Book Review – Old Earth or Evolutionary Creation? Discussing Origins with Reasons to Believe and BioLogos
This book documents a dialog about origins that has been on going between the SBC, Reasons to Believe (RTB) and BioLogos since 2013. The purpose of the dialog was not necessarily to persuade the others to one point of view or another, but to clarify the similarities and differences between RTB and BioLogos. As a result of the dialog, respectful and caring relationships have been generated between the groups. Both have been able to dialog about deeply held differences in belief with love and charity. The fruit of the dialog is a book that clarifies both RTB and BioLogos viewpoints in accessible and productive ways. The book is moderated by various SBC seminary professors.
Each chapter is consistently formatted around specific questions related to a topic, as raised by the moderator. A representative from each group presents the case for their beliefs on the subject, the moderator provides some redirects, then each group is given an opportunity to respond. Some of the topics are theological in nature, such as the relative importance of a primordial first couple. Other topics relate to specific kinds of evidence for/against evolution, such as the fossil record, and the genomic record. Both the theological and scientific issues are discussed in detailed, yet easily understandable ways.
RTB accepts that the earth is billions of years old, and accepts micro evolution. However, the group believes that belief in macro evolution circumvents belief in a Creator God. BioLogos, on the other hand, believes that the evidence for macro evolution is strong, and doesn’t see any conflict between evolution and God, believing that macro evolution is the tool through which God creates.
The RTB model advocates for supernatural intervention by God in Creation. They believe that Adam & Eve did not evolve, but were supernaturally brought into existence in a mature evolutionary state nonetheless consistent with the physical record. BioLogos believes in universal common descent, and that all humans are descended from a group of about 10,000 humans.
The book was very interesting, and clarified a lot of things for me. However, I find the RTB case to be less compelling than the BioLogos case. It seems to me that the RTB case is not consistent. If God supernaturally created Adam & Eve in a mature evolutionary state, without recourse to natural evolutionary processes, then it seems just as likely that He supernaturally created the earth in a mature evolutionary state without recourse to billions of years of natural evolutionary processes. There are other problems with this view, of course. Yet RTB believes that while the physical record that evidences billions of years of micro evolution should be taken as accurate, the physical record that evidences billions of years of macro evolution and human origins should not.
I appreciate that both groups affirm an old earth, a commitment to Biblical inerrancy, and God as Creator, as do I. But I was not personally persuaded by RTB’s arguments for a supernaturally created primordial first couple. In the interest of full disclosure, I was not as familiar with RTB as I was with BioLogos, and I do consider myself an evolutionary creationist. Nonetheless, I did read with an open mind. Ultimately, I was unconvinced. That doesn’t detract from what is really an excellent book. Highly recommend for anyone trying to sort through the current origins debate.
Photo credit: Personal photo of display at the Chicago Botanic Gardens, Fall 2017