Science in Christian Perspective

Letter

Evolution

From: JASA 15 (June 1963): 68.

In the debate between creationists and theistic evolutionists . . . , I have noticed a tendency on the part of some creationists to be overly dogmatic about the interpretations of difficult passages of Scripture. On the other hand, I have been greatly disturbed to see some theistic evolutionists speaking as if we can adjust interpretation without bounds to any conclusion of science . . .

I cannot escape the conclusion that some theistic evolutionists feel that God's revelation in nature is clearer than his verbal revelation. Admitting that there are some figurative elements in the Genesis creation account, the facts that the New Testament treats Adam as a literal being and that the genealogies go from Adam to Jesus lead me to believe that one cannot do justice to God's written word by denying a literal Adam and Eve. If Adam, one end of the line, is figurative, how can we escape the conclusion that the entire line, including Jesus at the other end, is figurative?

So far, I have found no article in the JASA defending this theistic evolution theory which has dealt in a serious way with such specific problems. Could we have something along this line? (I am aware that some theistic evolutionists do not deny a literal Adam. This is a separate issue.)