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The Generations of Heaven and Earth: Adam, the Ancient World, and Biblical Theology
New science has surprised many by showing, contrary to received wisdom, that a real Adam and Eve could have lived amongst other humans in historical times and yet be the ancestors of every living person, as traditional Christianity has always taught. This theory was first published in book form in 2019, but Jon Garvey, familiar with it from its early days, believes it helps confirm the Christian account of reality by giving it a solid foundation in science and history.
In this book he argues that the long existence of other people before and alongside Adam was in all likelihood known to the Bible's original authors. This conclusion helps build a compelling biblical "big story" of a new kind of created order initially frustrated by Adam's failure, but finally accomplished in Christ. This "new creation" theme complements that of the "old creation" covered in his first book, God's Good Earth . The two together contribute to a unified, and fully orthodox, understanding of the overall message of the Bible.
In this book he argues that the long existence of other people before and alongside Adam was in all likelihood known to the Bible's original authors. This conclusion helps build a compelling biblical "big story" of a new kind of created order initially frustrated by Adam's failure, but finally accomplished in Christ. This "new creation" theme complements that of the "old creation" covered in his first book, God's Good Earth . The two together contribute to a unified, and fully orthodox, understanding of the overall message of the Bible.
306 pages, Paperback
Published January 21, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 23, 2020
Jon Garvey’s book is a companion volume to S. Joshua Swamidass’s book, “The Genealogical Adam & Eve” (GAE). It is not necessary to have read GAE first, because Garvey includes a summary of the scientific side while presenting the theological implications of an historical Adam who lived around 6,000 years ago.
GAE’s claim is that it is scientifically plausible that a historical couple living in the Ancient Near East, among an existing human population around 6,000 years ago, would almost certainly be common ancestors of everyone living since the time of Christ. This claim is based on detailed computer simulations that consistently showed that our probable most recent genealogical ancestor lived two or three thousand years ago, and that anyone living more than 6,000 years ago, who left any descendants, is a common ancestor for the whole human race.
Garvey has attempted to integrate a genealogical Adam and Eve into a coherent biblical theology without any radical revision of traditional Christian theological doctrine by examining its consistency with a number of issues, including the two creation stories in Genesis, the conflict of good and evil, original sin, atonement theories, and the metanarrative of the Bible. Garvey thinks of this as restoring the plausibility of older teaching which had been made to give ground progressively in the light of the "assured results" of science.
Garvey’s contention is that “Genealogical Adam is not just another concordist theory, attempting to find a fix for the incompatibility of the Bible account with other sources of knowledge, but instead as a means for recovering the original intention of Scripture” (p. xv), which is that Genesis 2 introduces the theme of a new creation that occupies the whole of the rest of the Bible.
Genealogical Adam implies some kind of distinction between Adam and those outside the Garden of Eden and the gradual merging of those distinctions through interbreeding as Adam’s genealogical descendants spread across the world. Garvey concludes that “there is no longer a scientific argument against the existence of the biblical Adam and Eve, provided we are willing to embrace the evidence that other, fully human, people existed “outside the garden” before and alongside Adam.” (p. 250) “If we take Genesis 1 and 2 as sequential, and chapter 1 as describing the creation of mankind en masse, including those who lived before and alongside Adam, then we have a human race created in the image and likeness of God which possesses all the intellectual, artistic, and cultural attainments that scientific and historical research has revealed to be ubiquitous from prehistoric times.” (pp. 116-7)
Garvey proposes that cultural inheritance can be as pervasive as genetic inheritance, and it is quicker and does not depend on any genes becoming fixed in the whole population: just on the spread of a strong idea or a habit. It is culpable sinners who are formed through sinful communities. “[I]t is only possible to become human at all through the absorption of our parents’, and community’s, culture. Our nature is not exclusively “from our genes,” and in fact genetics has a relatively minor role in the inheritance of complex behavior.” (p. 184) “If Adam were indeed the first person to have a true relationship with God, it would have affected every subsequent relationship of his.” (p. 185)
Garvey notes that at some stage the apparently chronological narrative of the Bible has to become history. A Genealogical Adam within history solves the problem of where one places the division of allegory and history by placing it with Adam.
