THE QUEST FOR THE HISTORICAL ADAM
Genesis, Hermeneutics, and Human Origins
By William VanDoodewaard
Reformation Heritage Books. 345 pages. £19.81
ISBN 978 1 601 783 776
Playing on the title of Albert Schweitzer’s The Quest of the Historical Jesus, William VanDoodewaard has presented the modern church with a similar quest, this time for the historical Adam. However, VanDoodewaard presents more than simply an overview of Adam’s existence throughout church history. As the subtitle reveals, the issue of Adam’s existence is situated within the wider framework of Genesis and hermeneutics.
Chapter 1 outlines the key biblical texts that refer to Adam in both Old and New Testaments. Chapters 2 – 6 then cover the patristic and medieval quest for Adam (2), Adam in the Reformation and Post-Reformation eras (3), Adam in the Enlightenment era (4), Adam in the 19th and early 20th centuries (5), and the quest for Adam from the 1950s to the present (6).
