Applegate: Questions About Adam

BioLogos reposted @Kathryn_Applegate’s article again, from 6 months ago.

She acknowledges the Genealogical Adam and Eve:

It might be construed as cherry-picking to accept a literal Adam but reject the vivid description of Adam and Eve being formed of dust and rib. Indeed, one recent proposal put forward by Joshua Swamidass envisions just such a de novo , special creation of Adam and Eve, whose offspring interbred with biologically compatible beings outside the Garden, who were created by an evolutionary process. Any such genetic evidence would not be expected to be preserved. This approach has the hermeneutical advantage (according to some) of de novo creation of a single pair, while at the same time allowing for evolution of the rest of humanity.

Science is silent here: it doesn’t point to this possibility, nor does it rule it out. Of course God could have miraculously created Adam and Eve in this way, but it doesn’t seem necessary for affirming a historical pair. Also, one wonders why God would make two individuals who are presumably biologically identical to other humans at that time. Furthermore, is this hypothesis any more likely than one that supposes we were all created de novo five minutes ago, with implanted memories of our childhoods and what we ate for breakfast? (I am not poking fun—this is a serious question! Science doesn’t rule this out either.) In my view, this creative proposal deserves further reflection.

I’m glad she put this in print. She asks me some questions in this article. I suppose I have two questions in return:

  1. When are you ready to dialogue about this? You’ve asked some questions, and I’d love to fill you in. Why not have a conversation about this here? It is a serious question right? Let’s have the conversation.

  2. At what point is BioLogos going to clarify their position on Adam and Eve? At the moment, your affirmation that there is no evidence against the de novo creation of Adam and Eve is in direct conflict with BioLogos’s official position on Adam and Eve (see In Defense of Tim Keller).

@Kathryn_Applegate, I imagine you can’t fully answer the second question, but hopefully you can stop in sometime for conversation about the first question. It could be fun.

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