Every chapter ends with a short section titled “Conclusion relative to Genealogical Adam.” The book includes a nine-page bibliography, a general index, and a scriptural index.
It’s going to get really interesting when theologians react to this book and to Swamidass’s “The Genealogical Adam & Eve.” Perhaps those theologians, pastors, and Christian philosophers and scientists who had already come out publically for an historical Adam who was not the first human (e.g., Denis Alexander, Kathryn Applegate, Gleason Archer, Craig L. Blomberg, Roy Clouser, C. John Collins, Gregg Davidson, Darrel Falk, Gary N. Fugle, Daniel M. Harrell, Carol A. Hill, Tim Keller, Kenneth W. Kemp, Derek Kidner, Gavin Ortlund, Alvin Plantinga, Harry Lee Poe, John Polkinghorne, Jeffrey Schloss, John Stott, John H. Walton and N.T. Wright) were on the right track after all.
The book’s strength is that it enables the traditional doctrines associated with Adam to remain intact, while maintaining consistency with secular findings on history, archaeology, and various evolutionary understandings of creation.
I can recommend this book to anyone interested in the issues surrounding a historical Adam and Eve. It is a fresh look which should elicit much commentary in the near future.
One person found this helpful
GAE’s claim is that it is scientifically plausible that a historical couple living in the Ancient Near East, among an existing human population around 6,000 years ago, would almost certainly be common ancestors of everyone living since the time of Christ. This claim is based on detailed computer simulations that consistently showed that our probable most recent genealogical ancestor lived two or three thousand years ago, and that anyone living more than 6,000 years ago, who left any descendants, is a common ancestor for the whole human race.
Garvey has attempted to integrate a genealogical Adam and Eve into a coherent biblical theology without any radical revision of traditional Christian theological doctrine by examining its consistency with a number of issues, including the two creation stories in Genesis, the conflict of good and evil, original sin, atonement theories, and the metanarrative of the Bible. Garvey thinks of this as restoring the plausibility of older teaching which had been made to give ground progressively in the light of the "assured results" of science.
Garvey’s contention is that “Genealogical Adam is not just another concordist theory, attempting to find a fix for the incompatibility of the Bible account with other sources of knowledge, but instead as a means for recovering the original intention of Scripture” (p. xv), which is that Genesis 2 introduces the theme of a new creation that occupies the whole of the rest of the Bible.
Genealogical Adam implies some kind of distinction between Adam and those outside the Garden of Eden and the gradual merging of those distinctions through interbreeding as Adam’s genealogical descendants spread across the world. Garvey concludes that “there is no longer a scientific argument against the existence of the biblical Adam and Eve, provided we are willing to embrace the evidence that other, fully human, people existed “outside the garden” before and alongside Adam.” (p. 250) “If we take Genesis 1 and 2 as sequential, and chapter 1 as describing the creation of mankind en masse, including those who lived before and alongside Adam, then we have a human race created in the image and likeness of God which possesses all the intellectual, artistic, and cultural attainments that scientific and historical research has revealed to be ubiquitous from prehistoric times.” (pp. 116-7)
Garvey proposes that cultural inheritance can be as pervasive as genetic inheritance, and it is quicker and does not depend on any genes becoming fixed in the whole population: just on the spread of a strong idea or a habit. It is culpable sinners who are formed through sinful communities. “[I]t is only possible to become human at all through the absorption of our parents’, and community’s, culture. Our nature is not exclusively “from our genes,” and in fact genetics has a relatively minor role in the inheritance of complex behavior.” (p. 184) “If Adam were indeed the first person to have a true relationship with God, it would have affected every subsequent relationship of his.” (p. 185)
Garvey notes that at some stage the apparently chronological narrative of the Bible has to become history. A Genealogical Adam within history solves the problem of where one places the division of allegory and history by placing it with Adam.
Every chapter ends with a short section titled “Conclusion relative to Genealogical Adam.” The book includes a nine-page bibliography, a general index, and a scriptural index.
