I was genuinely surprised at how much I learned from the book. I thought I had thought through a lot of the implications of GAE, but this book touched on many more topics than I expected, much of which was quite new to me!
I think that, now that had read and reviewed both this book and Joshua’s “The Genealogical Adam and Eve”, it’s time to update my own article. I’ve certainly learned a thing or two since I first posted my original thoughts on my blog back in 2014.
I always think to myself that I should be more active here, but this has been a crazy year and I always seem to have something else that grabs my attention. But as I update my article and focus on popularizing it more, I hope to participate more here as well!
As I mention in my review of Joshua’s book, I believe this new account of the Genesis creation story is absolutely groundbreaking. It compromises nothing, either on the inerrancy of the Scriptures, or the data on evolution. It harmonizes all the relevant scientific, historical, and biblical facts. In fact, I now consider the whole creation/evolution debate to be a “solved problem” at the highest levels."
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There are of critics of GAE who predicted they would never read something like this! My own personal optimism has been affirmed. I personally thank you. But I’m sure Joshua’s response to your work is much more relevant.
Just read the review! Thanks David - I’m very gratified the book helped you.
There’s a particular joy in thinking you’re out on a limb with a new idea, and then finding somebody else has been saying the same things. That feeling would have been even better for you if I’d been the Pope or C S Lewis, but I, like you, feel that GAE enables us to “tick off” one problem from the list. Let’s pray the momentum builds.
@gbrooks9, haha - well, I guess people may call it a bold or incautious claim - but yeah, I basically stand by it. I used to consider evolution and Christianity to be about 20% compatible: nothing fatal, but still uncomfortable. Now I consider it about 80% compatible: not at all an issue, and perhaps quite a bit above what you’d expect from such disparate fields!
But more important than what I think is what the kids growing up now will think: I find that it’s not a hard sell to convince them of the compatibility between Genesis and Evolution, even without GAE. With GAE, it’ll be totally obvious how they fit together.
@jongarvey, there’s certainly value in external validation - and I think it’ll help me evangelize the ideas around GAE better to others around me. In my personal life, some people are more convinced by Joshua’s book, and others will be more convinced by yours. I have some gift-giving to do!