Nobody thinks that the ultimate consummation of the Kingdom God will be a place where rogue viruses kill hundreds of thousands of people, or hurricanes ravage whole communities, or cancer cuts lives short. So we Christians believe it is possible for there to be that kind of place. But was creation originally a place that…

It is difficult to talk about human beings without telling a story. In a manner that transcends the existence of trees and turtles, human beings are creatures of history. Human beings come and go in history. They make history by the feats they accomplish, and they leave their mark on history in the monuments they…

Gijsbert van den Brink is to be congratulated on a well-written, lucid volume on this important and controversial topic. His attention to the range of different views in Chapter three is notable and generous. In each generation systematic theology has to articulate Christian belief in relation to the major issues of the day and the…

The debate between science and religion is a long and contested one, often characterized in the bellicose rhetoric of conflict. At various times different scholars have claimed significant victories for science or for religion. And yet, the battle still drags wearily on. Or so it can sometimes seem. Gijsbert van den Brink has joined the…

The Genealogical Adam and Eve is an unusual book in that it arises out of an ongoing civic practice of science (ch. 1). My goal is a better conversation in which we might understand each other. In aspiring to humility, tolerance, and patience, we might make space for our differences. Personally, I am a Christian…

Dr. Joshua Swamidass has undertaken quite a task: to persuade a wide range of readers, both Christian and non-Christian, that Adam and Eve did in fact exist. Specifically, they were created de novo by God only a few thousand years ago, placed in the Garden of Eden, fell into temptation and sin, were exiled, and…

The disruption of a pandemic clearly shows us the tension that mounts in the face of uncertainties. We also see real danger adopting and acting from dogmatic positions when the data leaves an ambiguity in how best to read and understand it. The danger posed by a reluctance to patiently wait in persistent and mounting…

This is a fascinating and helpful book, important in our day. I am thankful for it. It is not a perfect book, of course. There is only one of those! I cannot agree with everything Joshua Swamidass writes. In fact, that would not be possible because he allows for so many mutually contradictory options for…

Joshua Swamidass’s The Genealogical Adam and Eve is one of the most important books in science and religion published in recent decades. It has won deserving praises from scientists and scholars from different worldviews, and has convinced sceptics (e.g., biologist Nathan Lents) and Christians (e.g., biologist Darrel Falk) to change their views concerning the compatibility of…

What to do with Adam and Eve? The consensus view within the scientific community is that modern humans, Homo sapiens, evolved from primates and that this process took approximately two million years. During this time there arose several transitional species of hominids along with parallel species that were close relatives. With some of these relatives,…

As an evangelical Christian, the approach I use to construct origins models relies on two data sets: (1) Scripture, and (2) the record of nature. Ideally, the resulting models should comfortably accommodate both sets of data. Of course, drawing insights from Scripture and the record of nature requires an interpretive process. The approach we adopt…

Here I will quote from several sections in Hans’s response to my first essay and offer responses to each of them. Hans writes: Most intriguing is your concept of non-interventionist objective divine action, the idea that “God acts in nature without blocking, suspending, or undercutting the normal regularities of natural processes.” You also emphasize how…