The Quest for the Historical Adam, Genesis, Hermeneutics, and Human Origins, William VanDoodewaard

The Quest for the Historical Adam, Genesis, Hermeneutics, and Human Origins, William VanDoodewaard

   Does the Bible teach a hardline creation ex nihilo? Must we believe that the world was created in six days? Did mankind exist before the creation of Adam? Does it matter if we believe that God created? Does a modified view of creation coincide with a biblical view of the gospel? What has the church believed and taught for two millennia? If these questions are meaningful to you, then you are asking the right questions. You need answers, biblical answers, that undergird the faith rather than undermine it. 

    Few know the history behind the debate about origins. Though it is surprising, not many pastors are familiar with it either. Charles Darwin didn't start the discussion nor will he have the final word. VanDoodewaard has given a gift to our day in, The Quest for the Historical Adam. Here is a thorough but never tedious expose of the church's struggle with the question of whether to take the Bible literally when it says that God created the heavens and the earth in six days or to find some other hermeneutic that will save face for us before the world. 

   Written with a clear mind and a patient heart The Quest for the Historical Adam interacts with the patristic fathers of the church, the medieval scholars, the reformers, the Enlightenment era, the nineteenth century and early twentieth-century greats as well as the current era. This may well be one of the most important books written in the last fifty years. Evangelicals must land biblically on this matter. It is an issue of utmost importance for the health of the church and her faithfulness to the gospel. Unless we stop being embarrassed over God's Word we will never have the Spirit's power to face the onslaught of neopaganism that surrounds us. Pastors must cherish the Word more than scholarly recognition. Faithfulness to the complete message of God's Word is not optional. 

    Regarding how we have arrived at the current hermeneutical (how to interpret the Bible) dilemma in the church VanDoodewaard writes with succinct accuracy, 

"The rise of enthusiasm over new natural philosophies, their growing sophistication, and the popular blurring of the philosophical constructs and the categories of hypothetical models with aspects of genuine growth in scientific knowledge, meant the revival of and increase in the pressures previously felt by Origen, Augustine, Eriugena, Aquinas, La Peyrere, Burnet, Whiston, Le Clerc, and others (p. 143)." 

In this statement, there is a congealed insight that characterizes VanDoodewaard's research and writing. He has obviously given himself to the task of reducing this mammoth topic and its history to a manageable size. The result is a book to which every Christian may resort for understanding and confirmation in God's Word. My word to you - get it; read it; buy it for your pastor and neighbor who takes such questions seriously. 

Post tenebras lux,
Scott