“In this honest, insightful, informative, and provocative book, Enns offers readers an innovative way of reconciling their faith with evolu- tionary theory. In the course of fleshing out his argument, he provides readers with accessible introductions to the historical-critical approach to Scripture as well as to the cultural and literary backgrounds of the Bible’s creation stories and of Paul’s reflections on Adam. Whether one ends up agreeing with Enns or not, all readers will benefit enor- mously from reading this book. I heartily recommend The Evolution of Adam!” —Greg Boyd, author of The Myth of a Christian Nation, The Jesus Legend (with Paul Eddy), and Letters from a Skeptic “For far too long, evangelical Christians have dodged the implications of modern biology for our understanding of the Bible and theology. Foremost, we have failed to face the unassailable fact that death, rather than being the historical consequence of Adam’s sin, was a part of the natural cycle that created our human forebears. What shall we do with Genesis and Paul in light of these facts? Enns blazes a trail that engaged Christians can follow.” —Kenton L. Sparks, Eastern University “The evolution of humans from other organisms has always presented serious problems for conservative Christians, and the most serious problems have centered on the historicity of Adam. In this splendid book, Peter Enns confronts these problems with remarkable clarity and courage, offering a solution that is both biblically and scientifi- cally informed.” —Edward B. Davis, Messiah College “In this book, Peter Enns deals with one of the most challenging issues facing Christians today—the historicity of Adam. Was there really a man named ‘Adam’ from whom all men and women descend? How are we to understand the story of Adam? More importantly, how are we to understand Paul’s theological use of Adam? Enns is well-equipped to deal with these volatile issues, holding a PhD from Harvard Uni- versity in Old Testament studies and having taught for twenty years at various evangelical seminaries and colleges. With grace and incisive scholarship he offers a provocative thesis that will certainly interest and challenge the evangelical church. From my perspective, Enns fulfills Jesus’s commandment that we ‘love the Lord our God with all our mind’ (Matt. 22:37), and he does so fearlessly and faithfully.” —Denis O. Lamoureux, St. Joseph’s College, University of Alberta _Enns_Evolution_LC_bb.indd 1 11/1/11 12:48 PM _Enns_Evolution_LC_bb.indd 2 11/1/11 12:48 PM The e voluTion A dA m of WhAT The BiBle does And doesn’T sAy ABouT humAn origins PeTer enns S _Enns_Evolution_LC_bb.indd 3 11/1/11 12:48 PM These websites are hyperlinked. For my teachers who influenced me most www.bakerpublishinggroup.com BKW www.bakeracademic.com TLIII RBG www.brazospress.com JDL www.chosenbooks.com and JLK www.revellbooks.com And to many others, for your encouragement www.bethanyhouse.com John 8:32 © 2012 by Peter Enns Published by Brazos Press a division of Baker Publishing Group P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516–6287 www.brazospress.com Printed in the United States of America All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotation in printed reviews. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Enns, Peter, 1961– The evolution of Adam : what the Bible does and doesn’t say about human ori- gins / Peter Enns. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and indexes. ISBN 978-1-58743-315-3 (pbk.) 1. Theological anthropology—Biblical teaching. 2. Bible. O.T. Genesis—Criti- cism, interpretation, etc. 3. Bible. O.T.—Criticism, interpretation, etc. 4. Bible. N.T. Epistles of Paul—Theology. I. Title. BS661.E56 2012 233.11—dc23 2011030887 Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Ver- sion of the Bible, copyright © 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations labeled NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 _Enns_Evolution_LC_bb.indd 4 11/1/11 12:48 PM Contents Acknowledgments vii Introduction ix Why This Book? • “Science and Faith” or “Evolution and Christianity”? • Overview of the Book Part One: Genesis: An Ancient Story of Israelite Self-Definition 1. Genesis and the Challenges of the Nineteenth Century: Science, Biblical Criticism, and Biblical Archaeology 3 2. When Was Genesis Written? 