On Fri, 15 Dec 1995, Stephen Jones wrote:
> Denis
>
> On Sat, 9 Dec 1995 00:06:12 -0700 (MST) you wrote:
>
> >The "bad theology" I refer to is the exegesis of Gen 1-11. I can't think
> >of many evangelical professional theologians who actually work on these
> >early chapters (ie, publish in professional journals) and hold to
> >YEC or PC exegetical models...actually can't think of one.
>
> I can't speak for YEC, but as for PC, try Kidner, who while he doesn't
> declare for PC, seems to hold views compatible with PC:
>
> "To the present author various converging lines point to an Adam much
> nearer our own times than the early tool-makers and artists, let alone
> their remote forbears. On the face of it, the ways of life described
> in Genesis 4 are those of the neolithic and first metal-working
> cultures alluded to above, i.e., of perhaps eight or ten thousand
> years ago, less or more. The memory of names and genealogical details
> also suggests a fairly compact period between Adam and Noah1 rather
> than a span of tens or hundreds of millennia, an almost unimaginable
> stretch of time to chronicle." (Kidner D., "Genesis: An Introduction
> and Commentary" Tyndale Press: London, 1967, p28).
This does not exactly support PC. Besides, this is 30 years out of date.
> As for mainstream evangelical theologians, try Erickson:
>
> "More adequate is the position termed progressive creationism.
> According to this view, God created in a series of acts over a long
> period of time. He created the first member of each "kind." That
> grouping may have been as broad as the order or as narrow as the
> genus. In some cases it may have extended to the creation of
> individual species. From that first member of the group, the others
> developed by evolution. So, for example, God may have created the
> first member of the cat family." (Erickson M.J., "Christian
> Theology", Baker: Grand Rapids MI, 1985, p383)
Two points:
1) I tried getting this across to Jim Bell, but I guess I just wasn't
a very good communicator. But there is a world of difference between a
BIBLICAL THEOLOGIAN and a SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGIAN . . . as much
difference as there is between a SURGEON and an INTERNIST. Sure, with
regard to the latter, both are doctors, but their practice of medicine is
every bit as different as the two types of theologians I have cited. My
statement in my post regards BIBLICAL THEOLOGIANS, specifically
specialists in Genesis 1-11, and not SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGIANS like Erickson.
2) This Erickson quote is great because it is so typical of the
vagueness of the PC position. Where exactly does God intervene to create
the "kind"? An order? genus? or species? . . . looks like he's got all the
bases covered. This is the problem with PC, no PC is willing to assert a
definitive place where God has entered to create. It is easy for PCs
to criticize standard evolutionary theory, but have they ever given us a
definitive formula of God's activity? The PC position is essence drive
by intellectual shooting.
> Mostly in the "exegesis of Gen 1-11" by "evangelical professional
> theologians" the issue of PC does not arise.
Yes, you are correct. And the reason is none will argue that Gen 1-11
supports PC. Rather, they see these chapters as an ancient Near Eastern
cosmology.
>Most will simply point
> out that Gn 1-11 does not require belief that the days of Gn 1 were
> 24-hours or that the Flood covered the whole Earth, and get on with
> exegeting the text for its real meaning (ie. making one wise unto
> salvation 2Tim 3:15).
Agreed, again. And that is what is most important. Amen.
Joyeux Noel mon ami du sud,
Denis
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Denis O. Lamoureux DDS PhD PhD (cand)
Department of Oral Biology Residence:
Faculty of Dentistry # 1908
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E-mail: dlamoure@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca
"In all debates, let truth be thy aim, and endeavor to gain
rather than expose thy opponent."
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