Reading Genesis after Darwin

Just think about it: What Darwin unleashed in his theory of evolution — common descent and natural selection — also had profound implications for how to read Genesis 1-3. I mention just a few, but I wonder this:

What questions has scientific study generated for you? What does it make you ask about the Bible? about theology? about human nature? about time and eschatology and eternity?

1. Many today either treat Genesis 1-2 as ancient myth and fable or it becomes the last turf to defend in the erosion of one’s belief in the Bible as God’s Word. This has led to the hermeneutics of Genesis 1, and many of us today think John Walton’s studies, the more popular being The Lost World of Genesis One, help us all think about Genesis 1 in more responsible ways. The same can be said of Pete Enns’ The Evolution of Adam. But Darwin led many to reaffirm central themes in Genesis 1-2 — God as creator in a special way, humans as special as an act of God (not just evolution) — and this too has generated a host of studies (intelligent design, creationism, theological studies).

2. If Darwin’s proposals led to serious rethinking, the same can be said of the Big Bang Theory. This has shifted how we think about time and origins and eschatology.

3. Scientific studies turn up theories and laws of science that lead many to ponder “Why these laws? What do these things tell us about life, meaning, purpose, and human nature?” Scientific discoveries broach theological ponderings, and a good example was last week’s post by RJS on why is the universe so unfathomably large.

4. Speaking of human nature, Darwin unleashed studies that have led to the Human Genome Project as well as to what it means to speak of a “soul” — if that is reasonable any longer.

5. Genesis 1-2, since Darwin, lead to questions about what it means to speak of gender, and here I think of DNA studies and the genetic pool necessary to make us who we are.

6. Darwin unleashed an increasing awareness of environment and eco-theology. Does our reading of Genesis 1-3 mean humans are superior to everything else in the cosmos, and if is so, can we survive together? Does Darwin tie us to the cosmos in ways we need to rethink — leading us to an eco-friendly theology?

7. Darwin forces us to think of death in a new way; evolutionary theory pushes against the classic doctrine of the Fall — not to say Adam and Eve.

These points are mostly spawned by Stephen C. Barton and David Wilkinson’s book, Reading Genesis after Darwin, a book I (SMcK) will use for a series of posts.