JACKSON, Tenn. — June 14, 2012 — 51社区 academic leaders Jimmy Davis and Gregory A. Thornbury defended the belief in a historical Adam and Eve at a national conference on science and faith sponsored by the Council on Christian Colleges and Universities.
Held at Biola University in La Mirada, Calif., on June 7-8, the event, entitled the 鈥淕enesis Colloquium,鈥� featured presentations from four university teams on various topics related to science and the book of Genesis.
Davis, the Hammons Professor of Chemistry, focused on 鈥渕ethodological naturalism,鈥� a belief that assumes that natural explanations are the only requirement to explain everyday phenomena. The challenge, Davis said, comes when religions like Christianity introduce concepts such as the resurrection that naturalistic scientists can鈥檛 explain.
鈥淛ust because science has discovered something, let鈥檚 don鈥檛 say that gets rid of the essential beliefs of Christianity,鈥� Davis said.
Thornbury, dean of the School of Theology and Missions at Union, argued that everyone should be open to different interpretations about scientific evidence. He expressed skepticism at the insinuation from certain scientists that there can be only one possible reading of the book of nature.
鈥淚t cannot be the case that only theologians must be open to new interpretations and science cannot,鈥� Thornbury said.
He further argued that while Christian tradition is flexible on the earth鈥檚 age, there is no flexibility on the historicity of Genesis 1-11. Without a historical Adam, Thornbury said, the biblical witness begins to lose credibility.
Biola University physics professor John Bloom and Union president David S. Dockery joined Davis and Thornbury in the presentation, examining the questions of human origins and how they can be interpreted in light of both scientific explorations and the Christian confessional tradition.
A future edition of Union鈥檚 new journal, 鈥淩enewing Minds,鈥� will be devoted to the conversation about the importance of a historical Adam and Eve.