It’s going to get really interesting when theologians react to this book and to Swamidass’s “The Genealogical Adam & Eve.” Perhaps those theologians, pastors, and Christian philosophers and scientists who had already come out publically for an historical Adam who was not the first human (e.g., Denis Alexander, Kathryn Applegate, Gleason Archer, Craig L. Blomberg, Roy Clouser, C. John Collins, Gregg Davidson, Darrel Falk, Gary N. Fugle, Daniel M. Harrell, Carol A. Hill, Tim Keller, Kenneth W. Kemp, Derek Kidner, Gavin Ortlund, Alvin Plantinga, Harry Lee Poe, John Polkinghorne, Jeffrey Schloss, John Stott, John H. Walton and N.T. Wright) were on the right track after all.
The book’s strength is that it enables the traditional doctrines associated with Adam to remain intact, while maintaining consistency with secular findings on history, archaeology, and various evolutionary understandings of creation.
I can recommend this book to anyone interested in the issues surrounding a historical Adam and Eve. It is a fresh look which should elicit much commentary in the near future.
One person found this helpful
August 19, 2021
This thorough, well-researched book posits a narrative of Genesis that does a few things I think are really important. First, evolutionary science is affirmed. Second, Adam, Eve, and The Fall are treated as historical. Lastly, people outside of the garden are treated as human image-bearers with eternal destinies rather than non-humans that Adam and Eve bred with. I have some more thorough thoughts in the following paragraphs, but for a brief summary: you should read this awesome book if you understand how the science of evolution can coexist alongside a historical Adam, however you do not know how to hash out the theological questions that result. Now to a more thorough discussion detailing my personal experience.
After realizing evolution is a scientific fact, I knew I had to adjust my view of Genesis; I could not jive with any interpretations of Genesis that did not incorporate the scientific facts of macroevolution and common descent. This ruled out views like OEC and YEC. The only other view I was aware of that corresponded to the science of evolution (and genetics as well) was the allegorical, spiritualized view of Genesis 1-11. I could not get with this interpretation for many reasons, none of which I will cover now.
In comes the magnificent book The Genealogical Adam and Eve which demonstrated that genetic and evolutionary science can be affirmed alongside the historical Fall and Adam and Eve. They do not have to be allegorical only. However, I found that having people outside of the garden answered several scientific questions, but raised many theological ones.
In comes The Generations of Heaven and Earth! This thorough treatment of Genesis keeps all the right things historical and also shows how people outside the garden can be more than just creatures for Adam and Eve to breed with to spread over the earth. The theology of people outside the garden was the main stumbling block that was keeping me from officially landing in my convictions as an evolutionary creationist and Jon Garvey's magnificent work helped me answer that question, and consequently softly touch down in my convictions. Not only did he answer the question of people outside the garden, but he also weaved it into the overarching Biblical narrative of redemption.
After realizing evolution is a scientific fact, I knew I had to adjust my view of Genesis; I could not jive with any interpretations of Genesis that did not incorporate the scientific facts of macroevolution and common descent. This ruled out views like OEC and YEC. The only other view I was aware of that corresponded to the science of evolution (and genetics as well) was the allegorical, spiritualized view of Genesis 1-11. I could not get with this interpretation for many reasons, none of which I will cover now.
In comes the magnificent book The Genealogical Adam and Eve which demonstrated that genetic and evolutionary science can be affirmed alongside the historical Fall and Adam and Eve. They do not have to be allegorical only. However, I found that having people outside of the garden answered several scientific questions, but raised many theological ones.
In comes The Generations of Heaven and Earth! This thorough treatment of Genesis keeps all the right things historical and also shows how people outside the garden can be more than just creatures for Adam and Eve to breed with to spread over the earth. The theology of people outside the garden was the main stumbling block that was keeping me from officially landing in my convictions as an evolutionary creationist and Jon Garvey's magnificent work helped me answer that question, and consequently softly touch down in my convictions. Not only did he answer the question of people outside the garden, but he also weaved it into the overarching Biblical narrative of redemption.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews