In Quest of the Historical Adam is one of several books published in recent years that attempts to grapple with recent findings in genetics that directly question the historicity of the Judeo-Christian belief that all mankind originated with a single pair of humans as described in Genesis. William Lane Craig’s contribution is not entirely unique, but its depth of theological analysis, paired with Craig’s extensive overview of human evolution, makes it a significant contribution.
Many Christians, when confronted with potential evidence that Adam may not have been a real, historical figure, immediately discount the evidence, assuming that if there were no historical Adam, the Bible and Christian belief are invalidated. Craig confronts the issue directly, and does identify some Christian beliefs that would fall, but ultimately does not consider the loss of Adam as an historical person to be fatal to Christianity.
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Craig’s proposal for rescuing the historical Adam likely introduces too many theological dilemmas for most Adventists, not the least of which is that we don’t accept a dualist theology. In spite of this, I think it is valuable to consider his proposal and use it as a starting point in confronting the mounting problems that confront Christianity as more and more scientific data confirm evolutionary theory, including that humans have evolved from primates and that the world and humanity are much older than just 6,000 years.
