Not long after my previous post on taking biblical characters as historical or literal, James McGrath posted a link (via Facebook) to a BioLogos article by Tremper Longman on the question of whether or not there was a historical Adam. I plan to read Longman's thoughts and watch the video later today. But in the meantime, John Byron on his new to me blog The Biblical World interacted with the question. I agree with him that "The Bible was not written as a science and history book."
So, it's a hot topic - did all the people mentioned in the Bible really exist?
"I agree with him that "The Bible was not written as a science and history book." I am completely in agreement with that. There's a really fascinating debate that I thought would be of interest on evolution vs. intelligent design going on at http://www.intelligentdesignfacts.com
ReplyDeleteI, too, agree that the bible was not written as a science or history book. The question of the historicity of individuals in scripture, particularly in the OT and as with any record of persons and events, needs to be evaluated for each person/group individually. I don't have trouble believing in a historical Adam and Eve anymore than I don't have trouble believing in a historical Job or Jonah, but I am open to the possibility that they were not historical persons (I'd have more trouble denying the existence of A & E than Job or Jonah).
ReplyDeleteJason, so far Job and Jonah and maybe Esther are the extent of characters that could well be entirely fictional with no real impact on the veracity of Scripture (in my mind anyway). But I'm not really denying their existence so much as focusing on the fact that their biblical existence seems to be primarily parable-like.
ReplyDeleteDoug: True, as with the parables in the gospels. And, you make an important distinction between their existence and their existence as function within a narrative, one I failed to make in my comment.
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