Creation or Evolution (eBook)

Preface to the Second Edition

The six years since the publication of the first edition have been full of surprises. One pleasant surprise has been the steady ongoing demand for this book throughout this period leading to multiple printings, reflecting the ongoing interest in the topic posed by the title. Another surprise has been the take-up of the book by segments of the church community that I had imagined had long ago come to terms with evolution, in particular Anglicans and Catholics.

In the Preface to the First Edition I commented on the dearth of books, faithful to both Scripture and science, that tackled this particular topic. Thankfully that is no longer the case, and a significant cohort of new books on the topic, written from various perspectives, has now appeared. These include Historical Genesis: From Adam to Abraham by Richard Fischer (2008), The Lost World of Genesis One by John Walton (2009), Evolutionary Creation: A Christian Approach to Evolution by Denis Lamoureux (2009), Darwin, Creation and the Fall edited by R.J. Berry and T.A. Noble (2009), Origins by Deborah Haarsma and Loren Haarsma (Revised Edition, 2011), The Language of Science and Faith: Straight Answers to Genuine Questions by Karl Giberson and Francis Collins (2011), Did Adam and Eve Really Exist? by John Collins (2011), Mapping the Origins Debate: Six Models of the Beginning of Everything by Gerald Brau (2012), The Evolution of Adam: What The Bible Does And Doesn’t Say About Human Origins by Peter Enns (2012), the multi-authored Four Views on the Historical Adam (2013) and The Adam Quest by Tim Stafford (2013). I am grateful for these and many other helpful contributions to this growing literature and have incorporated some of the points from these books in this new edition. Of course mention of these books does not mean that I agree with everything in them, any more than I am sure their authors agree with everything in the present volume! But it is good to see a respectful dialogue emerging, with Christians remaining faithful to Scripture, but also realising that the Bible may not necessarily exclude a scientific view to which they had previously been opposed.

One surprising book that appeared in 2009 is a multi-authored work entitled Should Christians Embrace Evolution? edited by Norman Nevin. I say ‘surprising’ because the book is written very specifically as a riposte to the first edition of the present volume. Whereas ‘response books’ written by Christians are rather common when addressing books by, for example, the ‘new atheists’, to have a ‘response book’ written by one set of Christians against another is, in my experience, thankfully rare, and indeed I am not sure that it’s a very good idea. The problem about ‘response books’ is that they can end up scoring debating points rather than providing a more thoughtful overview of a topic that requires calm reflection. In the present instance Should Christians Embrace Evolution? seems to have been rushed out with undue haste following the publication of the first edition of this book, leading to inaccurate accounts of the views expressed herein, not to speak of a string of scientifically inaccurate claims. In no sense does this second edition intend to be a ‘counter-riposte’ to this kind of material, although I have added or revised some sections to clarify points that might have led to misunderstandings.1

On a not unconnected point, one rather alarming development since the publication of the first edition has been reports of some no doubt well-meaning Christians asking fellow believers whether they hold to ‘the Alexander view on creation and evolution’ or, even worse, whether they are in the ‘Alexander group’ on such matters. The apostle Paul, no less, had some very tough comments to make about such divisive attitudes, albeit in the context of baptism (1 Corinthians 1:10–18). This provides an opportunity to underline the point that there is really nothing conceptually novel in theological terms in either the first or the second edition of this book. That might not sound like a very good way for an author to sell more copies of his book, but it really is true. All the proffered biblical interpretations and theological views suggested in the present volume have very long histories. As far as more recent history is concerned, my own views on the topic have been shaped by that great generation of academic evangelical scholars who did so much for Christian work among students in Britain during the 1950s–1990s. I am thinking in particular of Jim Packer, Oliver Barclay, Derek Kidner, Donald MacKay, John Stott, Sam Berry, Colin Russell, Donald Wiseman, Jim Houston and many others. Although my views may be expressed somewhat differently from these commentators on occasion, the roots of this book are to be found in their many books, lectures and sermons, not to speak of personal friendships.

One of the very positive experiences arising from the publication of the first edition has been a steady flow of hundreds of emails and letters from readers coming from many parts of the world. The most encouraging have been those from readers for whom the book has literally been a spiritual lifesaver. Brought up in churches where they had been faced with the stark choice between science or faith, some had been on the brink of jumping ship and forsaking faith altogether, until they realised that science and faith are friends not foes and the cognitive dissonance was finally relieved. Others have become Christians as a result of reading this book, the final obstacle in the way of taking Christian faith seriously having been removed. One letter came from a teacher whose grandfather, aged 90, was an enthusiastic reader, reporting that it had helped him to work through some struggles in his faith. Some have written in with nice things to say, plus around 50 more questions or so for further comment. My apologies to those who have received less than detailed replies – life is too short. But I have tried to include extra material in this edition to address at least some of these FAQs and ‘matters arising’.

My thanks are due to those who have written in response to the first edition with corrections and suggestions for the ‘next edition’ (meaning now this one). In particular Pablo de Felipe and colleagues in Madrid picked up some important corrections during the preparation of the Spanish edition. My special thanks are due to Nell Whiteway, a member of staff at The Faraday Institute, who has made a major contribution to this second edition in helping to correct and update the scientific data. In addition I would like to thank those many helpful readers who read various draft chapters of the present edition, or even the complete book, sometimes leading to pub lunches accompanied by vigorous discussion. This helpful cohort, which also encompasses those who have supplied useful points or articles, includes Gerald Bray, Neville Cobb, Dave Gobbett, Brad Green, Ian Hamilton, Jeff Hardin, Julian Hardyman, Rodney Holder, Nathan James, Hilary Marlow, Ian Randall, Mike Reeves, Dennis Venema, David Vosburg, Garry Williams, Peter Williams and Stephen Williams. Mention of these names does not of course imply that these friends agree with everything in this book and, as always in making such acknowledgments, it is good to emphasise that any errors that remain are all my own. To the reader of this second edition may I say: please do keep the emails and letters flowing (see http://www.faraday-institute.org for contact details) with your thoughts and suggestions, but please also keep in mind that I may not always be in a position to give a very detailed response.

Those who read the first edition might, with good reason, wonder whether it is worth purchasing this second edition. What’s new? This edition is 35,000 words longer. The science has been updated throughout the book, though some fields are moving so fast that inevitably there will be even more recent results available by the time this edition is published. Genomics continues to transform our understanding of recent human evolution. Since the first edition it has become apparent that modern humans are mildly polygenic rather than being strictly monogenic and these new findings are covered in some detail. Origin of life studies have advanced very significantly over the past few years, and some of these new discoveries are described. The chapter on Intelligent Design takes into account some of the more recent publications on this topic. But the greatest increase in word count has been in the more theological sections. What about Adam and Eve? The fall? Original sin? Death before the fall? The atonement? Augustine? These are the questions that are often most pressing in such discussions and for this reason Chapters 10 and 12 in particular have swollen in length to address such topics. One further new feature of this edition is the increased number of endnotes. There was a deliberate attempt to keep the citation number low in the first edition, given that this is a book intended for a general readership without necessarily having any background in science. However, there were complaints from some readers that citations were not provided for certain key points, so this has been rectified to a large extent in the present version, though no attempt has been made to provide citation details for every single point.

A few days before writing this preface I was speaking at a conference in the USA....