9 The Problem of the Pentateuch • Two Early Examples • God Has Two Names • Wellhausen and a Postexilic Pentateuch • The Old Testament, the Exile, and Israel’s Self-Definition • The Creation Story and the Church’s Self-Definition 3. Stories of Origins from Israel’s Neighbors 35 Genre Calibration • Genesis 1 and Enuma Elish • Genesis 1 and Monolatry • The Flood, Gilgamesh, and Atrahasis • Israel’s Second Creation Story • Adam and Atrahasis • Reorienting Expectations of Genesis and Human Origins 4. Israel and Primordial Time 61 Israel and the Cosmic Battle • Adam and Israel • Creation and Sanctuary • The Gospel and Primordial Time v _Enns_Evolution_LC_bb.indd 5 11/1/11 12:48 PM vi Contents Part Two: Understanding Paul’s Adam 5. Paul’s Adam and the Old Testament 79 Doesn’t Paul Settle the Matter? • Not Paul’s Adam • Adam and Wisdom 6. Paul as an Ancient Interpreter of the Old Testament 93 Paul as an Ancient Man • Interpreting the Bible after the Exile • Various Adams of Jewish Interpreters • Paul and His Bible • Paul and His Interpreted Bible 7. Paul’s Adam 119 Paul’s Adam: The Historical First Man, Responsible for Universal Sin and Death • Sin and Death without Adam? • The One People of God • The Solution Reveals the Plight Conclusion: Adam Today: Nine Theses 137 Notes 149 Bibliography 162 Subject Index 167 Scripture Index 169 _Enns_Evolution_LC_bb.indd 6 11/1/11 12:48 PM Acknowledgments I am thankful for the many who have given freely of their time to read through the manuscript at its early stages and make nu- merous and insightful comments: Steve Bohannon, Justin Dom- browski, Brad Gregory, Rob Kashow, Daniel Kirk, Nathan Mastnjak, David Vinson, and Brandon Withrow. Others read the manuscript but asked that their names not be included here, and I understand and support that decision. I have benefited greatly from all of their comments; yet, as is always the case, the final product remains entirely my own and does not necessarily reflect their own views. I would like to thank Rob Kashow and Steve Bohannon in particular for tracking down various sources for me. Rob Kashow also proofread the final version and compiled the Scripture index. Steve Bohannon compiled the always-tricky subject index. I am deeply grateful to both for their extra work. Many others were involved in this project, albeit indirectly. I have had many conversations over the years with scientists of un- compromising Christian faith who have either struggled mightily with how their faith and scientific work can coexist or have given up the synthetic work and grown content to trade their time be- tween parallel universes of faith and science. I also have before my mind’s eye those Christians who are looking for constructive ways forward in the ever-present challenge of being thinking Christians in a modern world. Promptings from these communities have led me to write this book. vii _Enns_Evolution_LC_bb.indd 7 3/5/12 7:47 AM viii Acknowledgments Further, I continue to be thankful to God for the intellectual and spiritual influences that have crossed my humble path. My seminary and doctoral work helped clarify for me the types of questions the Bible is prepared to answer. My spiritual guides—pastors, friends, cowork- ers—have helped me remember why we ask those questions at all. I trust that this book will honor them all, some of blessed memory. Finally, my wife, Sue, and now-grown children, Erich, Elizabeth, and Sophie, have shown great strength over some difficult years, and I am proud of them. Each is also gifted with a highly calibrated nonsense meter, which seems to be turned on any time I become enamored of the sound of my own words. They’ve kept it real. _Enns_Evolution_LC_bb.indd 8 11/1/11 12:48 PM Introduction Why This Book? Evolutionary theory has been around for generations, but in recent years two factors are bringing the issue back into the public eye. The first is the relentless, articulate, and popular attacks on Christianity by the New Atheists. Jerry Coyne, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, and others have aggressively promoted evolution and argued that evolu- tion has destroyed the possibility of religious faith, especially a faith like Christianity, whose sacred writings contain the story of Adam, the first man created out of dust several thousand years ago. The second factor has been well-publicized advances in our understand- ing of evolution, particularly genetics. The Human Genome Project, completed in 2003, has shown beyond any reasonable scientific doubt that humans and primates share common ancestry. Evolution has crept back into the popular consciousness and has be- come a pressing issue for many Christians because evolution is typically understood to challenge, if not simply undermine, the story of origins presented in the Bible. Here my goal is not to arrive at final solutions, and it is certainly not to cover the many vital, complex, interwoven issues that evolution has brought to the theological table.1 My goal is to focus solely on how the Bible fits into all of this. The biblical authors tell a very different story of human origins than does science. For many Christians, the question that quickly surfaces is how to accept evolution and also value Scripture as God’s Word. ix _Enns_Evolution_LC_bb.indd 9 11/1/11 12:48 PM