Debates about Dust, DNA, and Death

Given the release of the controversial volume by Ronald E. Osborne, Death Before the Fall: Biblical Literalism and the Problem of Animal Suffering (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2014), I’ve been reading up on a bit of Genesis 1 stuff. Along the way I found this provocative quote from Jack Collins:

“Each of us is, ultimately, ‘formed of dust,’ even if the dust has gone through a few intermediate (genetic) steps.” Cited from C. John Collins, “A Historical Adam: Old-Earth Creation View,” in Four Views on the Historical Adam, eds. M. Barrett and A.B. Caneday (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2013), 170.

Do you think that such a statement by Jack Collins provides an explanation that is both biblical and yet open to an evolutionary account of human origins?

FYI, I have to say that Barrett’s and Caneday’s volume Four Views on the Historical Adam is a very good read!