Searching for Adam: Genesis & the Truth About Man's Origin

by Dr Terry Mortenson

You can believe with great intellectual integrity what the Bible says about Adam and the origin and history of man!

Though there are a growing number of books out on Adam, this one is unique with its multi-author combination of biblical, historical, theological, scientific, archaeological, and ethical arguments in support of believing in a literal Adam and the Fall. A growing number of professing evangelical leaders and scholars are doubting or denying a literal Adam and a literal Fall, which thereby undermines the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Last Adam, who came to undo the damaging consequences of Adam's sin and restore us to a right relationship with our Creator. This book will increase your confidence in the truth of Genesis 111 and the gospel!

Genres: Theology, Evolution, History, Nonfiction, Christian

528 pages, Paperback

Published October 30, 2016

Reviews

[BooksNCrannies · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Did Adam exist in history or is he a myth? Was he created supernaturally from literal dust or did he evolve from an ape-like creature? Was he the first human or did God select him out of a group of early Homo sapiens? Did he come into existence on the sixth literal day of history about 6,000 years ago (as a literal interpretation of Genesis 1-11 would indicate), or was that event tens or hundreds of thousands of years ago and 13.8 billion years after the big bang?... What is the truth about man's origin?"

✏️ Review ✏️

An illuminating and comprehensive treatise on the topic of human origins, Searching for Adam provides a robust examination of evidence supporting the truth of Adam and Eve's divine creation and real existence. This book begins by explaining the biblical hermeneutics that require belief in a literal Adam and Eve followed by a thought-provoking and thorough field trip through the historical, theological, scientific, anthropological, genetic, archeological, and ethical arguments that support and vindicate Adam's existence and the truth of Genesis 1.

Sixteen different authors — authorities in various fields of science and biblical studies — contributed to this volume. Most of the chapters are excellently and clearly written and effectively communicate the topic at hand. A few, however, lack engaging writing, which makes those chapters less effective at communicating their respective subjects. But overall Searching for Adam is a thoroughly written and professionally delivered treatise on man's origin, addressing a myriad of counterarguments and soundly critiquing many exegetical views (i.e., theistic evolution, the cosmic temple view, day age theory, etc.) about the first chapters of Genesis. The authors of Searching for Adam conclusively show "that not only is belief in a literal Adam and Fall consistent with historic Christian orthodoxy and sound biblical exegesis," they also discuss how the realities of Adam and the Fall are "powerfully confirmed by many lines of solid scientific evidence." And by showing that belief in a literal Adam "is foundational to the gospel and the integrity and authority of the whole Bible," the authors of this book have provided an accessible, professional, sound, and thorough three-tiered argument for believing in what the Bible literally says about Adam's creation and existence.

Not only an examination of the evidence confirming what the Book of Genesis literally states about creation, Searching for Adam also graciously yet authoritatively shows how compromise with Genesis leads to erroneous rendings of Scripture. Consider theistic evolution. Not so harmless, right? It's only attempting to align Genesis with the best scientific evidence after all. Well, consider the following ideas stemming from a theistic evolutionary belief espoused by Reformed pastor Leanord J. Vander Zee. In an online video, he stated,

Substitutionary atonement sees original sin as a major reason for Christ's death. But macroevolution calls the Fall and the doctrine of original sin into question. Thus, evolution poses a significant challenge to substitutionary atonement.... In what follows, I intend to sketch an alternative view of the cross; one that preserves God's goodness and God's justice. A view that identifies the crucifixion of Jesus as sinful, and thus, in opposition to the will of God. A theory more compatible with the best evolutionary science (emphasis added).¹

Mortenson is more than justified when he calls such an appalling view of Christ's death heresy — a view that is being promoted by BioLogos, a so-called Christian organization on a mission of meshing evolutionary science with the Bible. And as is convincingly demonstrated in the latter portion of this book, when one compromises in Genesis to suit "the best evolutionary science," it only follows that the rest of the Bible, including the Gospels, will also suffer at the unmerciful hands of compromise. Erode the foundations and the entire house will crumble.

