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 PrintableVersion Evolutionary creationScripture and evolutionEVOLUTIONARY CREATION In the crowded market of books on creation and evolution, Denis Lamoureux aims to bring new insight. With doctorates in dentistry, theology and biology, he is well placed to take on this challenge and his expertise is evident in this thoughtful and tightly argued book. Even more significant, perhaps, is his personal journey from young earth creationism to his own particular brand of theistic evolution. His engaging account of this personal journey is given towards the end of the book, but it shapes the whole of the preceding argument. Aware of conflictLamoureux is clear that the Bible teaches things that are in conflict with the evolutionary account of earth history, such as physical death originating with the sin of the historical individual Adam. However, he argues such teaching is no more normative for us today than the ‘three-tiered universe’ assumed in Philippians 2.10 or the idea that the ‘firmament’ in Genesis 1.6-8 is a solid dome. Just as modern scientific understanding has shown the earth is not mounted on pillars, it has also shown that physical death has always been present. Thus Lamoureux’s change of view did not come from a new understanding of what the text of the Bible was saying. Rather, he concluded that the text reflects an ancient understanding of the world that we should not expect to fit with our modern scientific understanding. He says (p.166): ‘The Holy Spirit-inspired Scriptures make numerous statements about the structure, operation, and origin of the natural world that are scientifically incorrect’. He is emphatic that God does not lie, but rather, ‘He accommodates to the level of the ancient writers and their readers when referring to nature in order to reveal as effectively as possible messages of faith’. His proposal is erudite but deeply flawed. For example, his whole argument rests on the very questionable assumption that the ancients understood biblical descriptions of the world in a woodenly literal manner. It is also not clear why the theology of the Bible should be immune to the same accommodation to ancient worldviews. Most worryingly, he argues (p.34) that Jesus (and the apostles) were mistaken in understanding Genesis as a literal historical account. Old errorIn short, Lamoureux’s attempt to reconcile the Bible and the evolutionary account of earth history leads him not to a new synthesis, but to an old error — a faulty understanding of Scripture. But he is driven to this position because he is convinced that Paul indisputably teaches (for example) that physical death came through sin. Lamoureux’s argument here provides a powerful challenge to fellow theistic evolutionists such as Denis Alexander who argue that Paul taught no such thing. Exegetically, Lamoureux’s case is far stronger. Thus Lamoureux accepts the arguments of his creationist past about the text of Scripture, but he rejects the science that went with this. To me, one of the greatest disappointments of the book was that he showed no awareness of, let alone engagement with more recent creationist research. (His description of a creationist understanding of the fossil record on p.418 bears no relation to anything I have ever seen or heard a creationist propose!) It is this new research that in my view provides the most satisfying way to reconcile the teaching of Jesus and the apostles with a scientific understanding of earth history. Stephen Lloyd, © Evangelicals Now - August 2010 |
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