Book Review – Adam and the Genome: Reading Scripture After Genetic Science
Two world-class scholars, biologist Dennis Venema (Ph.D, University of British Columbia) and theologian Scot McKnight (Ph.D, University of Nottingham) team up to provide a defense for the compatibility of God and evolution in the book Adam and the Genome. Their shared thesis is that God and evolution are not necessarily mutually exclusive, that it is possible to have faith in God as Creator while simultaneously accepting evolution as the most likely explanation for HOW God created.
In the first half of the book, Dr. Venema introduces some of the scientific evidence for evolution using the whimsical examples of tetrapods and cetaceans. From there, he moves to an explanation of the human genome as language, using language itself to demonstrate how evolution works. Additionally, he provides enough basic genetic theory to explain how DNA sequencing, replication and mutations are used to predict origins with a very high confidence level. One chapter is devoted to an explanation for how the completion of the Human Genome Project provides the mathematical and statistical evidence for the unlikelihood that all humans descended from 2 people. His final chapter focuses on the evidence against Intelligent Design as a possible explanation for human origins (as postulated by Michael Behe), including the problems with “irreducible complexity.” Along the way, he debunks several other common arguments contra evolution, e.g. mitochondrial Eve, Y-Chromosome Adam.
Dr. McKnight begins his half of the book proposing four principles for reading Genesis: 1) Respect (for context and literary genre); 2) Honesty (be open to Truth, both Biblical and Scientific); 3) Sensitivity (to students of science); and 4) Prima Scriptura (although it is the Book to which we must look first AND last, the Bible is not the only “Book” of God. His observable creation is also a “book” worthy of study). He presents an articulate defense for interpreting the Genesis creation account as a literary narrative, as opposed to a historical narrative, basically a nuanced “framework hypothesis.” With that groundwork, the balance of the book is devoted to how “literary Adam & Eve” can be reconciled to the doctrine of original sin, both from an OT and NT perspective.
As a reasonably intelligent non-scientist (I am an accountant by trade), I found some of the more technical parts of Dr. Venema’s chapters challenging. However, I could comprehend enough of the technical details to grasp the conceptual big ideas, and I thought he presented a convincing case for the genomic support for evolution. As a TEDS MDiv graduate, I am familiar with Dr. McKnight’s arguments for Genesis as “literary narrative.” A similar approach is advocated by one of my OT professors, Dr. Richard Averbeck, in his contribution to the book “Reading Genesis 1-2: An Evangelical Conversation.” This approach seems to be gathering momentum within the scholarly evangelical community as the evidence for evolution grows and becomes more accessible to the average person (and as the church loses more millennials). It seemed to me at first that there was an over-dependency on John Walton, but by the time I finished the book, I felt it provided a balanced survey of scholars. I would have liked for Dr. McKnight to have interacted more with those who strongly disagree with reading Genesis 1-2 as literary narrative, like Millard Erickson, for instance, as Dr. Venema did with Behe and others. Nonetheless, Dr. McKnight did a good job explaining how the doctrine of original sin remains intact even with a literary Adam & Eve in view. It’s an ambitious and critical topic right now, and advances the scholarship surrounding the historicity of Adam & Eve in positive ways.
Both authors share their personal story of how they each came to accept the truth of both God and evolution at the beginning of their respective sections. Here is mine, although the fact that someone of Dr. McKnight’s stature is defending both evolution and an orthodox understanding of God’s Word is reason enough to accept it, frankly.
I highly recommend the book for anyone who cares about reaching millennials who have been told that belief in evolution is incompatible with belief in God, and for anyone who cares about reaching scientists who have been told that belief in God is incompatible with evolutionary theory.
**Note: I found these pre-historic looking sandhill cranes stalking my neighborhood.