As many prominent church leaders and figures continue to compromise Scripture and welcome evolutionary dogmas into the Church, it is imperative that one be informed on the topics of human origins and creation as they are hermeneutically allowed and explained in God's Word. As editor of Searching for Adam Terry Mortenson explains,

The search for Adam begins and ends with Scripture. It is telling us the origin, history, and nature of man. People who are still searching for Adam won't find him in the shifting sands of evolutionary misinterpretations of fossils and DNA and the ever-changing paintings and sculptures of imaginative evolutionary artists.

Searching for Adam provides the correct starting place in the search for Adam. It upholds the authority of Scripture, delivers professionally presented scientific support for a literal Adam, and cohesively explains the moral, spiritual, and gospel reasons why belief in a literal Adam and Fall is essential for Christian orthodoxy. Is your belief about origins based on the inerrant teachings of God's Word or on the flawed ideas of man's reasoning?

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1. Joseph Bankard, "Substitutionary Atonement and Evolution, Part 1," http://biologos.org/blog/substitution..., June 9, 2015 as cited in Terry Mortenson, "Adam, Morality, the Gospel, and the Authority of Scripture," in Searching for Adam: Genesis & the Truth About Man's Origin, ed. Terry Mortenson (Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2016), p. 468-469.

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📊 A Quick Overview 📊

👍🏼 What I Liked:
• The accessible yet professional and thorough handling of the topic of man's origin.
• The fact that authorities from various fields of science and biblical studies discuss the topic of man's origin — allows for a thorough discussion of man's origin.
• The robust examination of evidence supporting the existence of a literal Adam and Eve.
• The three-tiered argument (biblical, scientific, and ethical) for believing in a literal Adam and Fall.
• The overall organization of the book's topic — it starts with the Bible and works its way to scientific and ethical examination of origins.

👎🏼 What I Did Not Like:
• The fact that the writing style in a few of the chapters wasn't very engaging.

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❓ To Read or Not To Read? ❓

— Would I recommend this book? Of course!*

— To whom? To those interested in a resource that thoroughly and authoritatively examines man's origins from a biblical perspective in a variety of scientific and biblical fields.

*(Note: I leave it up to each individual to decide the maturity and discernment level required to read the books I recommend, based on my content warnings below [in my Book Breakdown]. My content warnings [if any] should always be considered alongside my recommendations when deciding who these books are best suited for.)

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📖 BOOK BREAKDOWN 📖 (Overall: 4.25/5 [rounded down to 4 on Goodreads])
~Fundamentals {Nonfiction Version}: (1=worst; 5=best)
— 📑 Didactics: 4.5/5

— 📝 Writing: 3.5/5

— 👀 Engagement: 4/5

— 🧩 Clarity: 4/5

~Content: (0=none; 1=least; 5=most)

— 🤬 Language: 0/5

— ⚔️ Violence: 0/5

— ⚠️ Sexual: 1/5

• Brief discussions that mention homosexuality, the LGBTQ+ movement, rape, and other sexually immoral actions/lifestyles.

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📣 Random Comments 📣

• (None)

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💬 Favorite Quotes 💬

• As [God's] image-bearers we all have value no matter our abilities or status in this life. As image-bearers each one of our lives is sacred. As image-bearers marred by the Fall, we each need a Savior. And as image-bearers, we are called by the redeeming love of our Creator to be renewed and conformed into the image of Him who is the perfect, beautiful, image of God. (p. 227)

[Peter Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

A long and difficult, but excellent book on the case for a historical Adam. It begins with Scripture, moves through some various theological and philosophical arguments, and then moves on to science. The exegetical part was interesting, though I find any exegetical argument against a historical Adam similar to the Cleveland Browns. They keep trying but always come up short. The Bible does not allow you to get rid of historical Adam. And by that I mean a man specially created as the first human to be the federal head of the entire human race.

But the sections most fascinating to me were the scientific sections where DNA, Neanderthals, human over design, comparison of humans to apes, and several other things were discussed.

