The End of Adam and Eve

Book excerpt: Good theology takes the newest science seriously. In this book, new findings about human origins, like interbreeding with Neandertals and the re-dating of the first tools and cave art, are brought together with a Christian theological vision of humanity created through evolution for unity and completion in Christ. Opening chapters presents the latest scientific research. In clear and accessible writing, key findings from major science journals are turned into a story that begins seven million years when our lineage separated from the line that leads to chimpanzees. Since then, we have changed slowly but dramatically. Surprising new discoveries about Homo naledi and the Denisovans are all interpreted within the larger context of the emerging scientific consensus about the complex origins of our humanity. We have taken on many forms, spreading out across the Old World, then sometimes reconnecting in ways that move evolution along. As we change, we create simple stone tools, refine them slowly, and finally begin to create art and culture.Chapter 8 looks at some of the ways in which science and theology were both misused in the past to support racism and domination. Chapters 9 and 10 provide the culminating theological vision of the book. Chapter 9 asks how we can evolve in the image of God. Eight different approaches to the meaning of ?image of God? are offered, and the book suggests a new way to think about this key theme in light of the science of human origins. Static views of humanity are set aside, and it is argued that for humanity to be in the image of God is for us to be moving toward the fullness of our destiny in Christ. This is developed in two ways Chapter 10. First, Christ completes our humanity, bringing to finality what God has patiently created. Second, Christ makes us all one. In Christ, God is making humanity one by uniting all our past forms, all our present diversity, and all our future possibilities into one redeemed humanity. By drawing on the latest science, this book offers a traditional and yet contemporary Christian view of humanity.