The Lost World of Adam and Eve (33 page)

6
Note that though this formulation is based on Irenaeus’s model; he did not frame it this way.

7
In Augustine’s time it was thought that women were simply incubators—men were the ones who provided the seed.

8
But to do this Augustine had to include the immaculate conception of Mary as a necessary element so that sin was not passed down. It is interesting that Protestants reject the immaculate conception of Mary yet still accept Augustine’s formulation of the transmission of sin.

9
See discussion in Williams,
Doing Without Adam and Eve,
pp. 40-47, and in any technical commentary on Romans.

10
Mark E. Biddle,
Missing the Mark: Sin and Its Consequences in Biblical Theology
(Nashville: Abingdon, 2005), p. xiii.

11
Ibid., p. xvii.

Proposition 18: Jesus Is the Keystone of God’s Plan to Resolve Disorder and Perfect Order

1
As we can see, there is also then a “lost world of the Tower of Babel.”

2
As a side note, this may indicate that the tower builders were in Shem’s line.

3
See full discussion in John H. Walton,
Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament: Introducing the Conceptual World of the Hebrew Bible
(Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006), pp. 257-58.

4
Nicholas Perrin,
Jesus the Temple
(Grand Rapids: Baker, 2010). Note, for example, John 2:19-21.

5
Notice that in 1 Corinthians 15:45-47, Paul’s reference to Adam as the first man is paralleled by mention of Jesus as the last and then as the second. Biologically speaking, Jesus is neither the second nor the last, so we understand that Paul’s reference is theological in nature, not biological.

Proposition 19: Paul’s Use of Adam Is More Interested in the Effect of Sin on the Cosmos Than in the Effect of Sin on Humanity, and Has Nothing to Say About Human Origins

1
The parallels identified between the vocations of Adam and Israel do not result in a view that Adam is nothing more than a glyph for Israel, symbolically telling the story of the exile. This is one of the major points of disagreement I have with the position in Peter Enns,
The Evolution of Adam: What the Bible Does and Doesn’t Say About Human Origins
(Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2012).

2
John H. Walton,
The Lost World of Genesis One: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate
(Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2009); J. Richard Middleton,
The Liberating Image: The Imago Dei in Genesis 1
(Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2005); and G. K. Beale,
The Temple and the Church’s Mission: A Bib
lical Theology of the Dwelling Place of God
(Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2004).

Proposition 20: It Is Not Essential That All People Descended from Adam and Eve

1
For those who are more scientifically minded and want to gain an understanding of the way that genetics relates to this information, see Denis Alexander,
Language of Genetics: A Primer
(Conshohocken, PA: Templeton, 2011); Francis Collins,
The Language of God
(New York: Free Press, 2007); and Graeme Finlay,
Human Evolution: Genes, Genealogies and Phylogenies
, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013).

2
E.g., second-century
B.C.
Tobit 8:6, “those two were parents of all humans.”

3
This would be so whether or not the current theories on evolutionary theory are on the right track.

4
Yet to be discussed is whether that “creation” is de novo or involved a longer process (God is creating in either scenario).

5
For fuller discussion see John H. Walton,
Genesis,
NIV
Application Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001), pp. 367-69.

6
Even with regard to Noah, this verse makes limited claims. Paul is making the point that in our common humanity we all have a thirst for God, and, indeed, we are
all his
offspring (obviously not a biological/genetic statement). Our commonality does not require a genetic relationship to Noah any more than it requires a genetic relationship to God. Furthermore, even if this verse addresses genetic diversity, it makes no statement about material origins.

7
Contra
NIV
, which says she “would become” the mother. If Hebrew wanted to say that, there is a different verbal construction.

8
The concept of federal headship was popularized during the Reformation by Johannes Cocceius and John Calvin. On the basis of Romans 5, it identifies Adam as the “federal” head of humanity and sees his fountainhead role as more covenantal than biological. In the same way, Christ became the federal head under the covenant of grace.

Proposition 21: Humans Could Be Viewed as Distinct Creatures and a Special Creation of God Even If There Was Material Continuity

1
By this I am acknowledging that some of the standard mechanisms that have long been part of evolutionary theory, such as natural or random selection and mutation, may well be inadequate to carry the weight. Scientists have long recognized this, and other models are constantly being put forward.

2
See
www.biologos.org
for many resources explaining this approach.

3
J. Richard Middleton,
The Liberating Image: The Imago Dei in Genesis 1
(Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2005).

4
Ryan Peterson, “The Imago Dei as Human Identity: A Theological Interpretation” (PhD diss., Wheaton College, 2010).

5
Zainab Bahrani,
The Graven Image: Representation in Babylonia and Assyria
(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003); and Edward Mason Curtis, “Man as the Image of God in Genesis in Light of Ancient Near Eastern Parallels” (PhD diss., University of Pennsylvania, 1984), ProQuest AAI8422896.

6
Christopher Walker and Michael B. Dick,
The Induction of the Cult Image in Ancient Mesopotamia: The Mesopotamian mīs p
î Ritual
,
State Archives of Assyria Literary Texts 1 (Helsinki: Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project, 2001), with specific discussion on pp. 6-8. Additional discussion of cult images in Michael B. Dick, “Prophetic Parodies of Making the Cult Image,” in
Born in Heaven, Made on Earth: The Making of the Cult Image in the Ancient Near East,
ed. Michael B. Dick (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1999), pp. 1-53; and Angelika Berlejung, “Washing the Mouth: The Consecration of Divine Images in Mesopotamia,” in
The Image and the Book: Iconic Cults, Aniconism, and the Rise of Book Religion in Israel and the Ancient Near East,
ed. Karel van der Toorn (Leuven: Peeters, 1997), pp. 45-72.

