Review: The Evolution of Adam

Ken Ham, Answers in Genesis: [Dr. Peter] Enns’s approach to Scripture is captured in his own words on page 7: “Now the one-two-three-punch of biblical criticism, biblical archaeology, and science demanded a fresh synthesis of new and old.” Note, that all three of these areas come under the heading of “historical science”—that is, man’s fallible attempts to interpret the past based on fallible assumptions.

So here is the book’s bottom line. Enns puts his trust in man’s fallible ideas and then totally reinterprets the Word of God (and ultimately distorts it). He wants to adopt the philosophies of the world instead of bowing his knee to a Holy, infinite, infallible God. Indeed, his is a low view of Scripture.

I will leave you with a challenge. There are Christian college and seminary professors who are enamored with academics like Dr. Enns with their new ideas attempting to fit man’s religion of evolution and millions of years into the Bible. In some respects, I think this view of scholarship is akin to Gnosticism. Gnostics believe they possess some special knowledge to share with the world. And despite all the great men and women of God in the past who have treated Genesis as straightforward, literal history, it wasn’t until this era that we now have new, special knowledge that will supposedly give us a correct understanding of the Word of God. In essence, this academic is telling us that his approach is the new way to understand God’s Word and what it means. Apart from using this novel approach to the Bible, argues Dr. Enns, you can’t discern what the Scriptures teach.

It appears we have a dire situation in the church today. There is a new “magisterium”—a group of theologians like Dr. Enns who want to tell us how and what to believe in regard to what God’s Word states in Genesis (and now Romans too).

Related: Was Jesus Wrong?