Hello everyone! I haven’t been on here in a while, but I wanted to see if anyone else on this community had either read or heard of Isabelle Duncan and her book Preadamite. For those unfamiliar, Duncan was the wife of a minister in the 19th century who wrote Preadamite in order to present an idea that the evidence of human habitation of the Earth prior to Adam was due to a prior bodily incarnation of angelic beings who subsequently either transcended physical existence or were destroyed after a divine conflict between beings siding with God and beings siding with Lucifer (like the War in Heaven in Revelation 12). Granted, her stance is a concordist one and was written at a time before physical remains of paleolithic man were widely recognized, but some ideas she presented I do believe lend credence to a biblical explanation for the “people outside the garden” as discussed in GAE. Let me know what you all think!
Welcome to the conversation!
I do recall her work, and even considered citing it in the GAE. Super interesting, but also too idiosyncratic to be useful for my purposes.
What did you think about it?
I agree with Josh.
With a text that has one particular purpose, and historical knowledge that consists mainly of gaps, it’s possible to construct a whole array of stories. But in my view that’s neither a good way to do exegesis nor to do history or science.
GAE in Josh’s book and, I hope, in mine, is treated on the basis of what fits the biblical narrative and its purpose, and what evidence from the world makes likely or at least plausible.
@jongarvey, as usual, was nicer than I would’ve been 
Parsimony matters. Otherwise we might as well think we’re living in the Matrix.
Along the same lines as this subject is the concept of the Jinn in Islam. The Quran describes the Jinn basically as Pre-Adamic humanoids who were punished by God due to their pride, similar to the Fallen Angels in Scripture. Additionally, the Jinn had the Islamic equivalent of Lucifer, Azazil who after his fall was called Iblis, as their leader, further linking the Jinn and Fallen Angels. My point is while Duncan’s approach to pre-adamic origins is concordist, perhaps the identification of fallen spirit beings like the jinn and angels isn’t as far fetched as it seems. Perhaps it represents a much more ancient explanation that people alive when the Quran and Bible were written had for how the “people outside the garden” got there in the first place.
Ken, back here they think of me as the insensitive “take no prisoners” guy. The academic origins community must be more cut-throat than I thought!
As I recall, they are supernatural beings much like angels, but similar to humans in that they have free will. The concept pre-dates Islam, so many of the specific beliefs regarding them tend to be peculiar to a person’s specific culture, rather than grounded in Islamic scripture.
In your opinion, sir, do you think the Jinn bear any resemblance to the concept of “people outside the garden” as Dr. Swamidass has outlined in GAE?
Can they have kids with humans?
Not to my understanding. If Jinn existed, they would not be among our ancestors.
(BTW, no need to be so formal. 
)
From what I have read (and anyone can correct me if I am wrong) there are legends that say Jinn not only procreate amongst each other, but can also have children with humans. In fact, there is a legend I know of that states that the Queen of Sheba that visited King Solomon was the product of such a Jinni-Human union.
I basically lost a job for asking questions and considering scientific evidence as valid in theological inquiry. So I’m a bit jaded. We’ll see if the new book on Gen 1 creates more problems.
In that case they might be analogous to the Nephilim in some way.
That isn’t what I am proposing per se, but the fact that there is so much speculation about interbreeding like this in the past does support my point. The notion that Adam and Eve’s lineage is hermetically sealed off from interbreeding is not really what the texts demand.
And the concept of mankind interbreeding with other humanoids isn’t even just limited to Judeo-Christian and Islamic texts. Satyrs (Greek mythology), Domvoys (Slavic folklore), Elves and the Fey (Western European folklore), and even ancestor spirits in traditional African religions like that of the Yoruba and Serer people all bear similarities to the Jinn and Fallen angels. These people groups, separated by hundreds of miles all describe humanoid beings prevalent in wilderness settings who’s habitation of the land predates that of modern man. Additionally, they all describe these beings as similar enough to humans to interbreed with them, with some cultures going so far as to call them their ancestors. While I know I am heavily speculating and require sources to back up my assertions, it seems to me that people around the world knew of archaic hominids long before modern science did.
Pre-ordered
It’ll be in the book. I’m not sure how they chose endorsements for these early advert spots.
Odd. Usually all of them go on Amazon.
The book has 19 endorsements, so also missing are likes of Garvey, Middleton, Averbeck, Keathley, and LeFebvre.