>Against this, however, there must be borne in mind the apparent
>continuity between the main races of the present and those of the distant
>past, already mentioned, which seems to suggest either a stupendous
>antiquity for Adam (unless the whole accepted dating of prehistory is
>radically mistaken, as some have tried to show - e.g., Whitcomb and Morris,
>op. cit.) or the continued existence of 'pre-Adamites' alongside 'Adamites'
One factor that attracts me to Clouser's view is that it does not relegate
"pre-Adamites" -- if indeed such creatures exist(ed) to "nonspiritual
brute" status. Clouser quite literally suggests that the act of breathing
the breath of life into Adam was simply God's speaking to Adam, identifying
Who He is. Clouser's idea is that God prepared Adam to be able to accept
such a revelation and then revealed Himself to him. The next part is
harder for me to accept: Clouser suggests that the "creation" of Eve is
nothing more than Adam telling Eve about the revelation he has received
from God. I can't accept that. However, I can think of some ways to deal
with the creation of Eve in this scenario that I could accept. In any
case, if there were such creatures as "pre-Adamites," Clouser's view seems
to be that the only difference between them and Adam is that they had not
yet received the revelation of God. He sees Adam and Eve and their
descendents as being the source of that revelation.
The Clouser article I keep mentioning is
Genesis on the Origin of the Human Race
Clouser, Roy A.
PSCF 43.1 (3/91) pp. 2-13
Disciplines: theology philosophy religion hermeneutics literature history
Keywords: Genesis origin of mankind creationism evolution self Bible day
literalism purpose
image of God personhood Adam
A couple communications in later PSCF's which respond to Clouser's paper are:
Swallowing Absolutism [re. Clouser, 3/91]
Nelson, James E.
PSCF 43.2 (6/91) pp. 142-142
Disciplines: history paleontology theology literature
Keywords: hermeneutics interpretation Genesis creationism epistemology
On Clouser's Interpretation of Genesis
Siemens, David F., Jr.
PSCF 43.3 (9/91) pp. 210-211
Disciplines: Biblcal studies theology philosophy
Keywords: creation Genesis interpretation day God Adam origin of mankind
providence human
nature
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