Emerging Scholars Blog

InterVarsity's Emerging Scholars Network

John Walton

What is the “Good News” of Jesus Christ? Part 1

A number of my colleagues recommended I read What is the “Good News” of Jesus Christ?*, delivered by David Suryk at the 2016 Midwest Faculty Conference (Cedar Campus, 6/19/2016). When I had opportunity to connect with David at this summer’s Midwest Faculty Conference, I asked him not only for a copy of What is the “Good News” of Jesus Christ?, but also the permission to share the sermon with the Emerging Scholars Network via a series on the blog. So, here is Part 1. “Thank-you!” to David for the series and Hannah for editing. To God be the glory! ~ Tom Grosh IV, Associate Director, Emerging Scholars Network

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Review: The Lost World of Adam and Eve, by John Walton

Lost World of Adam an #2461John Walton’s book The Lost World of Adam and Eve (InterVarsity Press, 2015) is a fresh, compelling look at Genesis 2-3. In it, Walton argues that the role of Adam and Eve is mainly archetypal, symbolic of humanity as a whole. But he also argues that they are historical figures and responsible for the Fall, simply not the first human beings. [Read more…] about Review: The Lost World of Adam and Eve, by John Walton

Summary and Reflection on the Christianity and Science Series

Introduction

You lost me: why young Christians are leaving church — and rethinking faith by David Kinnaman with Aly Hawkins (BakerBooks, 2011).

Are Christianity and science at war? This was a major concern for me when I came to faith in Christ 22 years ago in the middle of my career as a biology professor at Iowa State University. Although it did not prevent me from coming to faith in Christ, it continued to trouble me and caused doubts about my faith in the early years after my conversion to Christianity. I wondered whether modern science is really compatible with belief in God and whether it is possible to reconcile the Bible’s account of creation with the scientific account of natural history.

These questions also trouble young adults today. A recent five-year study, headed by Barna Group president David Kinnaman, identified antagonism between churches and science as one of six reasons why three out of five young adults disconnect from church after age 15. The study found that a quarter of young adults believe that Christianity is anti-science and the same proportion say that they have been turned off by the evolution-versus-creation debate.

These questions led me to develop the Christianity and science honors course that I have been teaching at Iowa State University for the past 14 years. In this last post in the , I want to summarize and reflect about some of the key ideas that we have considered. [Read more…] about Summary and Reflection on the Christianity and Science Series

What about Adam and Eve? Part 2

Introduction

Four Views on the Historical Adam, Matthew Barrett and Ardel B. Caneday, general editors. Stanley N. Gundry, series editor. Zondervan, 2013.

This is the fifth in a series of blog posts concerned with Christian questions about evolution. One of the biggest questions is what to do about Adam and Eve. In my last post I said the Bible teaches that God reveals himself to man in two ways. One is through Scripture (the Bible) and the other is through what we observe in nature (using science). I then compared the stories of the creation of mankind in the two books. While there are apparent differences between the two stories, there must be a way of reconciling these differences since they both come from God.

Reconciling the two stories

The two stories raise several types of questions.

  1. The origin of humans. Was this due to special creation by God or was it due to God guided evolution. If evolution, then in what sense is mankind set apart from the rest of creation and in what sense are humans created in the image of God?
  2. Adam and Eve. Were they real people and was Adam the father of all humankind?
  3. The doctrine of the Fall. Are Adam and Eve essential to the Bible’s central storyline of creation, fall, redemption, and consummation? Is Paul’s teaching about the representative roles of Adam and Jesus essential to the understanding of the origin of sin and the redemption from sin? Does the story of the creation of Adam and Eve and their fall communicate real history or does it simply communicate timeless truths?
  4. The relationship between God’s two books of revelation. Does one have primacy over the other or is it possible to settle the apparent conflict in a way that respects both sources of revelation?

The way that I want to address these questions is through the review of a book entitled Four Views of the Historical Adam (Zondervan, 2013). There are a spectrum of views among Evangelical Christians about how to reconcile the story from Scripture with the story from nature. This book presents essays from four Biblical scholars who represent the four major Evangelical positions. [Read more…] about What about Adam and Eve? Part 2