Tim Stafford. The Adam Quest: Eleven Scientists Who Held On to a Strong Faith While Wrestling with the Mystery of Human Origins. Nashville: Nelson Books, 2013.
The Adam Quest profiles scientists who believe in
Christianity and have wrestled with such issues as the creation stories
in Genesis 1-2, the age of the earth, and the theory of evolution. It
features Young Earth creationists, Intelligent Design creationists who
believe that the earth is old yet maintain that evolution is inadequate
to explain life as it is, and Evolutionary creationists who hold that
God used evolution in creating life. The eleven scientists profiled in
this book include Kurt Wise, Todd Wood, Georgia Purdom, Michael Behe,
Fazale Rana, Mary Schweitzer, Darrel Falk, Ard Louis, Denis Alexander,
Simon Conway Morris, and John Polkinghorne. The book also provides some
background information about other key figures in discussions about
science and Christian faith: Berkley Law professor (emeritus) Phillip
Johnson, Francis Collins of the Human Genome Project, and old-earth
creationist Hugh Ross.
With the exception of Phillip Johnson, the thinkers featured in this
book are scientists, with degrees in science from reputable
universities. Some of them are quite renowned: I think of Mary
Schweitzer, who found remnants of red blood cells in the fossils of
dinosaurs. All of them are people of science and of Christian faith.
The book is about their scientific and academic journeys, and also their
faith journeys. Not only do these scientists seek to make sense of
their faith in light of their scientific insight and their scientific
insight in light of their faith, but they also search for a place to
belong. In a sense, they are outsiders. Some of the Young Earth
creationists in this book are dissatisfied with what prominent Young
Earth creationists have proclaimed in public; at least one of the
advocates of Intelligent Design disagrees with attempts to teach
Intelligent Design alongside evolution in public schools; and those who
disagree with a literal interpretation of Genesis 1 struggle to find an
accepting faith community. Some of them actually find a supportive
religious community in conservative congregations that disagree with
their stance on science and the interpretation of Genesis 1.
This book was an enjoyable and informative read for me, and I liked
getting to know these scientists as people. If there was one profile
that I liked the most, it was that of Young Earth creationist Kurt
Wise. I myself am not a Young Earth creationist, but I could identify
with Wise’s introversion and conversion to Christianity.
An issue that came up throughout the book—-in some way, shape, or
form—-was the God of the gaps: attempting to bolster belief in God’s
existence by appeal to things that science does not know (i.e., science
does not know how life began, so why not believe that God created
life?). Many of the scientists in this book distanced themselves from a
God-of-the-gaps approach. Even some of the Young Earth creationists
said that they preferred not to focus on poking holes in evolution, but
rather to come up with explanatory models for why things are as they
are. But it seemed to me that many of the scientists in the book could
not get away from a God-of-the-Gaps outlook, for they talked about the
inadequacies of science, as if they were looking to such inadequacies as
a reason to believe in God. There were some scientists who did not
take this approach, however: one said that the universe is beautiful,
even if complexity could have come about through natural means; another
wondered why organization coming through natural means would preclude
the existence of God.
One quote in the book that particularly resonated with me was of
scientist Ard Louis, on page 150: “The evolution-creation debate gets
tense because there is a fear of knocking down the foundations of
faith. This is the way creationists argue, that the whole thing will
collapse if you mess with your interpretation of Genesis. I don’t find
that so worrying. Charismatics find it easier to explore different
ideas. They take the Bible very seriously, but they know that God is
real.” I would bet that there are a number of charismatic Christians
who are Young Earth creationists, and yet I like the picture that Louis
is painting: why worry about new ideas, if you know from experience that
God is real?
I have two criticisms of the book. First of all, I wish that it had
more of a systematic assessment of the scientific claims that were being
propounded by the featured scientists. The book had some of that: a
Young Earth creationist initially believed that there were human tracks
inside of dinosaur tracks, yet later concluded that he was mistaken; a
scientist explains his or her disenchantment with Intelligent Design;
etc. But there were times when I was reading an idea that a scientist
in the book was explaining, and I was wondering: “Is there something to
this idea, or are there weaknesses to it?” The book would have been
better had it gotten more deeply into that. Second, I wish that the
book discussed biblical hermeneutics a bit more. It did feature
scientists who claimed that their interpretation of Genesis 1 was not
exactly literal, but I would have liked for the book to have had more
about people’s justifications of their interpretative approaches to the
Bible, especially if those approaches were non-literal. Tim Stafford in
the conclusion to the book mentioned developments within biblical
scholarship, but the book would have been better had it provided more
meat about this issue.
Overall, though, the book was a worthwhile read. Click here for Thomas Nelson’s page about this book.
Note: I received a complimentary review copy of this book through the Booksneeze.com
book review bloggers program. The program does not require for my
review to be positive, and my review reflects my honest reaction to the
book.