Book Review – Theistic Evolution, Intro #2
Biblical and Theological Introduction
Wayne Grudem writes the second Intro, providing insight into the perspective of the book’s authors on the Biblical and Theological issues. He defines the debate in which the book engages as primarily about the proper interpretation of Genesis, and how various “improper” interpretations of the Biblical Creation accounts impact Christian doctrines. He provides 3 qualifiers: 1) The book is not about the age of the earth; 2) it is not about a literal interpretation of Genesis; and 3) it is not about denial that Theistic Evolutionists or Evolutionary Creationists (TE/EC) are true Christians. Instead, the objectives of the book are 1) to challenge the assumption that evolutionary evidence is so strong that it must be believed; 2) to argue that TE/EC depends on a philosophically problematic materialistic perspective of science; and 3) to show that Genesis provides an account of events that happened historically, in time and space, which, if denied, undermines key Christian doctrines.
Since the Biblical and theological case will be defended in detail in subsequent chapters, I will limit my review of Grudem’s introduction to an evaluation of his definition of the TE/EC position.
His definition of TE/EC is largely dependent on direct quotes from Francis Collins in his book The Language of God, from Collins and Karl Giberson in their book The Language of Science and Faith, and from the BioLogos site. I agree, with Grudem, that Collins is the best, and most representative, spokesperson for the TE/EC movement that he largely founded himself, along with BioLogos. I believe Grudem portrays the TE/EC position accurately in his description of key TE/EC beliefs that God is the First Cause of all living creatures, and that there were at least 10,000+ original human ancestors, not a single pair, as well as the most common TE/EC explanations for Adam & Eve.
Grudem provides a helpful summary of 12 differences between an historic interpretation of Genesis and TE/EC, a summary of his defense of the Creation events as historic in nature, and a synopsis of each chapter that covers a Biblical or theological topic.
I appreciate that Grudem presented the TE/EC position accurately, although I suspect some of the conclusions to which he comes may not necessarily follow. For example, the statement in a heading that he uses, “God Was the Creator of Matter, Not of Living Creatures,” contains a conclusion that seems problematic to me. The typical TE/EC belief that God is “merely” providentially involved in creation does not necessarily equate to the conclusion that He is not the Creator of all living creatures, nor is such a view explicitly unorthodox. If the orthodox postulate that God is the First Cause of everything is true, as TE/ECs believe, then He must also be the creator of everything.
I appreciate that Grudem affirms that there are sincere, true Christians who are ECs, and that he is concerned about undermining Christian doctrines that appear to be dependent upon an historical interpretation of Genesis. It remains to be seen if his arguments and conclusions hold up in the detailed chapters.
Note:
*Due to the size of this book, I will be reviewing each section or chapter as I go.