution and Christian theology.

I have read many books touching on the issue of Creation, Evolution, Age of the Earth and Mankind, etc., and I think this one just might be the best Ive read. Sure, it is not long enough to go into all the details that one may hope for, but that is not the book's aim.It was quite refreshing to me to see people who are in disagreement speak well of one another and carry out the debate with a Christ-like attitude.This book touches on many subjects related to how people come to different conclusions such as: the underlying hermeneutical principals, the philosophy of science, the hard science facts of archaelogy, paleontology, biology, and chemistry, revelation, inerrancy, and anthropology. A very good primer for anyone looking to understand the viewpoints of those that do not hold to a Young Earth Creationism.Another great plus was having the debate moderated by Southern Baptist scholars, who in my opinion did a great job at staying unbiased, listening attentively, and askind pertinent rebuttal questions.At times the authors do not full stay on point to the question that they were asked, which is the only part of the book that I can mention as a weakness.I hope more materials are put out like this one and highly recommend it!

This book documents a dialog about origins that has been on going between the SBC, Reasons to Believe (RTB) and BioLogos since 2013. The purpose of the dialog was not necessarily to persuade the others to one point of view or another, but to clarify the similarities and differences between RTB and BioLogos. As a result of the dialog, respectful and caring relationships have been generated between the groups. Both have been able to dialog about deeply held differences in belief with love and charity. The fruit of the dialog is a book that clarifies both RTB and BioLogos viewpoints in accessible and productive ways. The book is moderated by various SBC seminary professors.Each chapter is consistently formatted around specific questions related to a topic, as raised by the moderator. A representative from each group presents the case for their beliefs on the subject, the moderator provides some redirects, then each group is given an opportunity to respond. Some of the topics are theological in nature, such as the relative importance of a primordial first couple. Other topics relate to specific kinds of evidence for/against evolution, such as the fossil record, and the genomic record. Both the theological and scientific issues are discussed in detailed, yet easily understandable ways.RTB accepts that the earth is billions of years old, and accepts micro evolution. However, the group believes that belief in macro evolution circumvents belief in a Creator God. BioLogos, on the other hand, believes that the evidence for macro evolution is strong, and doesn’t see any conflict between evolution and God, believing that macro evolution is the tool through which God creates.The RTB model advocates for supernatural intervention by God in Creation. They believe that Adam & Eve did not evolve, but were supernaturally brought into existence in a mature evolutionary state nonetheless consistent with the physical record. BioLogos believes in universal common descent, and that all humans are descended from a group of about 10,000 humans.The book was very interesting, and clarified a lot of things for me. However, I find the RTB case to be less compelling than the BioLogos case. It seems to me that the RTB case is not consistent. If God supernaturally created Adam & Eve in a mature evolutionary state, without recourse to natural evolutionary processes, then it seems just as likely that He supernaturally created the earth in a mature evolutionary state without recourse to billions of years of natural evolutionary processes. There are other problems with this view, of course. Yet RTB believes that while the physical record that evidences billions of years of micro evolution should be taken as accurate, the physical record that evidences billions of years of macro evolution and human origins should not.I appreciate that both groups affirm an old earth, a commitment to Biblical inerrancy, and God as Creator, as do I. But I was not personally persuaded by RTB’s arguments for a supernaturally created primordial first couple. In the interest of full disclosure, I was not as familiar with RTB as I was with BioLogos, and I do consider myself an evolutionary creationist. Nonetheless, I did read with an open mind. Ultimately, I was unconvinced. That doesn’t detract from what is really an excellent book. Highly recommend for anyone trying to sort through the current origins debate.

balanced and objective...a must read if you are interested or concerned about these topics

This is an incredibly helpful and enjoyable book on the origins debate.The format of the book is unique and really well done:- Each chapter has the same clear layout: headings and subheadings make the arguments, responses and moderator redirects very easy to follow. It also makes it easy to see exactly where RTB and BioLogos differ and agree.- The conversational tone of the book makes a dense subject incredibly enjoyable to read, not to mention easier to understand. (Reading it does feel like your actually in the room with these guys as they debate the topics).As someone who is definitely not a YEC, it's great to have a book that doesn't waste pages defending an old earth view, but instead gets into all the details of evolution. For that reason I chose to read this one over the newly released four views on Creation, ID, and EC.Probably my only critique of the book is that for such a complex topic, the book really could have done with an index. Without one it's now going to be pretty difficult to find the relevant discussions on particular topics as and when I need to refer to them.Over all this book is a fantastic, up-to-date resource in the origins debate. And it's great to see the two camps engage in a friendly debate over a (usually) highly divisive topic. I highly recommend it.