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Book Review: What Happened in the Garden edited by Abner Chou
Written by the faculty of the Master’s College, the book takes a Bible-believing, conservative stand. What is at stake in the issue at hand is the reality of Adam and Eve as real people directly created by God, and their actual fall into sin that left humanity in need of a Messiah that would atone for all sin and restore creation back to its original state. The story of redemption from that time, through the Patriarchs and Israel to Jesus and the New Covenant community, and the awaited eschaton are explained by that need, unless the story of Adam and Eve is just a metaphor and not an actual event in history. Well, some Christian scholars are precisely asserting the latter and the Master’s College faculty take the task of defending the traditional view in a no less scholarly way.
With chapters on Hermeneutics and History, Genetics of Adam, A Map of Misreadings, Genesis 3 and Original Sin, Thermodynamics and the Fall, etc. there’s something for everyone. Nicely footnoted (and the footnotes are at the bottom of each page! Yay!), the authors are in conversation with liberal and conservative scholars on their respective topics.
A good resource to have on a foundational issue. Get this book, read it and share it with your church.
4/5 stars
Disclosure: The book was received for free from Kregel Academic & Ministry book review program. The program does not require a positive review, only a truthful one.
