Journal: Southern Baptist Journal of Theology
Volume: SBJT 26:2 (Summer 2022)
Article: A Misguided Quest For The Historical Adam: Implications For Our View Of Scripture
Author: Ardel B. Caneday

SBJT 26:2 (Summer 2022) p. 48

A Misguided Quest For The Historical Adam: Implications For Our View Of Scripture1

Ardel B. Caneday

Ardel B. Caneday is a Teaching Elder at Christ Bible Church, St. Paul, Minnesota, a Board Member and Writer for “Christ Over All” (www.christoverall.com), and an Adjunct Professor of New Testament and Greek at the University of Northwestern, St. Paul, Minnesota, where he taught for 31 years. He received his PhD in New Testament from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He has published numerous magazine articles and journal essays, co-authored The Race Set Before Us with Thomas Schreiner, and co-edited Four Views on the Historical Adam with Matthew Barrett. He is writing a commentary on the Gospel of John. He is married to Lois. They have two adult sons and six grandchildren. He maintains a blog, “All Things Christian” (www.abcaneday.com).

William Lane Craig, professor of philosophy at Houston Baptist University, who has written more than forty books, has added this large and dense volume to his repertoire. The book entails a venture beyond Craig’s usual range of topics. Here, the philosopher plunges into the depths to swim with scholars who specialize in Hebrew and cognate languages and with academics who work with Ancient Near East (ANE) texts, lore, and history. In the preface, Craig identifies his target readers. They are people “who are Christian philosophers, theologians, and other academics but who are neither Old Testament scholars nor scientists” (xi). Hence, it is strange to read that Craig characterizes his volume as “a popular-level book” (320, n. 52).

SBJT 26:2 (Summer 2022) p. 49

An Overview Of The Book

Craig divides his book into four disproportionate parts: Part 1—The Importance of the Historical Adam (28 pages); Part 2—Biblical Data Concerning the Historical Adam (207 pages); Part 3—Scientific Evidence and the Historical Adam (114 pages); and Part 4—Reflections on the Historical Adam (17 pages). Two factors confine my critical review to how the author deals with the Scriptures in his quest of the historical Adam: (1) the sheer size of the book (421 pp.), and (2) the request for me to review the book called for me to focus on Craig’s consideration of Genesis 1–11 and how he explains the apostolic testimony. Thus, I was told to ignore Part 3, the segment on science, because what truly matters is how he responds to Scripture.

The Significance Of Adam

Chapter 1—What is at Stake—constitutes the whole of Part 1. Here, Craig inquires whether any essential Christian beliefs would fall if it were proved that Adam was not a historical...