BioLogos Models for Reconciling Adam with Evolution
Posted by Rachel Miller in Review
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Tags
BioLogos, Historical Adam, Theistic Evolution
In their attempts to find common ground between evolutionary science and Genesis, the scholars at BioLogos have written various articles on how to reconcile Adam with their belief in the common descent of men. In an article, “Were Adam and Eve historical figures,” they preface the discussion this way:
Genetic evidence shows that humans descended from a group of several thousand individuals who lived about 150,000 years ago. This conflicts with the traditional view that all humans descended from a single pair who lived about 100,000 years ago. While Genesis 2-3 speaks of the pair Adam and Eve, Genesis 4 refers to a larger population of humans interacting with Cain. One option is to view Adam and Eve as a historical pair living among many 10,000 years ago, chosen to represent the rest of humanity before God. Another option is to view Genesis 2-4 as an allegory in which Adam and Eve symbolize the large group of ancestors who lived 150,000 years ago. Yet another option is to view Genesis 2-4 as an “everyman” story, a parable of each person’s individual rejection of God. BioLogos does not take a particular view and encourages scholarly work on these questions.
At the second “Theology of Celebration” workshop, Denis Alexander, Director of the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion at St. Edmund’s College, Cambridge, presented a paper which outlines two of those models for reconciling Adam and Eve with the findings of contemporary anthropology. Here are some highlights from his paper.
First, Dr. Alexander describes the role of such models:
The models that we propose are not the same as the ‘data’. On one hand we have the theological data provided by Genesis and the rest of Scripture, true for all people throughout time. Uncertainty here arises only from doubt as to whether our interpretations of the text are as solid as they can be. On the other hand we have the current scientific data that are always open to revision, expansion or to better interpretation. Nevertheless the data are overwhelmingly supportive of certain scientific truths, for example that we share a common genetic inheritance with the apes. The role of models is to treat both theological and scientific truths seriously and see how they might ‘speak’ to each other, but we should never defend a particular model as if we were referring to the data itself. The whole point of any model is that it represents a human construct that seeks to relate different types of truth; models are not found within the text of Scripture – the most that we can expect from them is that they are ‘consistent with’ the relevant Biblical texts. Let us never confuse the model with the truths that it seeks to connect to each other.
http://adaughterofthereformation.wo...s-models-for-reconciling-adam-with-evolution/
Posted by Rachel Miller in Review
≈ 7 Comments
Tags
BioLogos, Historical Adam, Theistic Evolution
In their attempts to find common ground between evolutionary science and Genesis, the scholars at BioLogos have written various articles on how to reconcile Adam with their belief in the common descent of men. In an article, “Were Adam and Eve historical figures,” they preface the discussion this way:
Genetic evidence shows that humans descended from a group of several thousand individuals who lived about 150,000 years ago. This conflicts with the traditional view that all humans descended from a single pair who lived about 100,000 years ago. While Genesis 2-3 speaks of the pair Adam and Eve, Genesis 4 refers to a larger population of humans interacting with Cain. One option is to view Adam and Eve as a historical pair living among many 10,000 years ago, chosen to represent the rest of humanity before God. Another option is to view Genesis 2-4 as an allegory in which Adam and Eve symbolize the large group of ancestors who lived 150,000 years ago. Yet another option is to view Genesis 2-4 as an “everyman” story, a parable of each person’s individual rejection of God. BioLogos does not take a particular view and encourages scholarly work on these questions.
At the second “Theology of Celebration” workshop, Denis Alexander, Director of the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion at St. Edmund’s College, Cambridge, presented a paper which outlines two of those models for reconciling Adam and Eve with the findings of contemporary anthropology. Here are some highlights from his paper.
First, Dr. Alexander describes the role of such models:
The models that we propose are not the same as the ‘data’. On one hand we have the theological data provided by Genesis and the rest of Scripture, true for all people throughout time. Uncertainty here arises only from doubt as to whether our interpretations of the text are as solid as they can be. On the other hand we have the current scientific data that are always open to revision, expansion or to better interpretation. Nevertheless the data are overwhelmingly supportive of certain scientific truths, for example that we share a common genetic inheritance with the apes. The role of models is to treat both theological and scientific truths seriously and see how they might ‘speak’ to each other, but we should never defend a particular model as if we were referring to the data itself. The whole point of any model is that it represents a human construct that seeks to relate different types of truth; models are not found within the text of Scripture – the most that we can expect from them is that they are ‘consistent with’ the relevant Biblical texts. Let us never confuse the model with the truths that it seeks to connect to each other.
http://adaughterofthereformation.wo...s-models-for-reconciling-adam-with-evolution/
