Genesis, and the origins of humanity.
When Did Sin Begin? : Human Evolution and the Doctrine of Original Sin, Calvin University physics professor Loren Haarsma surveys the current state of this debate, outlining the prevailing schools of thought among evangelicals without taking a particular side. Jay Johnson, a former journalist and frequent writer on topics of science and faith, reviewed the book. “Drawing from a dozen recent books on the subject,” writes Johnson, “Haarsma runs through the four main options: God selected Adam and Eve from an existing population to represent all of humanity. Since they represented everyone, the consequences of their failure immediately affected everyone. God selected Adam and Eve from an existing population to represent humanity, but after being expelled from the Garden, their sinfulness was spread to others by culture or genealogy. Adam and Eve aren’t literal individuals. Rather, Genesis 2–3 is a stylized retelling of many human events compressed into a single archetypal story. Although ...