{"id":427,"date":"2011-10-20T07:36:46","date_gmt":"2011-10-20T11:36:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/peterenns\/?p=427"},"modified":"2011-10-21T12:27:18","modified_gmt":"2011-10-21T16:27:18","slug":"al-mohler-adam-evolution-and-npr-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/peterenns\/2011\/10\/al-mohler-adam-evolution-and-npr-final\/","title":{"rendered":"Al Mohler, Adam, Evolution, and NPR (final)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>Today, in my final post in this series, we will look at three more problematic assertions in Al Mohler\u2019s NPR interview.<\/p>\n

As I mentioned in my last post<\/a>, my responses are sketches, not complete\u2013although I do get in much more detail in The Evolution of Adam<\/a>. <\/em>My last post also supplies links to the audio and transcript of the NPR interview, along with a slightly edited version of the manuscript.<\/p>\n

3. Since evolution undermines the gospel, it should be rejected.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As I see it, this view lies behind much of Mohler\u2019s diatribe against evolution. The threat to the gospel story, as Mohler understands it, renders evolution out of bounds for Christian theology.<\/p>\n

We must also be ready to say plainly that evolution raises theological problems for the Christian faith\u2014and many competent and gifted people have been and continue to think through them.<\/p>\n

But the fact that evolution causes theological problems does not mean that evolution must be rejected. It means we have theological problems\u2013and we best get to work thinking\"\"<\/a> through them rather than retreat to the false comfort Mohler\u2019s literalism provides.<\/p>\n

Also, the assertion that evolution\u00a0undermines<\/em> the gospel is hardly ground many Christians are willing to concede. Mohler would need to avail himself of the reasoned positions (plural) that are out there. Until he does, his views will continue to remain isolated from broader discussions.<\/p>\n

In other words, the question of the compatibility of evolution and the gospel is a matter of deep thought and ongoing deliberation. It is hardly a done deal, as Mohler asserts.<\/p>\n

4. As goes Adam, so goes the resurrection.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mohler made a persistent point in the NPR interview: if we allow science to tell us that Adam cannot be a real person, we are only a stone\u2019s thrown away from letting science tell us that the resurrection of Christ isn\u2019t real.<\/p>\n

Although Mohler explicitly denies in the interview appealing to the \u201cslippery slope\u201d argument, here it is as plain as day.<\/p>\n

Mohler is wrong for two reasons.<\/p>\n

First, science cannot tell us one way or the other about the resurrection or any other miracle: miracles leave no scientifically verifiable evidence. Miracles can only be accepted by faith, not determined by the kinds of evidence relevant to the sciences.<\/p>\n

The question of how humans came to be is entirely open to scientific investigation. The\"\"<\/a> resurrection is not. Science cannot verify\u00a0or<\/em> discount the resurrection or any other miracle.\u00a0There is no slippery slope because the questions are not on the same plane.<\/p>\n

\n

Second, Mohler does not seem to see that Scripture is made up of different\u00a0types<\/em> of literature (genres) written at widely diverging times and for widely diverging reasons.<\/p>\n

Genesis and the Gospels are widely different genres of literature\u2014differing in\u00a0time, place, language, historical context, and purpose.<\/p>\n

That is why making a judgment on the historicity of Adam in book of Genesis has no bearing whatsoever on the historicity of what happens in any other portion of the Bible, least of all in the gospels.<\/p>\n

Failing to make that distinction will result in fundamental errors in understanding.<\/p>\n

5. Genesis tells us not simply\u00a0who<\/em> created, but\u00a0how<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I agree with Mohler here (and disagree with Harlow). I think Genesis tells us not simply that God <\/em>created the cosmos, but\u00a0how<\/em> God created.<\/p>\n

What Mohler misses, however, is that Genesis answers the \u201chow\u201d question\u00a0\u00a0from an ancient point of view<\/em>\u2013and that makes all the difference. That is why we should not expect Genesis\u2013as Mohler does\u2013to answer the question of origins in modern scientific categories.<\/p>\n

Curiously, Mohler does not seem to accept the historically orthodox notion that God accommodates to\u00a0creaturely\u00a0categories when he speaks: he speaks the way people at the time <\/em>understand.<\/p>\n

Accommodation is a very old idea in Christian discussions about how God speaks in the Bible. We see it, for example, in John Calvin in the 16th<\/sup> century. Calvin said that God speaks to humans as a father would speak to his children\u2013in ways they can understand.<\/p>\n

Calvin, as Augustine before him (4th century), had little patience with those who asked the Bible to do things it was never designed to do.<\/p>\n

The issue of God accommodating is so commonly discussed and widely accepted, I do not see how Mohler (with a Ph.D. in historical theology, no less) can credibly ignore it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The\u00a0how<\/em> of creation in the ancient view expressed in Genesis<\/em> does not determine the answers to origins Christians can accept today on the basis of scientific investigation<\/em>.<\/p>\n

To say this is not to place science \u201cover\u201d the Bible. That is Mohler\u2019s rhetoric, and it should be ignored, for it assumes that the ancient text of Genesis is prepared to answer questions Mohler asks of it.<\/p>\n

Christians who accept evolution are not \u201cplacing science over the Bible.\u201d They are allowing the distinct voices of both to speak to us, confessing by faith that God is behind them both.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today, in my final post in this series, we will look at three more problematic assertions in Al Mohler\u2019s NPR interview. As I mentioned in my last post, my responses are sketches, not complete\u2013although I do get in much more detail in The Evolution of Adam. My last post also supplies links to the audio […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,3,4,6,8,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adam","category-al-mohler","category-evolution","category-fundamentalism","category-literaliam","category-science-and-faith"],"yoast_head":"\nAl Mohler, Adam, Evolution, and NPR (final)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Today, in my final post in this series, we will look at three more problematic assertions in Al Mohler's NPR interview. 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