As I continue to read young earth creationists as well as the old-earth guys and theistic evolutionists here is what I am noticing. For a long time YEC men have had a leg up in theology, Scripture/exegesis, philosophy, and church history. In other words, in each of these areas the YEC interpretation was more probable than the OEC interpretation or theistic evolution. The one area where OEC and theistic evolutionists had a leg up was science. This has led to some embarrassing YEC scientific conclusions, especially early on. (Though in fairness it is not as if evolution has been one long string of uninterrupted successes. They are constantly modifying as well.) But YEC is catching up. Men are getting advanced degrees in key areas from schools with secular pedigree and are using their knowledge to prove YEC instead of OEC/TE. The other thing I notice is that many YEC scientists interact regularly not just with Christian OEC men, but with secular evolutionists. They read their papers and books. This makes them sharper, clearer, and more precise in what they are arguing.

I do not see this same effort from secular evolutionists and even many Christian OEC men dismiss YEC scientists. This is a mistake. In the long run, taking your opponents seriously is a sign of respect and will help you grow. YECers do this better than OECers, though of course they are not perfect.

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

At times this was a hard read, nonetheless a very important read. I love the start of this book.....did the authors of the Old Testament and new, view Adam as allegory, myth, archetypal or historical. The evidence absolutely suggest historical. That should be enough right there, but this book, a collection of essays by some brilliant Godly men dive into the realms of genetics, fossils, and evolutionary claims. My very favorite chapter was what the observable human mutation rates really show us about which is correct....the evolutionary or biblical timeline. Simply amazing. We Christians can stand confident that Gods word offers the best account for our origins. We desperately need to affirm this in our churches. This book is long, but it's a worthy read.

[Some Christian Lady · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another excellent resource on why it is important for Christians to correctly understand Genesis 1-11. I will let the author summarize the points he expounds upon in the book:

“We have a crisis in the evangelical world today, a crisis of authority. Scientists (and the scholars of ANE [Ancient Near East] literature who follow the scientific majority) have usurped the authority of Scripture. Many Christian leaders and scholars are claiming to defend the Bible while at the same time undermining both its clarity and its authority.

Many old-earth creationists have protested, "The issue is NOT the authority of Scripture! The issue is the interpretation of Scripture." But I must firmly disagree. The only reason people are coming up with all these diverse reinterpretations of Genesis that were never heard of in the Church before the 19th century is precisely because those interpreters have made what the scientific majority says about the origin and history of the creation their final authority in their interpretation of the biblical text. Rather than interpreting Scripture by Scripture (which is the biblically derived and historic ally orthodox hermeneutic and would never lead a reader to belief in evolution and millions of years) old-earth creationists and theistic evolutionists are interpreting Scripture, not by "science," but by what the secular, anti-biblical, scientific authorities claim is true.”

…

“The inerrancy, perspicuity, and authority of Scripture are all under assault by the theory of cosmological, geological, biological, and anthropological evolution. This 200-year attack is driven by an atheistic, naturalistic worldview that is antithetical to everything the Bible teaches. And all old-earth creationist and theistic evolutionist views are compromising to a greater or lesser extent with that anti-biblical worldview.”

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“We cannot with consistency believe the gospel and yet not believe the Genesis 1-11 foundation of the gospel that explains why we need the Savior — that the first Adam sinned resulting in death and a Curse on the whole creation. The gospel collapses into myth, if Adam and Eve are not historical or if millions of years of history truly occurred before Adam. It all stands or falls together.”

[Daniel Duncan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a long, technical, and excellent presentation of Biblical creationism from a scientific and educated position. I highly recommend pastors read this book as it will help them engage with some who would dismiss the Bible in favor of an evolutionary model. The loss of Creationism does great harm to the legitimacy of the Gospel.

