Kenneth Kemp’s review of William Lane Craig’s book on Adam and Eve

That one, In Quest of the Historical Adam, at First Things:

Was Adam’s body entirely the product of evolution? Craig thinks that it was not. On his view, God selected two out of a larger population of evolved hominins and made them human by “biological and spiritual renovations” (emphasis mine). Since this could have been done “miraculously,” “there is no problem here.” Such a mixed view has been proposed before—by A. R. Wallace, who thought that evolution simply could not have produced a brain capable of higher mathematics, and by Zeferino Cardinal González, who thought that Scripture strongly favored God’s direct involvement in the formation of Adam’s body. It is not clear whether Craig’s reasons for positing biological renovation are scientific or theological. In a very recent article in Scientia et Fides, I gave reasons for thinking that perhaps no such renovation would in fact be scientifically or philosophically necessary. An evolved body might be both functional as a mere animal body and capable of receiving the rational soul that would make it human.

No one could write about this topic without generating, or at least participating in already existing, controversy. Nevertheless, Craig’s book remains an excellent treatment of its topic.

Kenneth Kemp, “The Science of Adam” at First Things (December 13, 2021)

We expect the controversy William Lane Craig jumped into will be around for a while.

Copyright © 2021 Uncommon Descent . This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement UNLESS EXPLICIT PERMISSION OTHERWISE HAS BEEN GIVEN. Please contact legal@uncommondescent.com so we can take legal action immediately.
Plugin by Taragana