The theologically liberal-leaning publication Christianity Today recently published its book awards for the year 2022. These are books they believe are “most likely to shape evangelical life, thought, and culture” next year. Well, the book that won the “Award of Merit” under the category “Apologetics & Evangelism” is one that several of our AiG staff members have read—and certainly wouldn’t recommend!
Christianity Today hails this book as a “bold, rigorous, original work at the intersection of faith and science” and a “breath of fresh air” to those “who wonder whether contemporary science, including evolutionary science, is compatible with the Christian faith.” What is this book? It’s In Quest of the Historical Adam: A Biblical and Scientific Exploration by Dr. William Lane Craig.
It’s sad, but not surprising, that Christianity Today gives an award to a book that undermines the authority of the Word of God. Indeed, Craig refers to Genesis as “mytho-history,” and in video interviews about his book, he even comes across as mocking the Genesis account of the creation of Adam and Eve and the fall if one takes the account as literal history.
The Christianity Today write-up of the book claims,
But [Craig’s] project is not revisionary. Rather, he is seeking, with intellectual humility, boldness, and rigor, to walk the path of reason in the search of truth.
Well, Craig certainly “walks the path of reason.” He puts finite man’s word (fallible human reason) and academic pride in authority over the Word of God as he revises the Bible in light of man’s ideas. This really has become a plague in Christian academia and much of church leadership!
But is Craig really in “search of truth”? No, because he rejects the plain reading of the Word of the One who is Truth and exalts the fallible word of man. His rejection of the historical account of Genesis is because he is desperately trying to fit man’s evolutionary beliefs, which are based in autonomous fallen reason, into God’s Word. It’s a compromise of the infallible Word.
Real “intellectual humility” (the words of the CT writer) calls us to humbly accept that God knows more than we do and that he can be trusted in everything, including giving us an accurate account of history. “Boldness” compels us to reject the allure of man’s praise, believe God, and take him at his Word. And “rigor” calls us to be faithful to the genre of Genesis (which is clearly historical narrative—not “mytho-history”) and rigorously study the Word of God, not take ideas from outside Scripture and twist Scripture to fit them in.