7
Catherine Leigh Beckerleg, “The ‘Image of God’ in Eden: The Creation of Mankind in Genesis 2:5–3:24 in Light of the
mīs pî pīt pî
and
wpt-r
Rituals of Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt” (PhD diss., Harvard University, 2009), ProQuest 3385433.

Conclusion and Summary

1
John Calvin,
Genesis,
trans. John King (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1979 printing), pp. 86-87.

2
Philip Ryken, “We Cannot Understand the World or Our Faith Without a Real, Historical Adam,” in Matthew Barrett and Ardel B. Caneday, eds.,
Four Views on the Historical Adam
(Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013), pp. 267-79.

3
Many are cited throughout the foregoing chapters, but I would mention particularly Peter C. Bouteneff,
Beginnings: Ancient Christian Readings of the Biblical Creation Narratives
(Grand Rapids: Baker, 2008).

Glossary

archetype
—In a literary sense, an archetype refers to a recurrent symbol or motif, even a type of character. Fictional characters often serve as archetypes of good or evil, heroism or treachery, etc. In this book I am using the term in a narrower sense. An archetype here refers to a representative of a group in whom all others in the group are embodied. As a result, all members of the group are included and participate with their representative.

cognitive environment
—This refers to what is sometimes called a worldview. It refers to the sum total of how people of a particular time or culture thought about themselves, their society, their world and their God(s). Israel would have had a cognitive environment very similar to that of the broader ancient Near East (certainly much more in common with that cognitive environment than with our modern one), yet at the same time, God’s revelation was constantly introducing innovative concepts, mostly about himself, into their cognitive environment.

common ancestry
—This stands as the main conclusion of evolutionary theory, maintaining that all life has developed from the first elementary forms of life.

comparative genomics
—This is the process of comparing the genetic makeup of various species and subspecies to identify similarities and differences. Such comparison often provides the basis for reconstructing the history of development of species.

de novo
—This descriptive term refers to an understanding of human origins that sees Adam and Eve as having been made through a direct, material act of God distinct from any predecessors, and using no biological process. It features material discontinuity from any other species, including
homo
-types
,
in the process God used (even though there are obvious genetic similarities). Some would see room for God to use genetic material from previously existing species but insist that he is involved to produce something material that cannot be explained naturally. For some, this could be as slight as a tweak in the DNA at the final stage. “Fully de novo” refers to the view that no prior genetic material was involved.

epistemology
—This is the branch of metaphysics dealing with knowledge—its sources and its nature. It answers questions like, how do we come to know something with confidence? Scientific experimentation and theorization serve as a foundation of epistemology for many today. For others, faith in revelation constitutes the focal point of their epistemology.

evolution
—In its most basic, nonmetaphysical sense, evolution refers to a concept of change over time with modification. More specifically, it is an interpretation of the world around us that posits a material (phylogenetic) continuity among all species of creatures (biological and genetic, not spiritual) as the result of a process of change over time through various mechanisms known and unknown. It is not inherently atheistic or deistic.

ex nihilo
—This is the concept of creating material objects using no prior existing matter.

exegesis/exegete/exegetical
—This describes analysis of text at every level.

federal representative
—This is a concept popularized by Calvinism, though its roots go back to Irenaeus and Augustine. Adam is viewed as one who represents all those who are bound together by covenant or something similar. Adam is viewed as the federal head of humanity as is Christ in related ways. The concept is used in explaining original sin and the imputation of righteousness.

Great Symbiosis
—The foundation of religion in Mesopotamia is that humanity has been created to serve the gods by meeting their needs for food (sacrifices), housing (temples) and clothing, and generally by giving them worship and privacy so that those gods can do the work of running the cosmos. On the other side of the symbiosis, the gods will safeguard their investment by protecting their worshipers and providing for them. Humans thus find dignity in the role that they have in this symbiosis to aid the gods (through their rituals) in running the cosmos.

Hasmoneans
—In the second century
B.C
. the family of Mattathias and Judah Maccabee, from the clan known as the Hasmoneans, led a revolt against the Seleucid overlords who ruled Israel. They established Jewish independence that lasted for about eighty years.

intertextuality
—This term refers to how texts are related to other texts. The most obvious form of intertextuality is quotation of another text. But any level of use or allusion qualifies.

Masoretes
—These Jewish scholars preserved the Hebrew Bible from generation to generation; their roots go back to the third century
A.D.
, and their work continued into the 10th century. Their expertise in scribal arts was used in the meticulous transmission of the traditional text. Their innovations are found in the systems they devised to incorporate metatextual information (such as vowel pointings and cantillation indicators) into the written text without interfering with the traditional consonantal text. Their manuscripts provide the most complete testimony to the Old Testament text.

naturalism
—This is a philosophical commitment to the idea that all we observe can be explained by investigation of cause and effect applying natural laws. This philosophy does not leave room for a God who is involved with his creation and acting in it. Natural science, in contrast, does not deny the existence of God or supernatural cause.

ontology
—This is the branch of metaphysics that explores existence in general (what does it mean when we say something exists?) or the existence of something more particular (the ontology of genders or of sin).

soteriology
—This is the doctrine of salvation.

steady-state universe
—This theory was developed in the 1930s in opposition to the expanding universe or the Big Bang cosmology. In the steady-state theory, new galaxies and stars were being formed within the expanding universe so that it always looked the same wherever one might be positioned in the universe.