Different views on creation in the church today are often summarized in terms of whether one takes the biblical creation story “literally.” Similarly, Augustine’s crowning achievement on the doctrine of creation was, as we have noted, the production of a “literal” commentary on Genesis 1-3. Yet what Augustine means by “literal” is quite different from…

From conversion to death, Augustine was captivated by Genesis 1–3. He kept writing and re-writing commentaries on these chapters, and they pop up his other works as well (many have noticed, often with puzzlement, that even the Confessions climax into an exegesis of Genesis 1). Then, for 15 years, he labored on a kind of…

Classical Christian creeds begin with a confession about the doctrine of creation, declaring that God is “Creator of heaven and earth.” Yet, within many evangelical and Protestant contexts, the doctrine has received scant theological and pastoral attention, having been subsumed under the more important (and supposedly separable) matters of redemption and sanctification. The reemergence of…

A study in genomic sciences that was on most counts not newsworthy has made big headlines in recent days, both in the media’s initial declarations and in the ensuing reaction. The cynic in me suspects that the whole thing was predictable from the very get-go. The study, published in The American Journal of Human Genetics,…

Dennis and I were both honored and wary that the Creation Project would take on our book for a wider public discussion, honored because they chose our book and wary because it was a five-to-two ratio of reviews to responses and because we know that many in the evangelical community will agree with neither Dennis…

I am grateful that our book, Adam and the Genome, was selected by the Creation Project for this discussion. This is a timely issue for the church that affects both our witness to those outside our communities whom we long to reach with the gospel, and for those among us who have come to accept…

At the heart of the Christian faith is the idea that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. To be clear: this idea runs counter to human experience and is thoroughly “anti-scientific.” Over 100,000 years of human experience teaches that when people die, they remain dead. And this experience is borne out by centuries of…

In the age of genomes, new information is reshaping our understanding of life on Earth. This information cannot be ignored, and questions are rising in the Church. How much does evolution press on theology? Was Adam a real person from whom all mankind descends? In Adam and the Genome, the scientist Dennis Venema explains our…

On and off between the years 1542-1563, Calvin wrestled with and returned to Genesis; his commentaries have been known and loved ever since, especially in the English-speaking world. They remain a well-worn resource for preachers and teachers, with Genesis not the least within the Canon. The Calvin Studies Society translations are widely available. Calvin’s sermons are…

Adam and the Genome reviews selected highlights in the scholarly discussion about human evolution and Scripture. In what follows I focus on Venema’s approach to arguing support for evolution, and McKnight’s claims about a literary vs. historical Adam. Challenges with Venema’s Method The first chapter emphasizes predictive power and independent lines of evidence as strategies for…

In Adam and the Genome, my friend Scot McKnight presents his biblically rooted case for claiming that the term historical Adam is really about a literary or archetypal Adam. It is the argument of Chapters 5-8. To drive the point home the term historical is placed in quotes (“historical”) as he introduces the topic (p….

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you know that evangelicals are embroiled in a lively debate about Adam and Eve. On one side are those who insist that Adam and Eve were the first and sole progenitors of the entire human race. The other side cautions against reading too much dogma into Genesis 2-3;…