Category Archives: Genealogical Adam

Exploring the theological status of ancient man (1)

Posted on 28/07/2023 by Jon Garvey

When I wrote The Generations of Heaven and Earth, whose central theme is the Genealogical Adam and Eve paradigm, I spent some pages discussing the status of those people “outside the garden,” on the assumption that an Adam and Eve around the Chalcolithic period, as suggested by the text, would have had many contemporaries. By that time, after all, and indeed very much earlier, human traces are known from all around the world.

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All made up and nowhere to go (2)

Posted on 15/06/2023 by Jon Garvey

The old critical scholars, back in the days when there was a liberal source-critical consensus, used to say that Genesis contains two incompatible creation stories, the first from the “E” source and the second, the Eden narrative, from “J.” Or at least that was the gist, as many scholars seemed to assign odd verses to a different source at a whim. But they had a point: if Moses wrote Genesis, or the bulk of it, and Genesis 2 is a re-focused view of the creation, then he left in some inconsistencies at a rather fundamental level, beyond merely a shift of imagery.

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All made up and nowhere to go (1)

Posted on 14/06/2023 by Jon Garvey

In a recent post, I critiqued “Old Adam” views of Genesis 2, mainly on biblical grounds. Rejecting such views either means embracing “No Adam” theories (including, of course, “Metaphorical Adam” theories), requiring a complete heterodox re-working of Jewish and Christian theology, which I won’t discuss here, or accepting a “Young Adam” within the last few thousand years.

Posted in Genealogical Adam, Science, Theology | 4 Comments

Unexpected livestream on my book

Posted on 04/06/2023 by Jon Garvey

Months ago I was put in touch with Rob Rowe, who has a YouTube apologetics channel based in Australia. I heard nothing until yesterday, when on a couple of hours notice he set up a livestream to discuss The Generations of Heaven and Earth, which together with Q&A lasted over two hours. Fortunately I hadn’t forgotten too much of what I’d written.

Posted in Adam, Creation, Genealogical Adam, History, Science, Theology | 2 Comments

Would you Adam and Eve it?

Posted on 19/05/2023 by Jon Garvey

For Christians (and Jews and others) seeking to maintain the historicity of a first human couple, Adam and Eve, there are really three broad ways to proceed. My aim here is to cast doubt on one of them, from a biblical standpoint, and so I’ll break the usual pattern of such discussions by stating my own position first, and then leaving it to one side!

Posted in Creation, Genealogical Adam, History, Science, Theology | 8 Comments

Good Creation revisited

Posted on 21/02/2021 by Jon Garvey

A couple of new reviews have appeared on my book Good’s Good Earth, in Studies in Christian Ethics and Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith, the latter of which rolls it together with a review of Generations of Heaven and Earth. You can find them by linking to the respective book tabs on the menu above, and clicking on the “Endorsements and Reviews” links.

Posted in Adam, Creation, Genealogical Adam, Science, Theology, Theology of nature | 7 Comments

Considering an ancient Adam

Posted on 06/12/2020 by Jon Garvey

The Genealogical Adam and Eve paradigm, as described in my book and that of Joshua Swamidass, makes a recent Adam plausible in the context of the mainstream sciences. Some objectors to this “recent Adam” interpretation wants to put Adam and Eve much further back in the past (which is equally compatible with GAE), and their main reason is the status of the “people outside the garden” in our scenario.

Posted in Adam, Creation, Genealogical Adam, Science, Theology | 15 Comments

Swamidass puffs “Generations”

Posted on 02/10/2020 by Jon Garvey

I guess it’s not too vain to include a review of The Generations of Heaven and Earth here. It was mentioned in a question to Joshua Swamidass in an interview about his own book on Adherent Apologetics. Thanks to whoever asked it! Here’s the clip:

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Interview on Generations of Heaven and Earth

Posted on 15/05/2020 by Jon Garvey

Peaceful Science has just published an interview-style article on the last book here. Hope you’ll find it helpful.

Posted in Adam, Genealogical Adam, Science, Theology | 22 Comments

Hump retrospective 4: the impossibility of Adam

Posted on 26/02/2020 by Jon Garvey

Anyone who reads The Hump regularly is well aware of the answer I found to the apparent scientific impossibility of an historical Adam and Eve. After all, that is the subject of the book of mine that came out last month, The Generations of Heaven and Earth.

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