[Valerie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Outside of chapter 9, this book is basically all about bashing Science, by…using Science. Chapter 9 did a great balance, I felt, and wish the entire book was like it. Other than that, the tone of the book was lets see how badly we can say that science is an idiot, and the Bible is the only thing right. I have always said they are not exclusive. The Bible tells who created the universe, and that science attempts to tell us how. Let there be light is in my opinion, the Big Bang. There are some nice tables, and illustrations, and some good information, but the premise of each essay is bent, and biased. Not a bad read, but I am glad I checked it out of the library as this is not a book I would want to own.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a collection of essays about man's origins from a young earth creationist position. It is sometimes fairly technical and dry in places. However, I learned a lot. It was absolutely worth the work to read it. I found the last chapter, about the moral and religious implications of evolution vs creationism, the least interesting chapter, but that may be because I was familiar with all the arguments being made.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is jam packed! For anyone looking for an apologetic to the historical account of Scripture and the existence of Adam, this is it. Experts in many different fields show the biblical account can be trusted. The book covers exegesis of Scripture, genetic studies, biology, and history. In true apologetic fashion, it also shows the irrationality of the evolutionary perspective and where it ultimately leads.

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

So far I have only read a few chapters, including the final chapter. These are available online at answersingenesis.org. But now I want to buy a copy, and read the rest!

[Carey Smoak · Rating 3 out of 5]

A thorough book on the search for Adam. I would not agree with all of the author's conclusions, but the book is worth reading.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A helpful book for anyone seeking to understand Young Earth Creation's arguments as well as a rebuttal to the false narritives and assumptions of evolution (theistic and atheistic).

[This is V! · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read it if you want to understand a belief.
👉 Don’t rely on it if you want to understand reality.

That’s it.

[C.H. Cobb · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book explores a hot-button topic that should be a lot hotter than it is in some circles. The question is: Was Adam an actual historical person? Was he indeed the first human, as Genesis indicates?

This is not a peripheral issue and much theology, perhaps most of theology, hinges upon the answer. The book documents—with names and clear-as-a-bell quotes—the fact that when you turn loose of a historical Adam, some scholars will begin to turn loose of substitutionary atonement. Why? No Adam, no fall, no original sin, hence no sin nature, no need for atonement.

Mortenson employs an impressive array of fifteen legitimate scholars to bring a mighty challenge against any flavor of evolution, theistic evolution, or old-earth creationism. Heavily documented and using their opponents own statements and findings, Mortenson and colleagues demonstrate that there is a good case to be made, from science no less, that Adam was specially created, fully human, and having no ancestors. The case for an “evolved Adam” which Biologos builds largely upon genetics, is in fact both faulty and even shoddy when the actual data is examined. One of the great contributions of Mortenson's book is puncturing the illusion that the science is settled. Searching for Adam exposes the fact that a good deal of the science is considered to be controversial (and not settled) even among evolutionists themselves.

Beginning with an examination of the text of the opening chapters of Genesis, the book makes a solid case for the traditional, orthodox interpretation of the creation story. The New Testament is also mined for its perspective regarding the historical Adam. The authors then review how Adam has been regarded across the history of theology, including the recent departures from belief. A chapter is devoted to discussing when Adam was created.

Another chapter examines John Walton’s popular book, The Lost World of Adam and Eve and gives it a devastating critique. A chapter is devoted to examining the implications of Adam being made in the image of God if there was no historical Adam.

Except for the last chapter, the remaining chapters move from the textual and theological issues to the scientific ones, dealing with the fossil record, genetics, anatomy, and anthropology. A particularly fascinating chapter deals with ten skeletal issues that all have to be in place to support walking upright. The author makes the point that unless all ten changes happen simultaneously, their net effect on the creature would hurt not help survivability. Another great chapter considers the fact that for ancient man to have built the structures he did would require immense intelligence rather than a primitive mind.

The authors carefully document the role that Darwinism has played in eugenics and man’s brutal quest to selectively eliminate what were considered “inferior” human specimens. Some of the worst totalitarian societies in history are shown to have built their fundamental principles on Darwinian evolution. This is all carefully documented from original sources. The point is that there are wide-ranging societal implications when a Darwinian viewpoint reigns in a society.

In the final chapter, Mortenson exposes the obvious effect Darwinism is having on modern evangelical scholars. He makes a tight case for the assertion that many modern scholars are not being governed by the text in their interpretation of Genesis, but by the questionable claims of scientists that often have more to do with the scientists’ own philosophical commitments than with science itself.

Bottom line: this is an excellent book, highly recommended. If you have been wrestling with the early chapters of Genesis and how to understand them, read Searching for Adam before you make up your mind.