Venema and McKnight present a very interesting and relevant look at issues surrounding the human genome and the historical Adam. Separated in two parts, the first half firmly presents contemporary scientific discoveries directly addressing and from the perspective of a Christian believer. The second part is an overview to the interpretation of Adam (historical, literary, and biological). The clencher for me in wanting to read the book was seeing that Tremper Longman wrote the foreword. 

As a fan of Michael Behe’s argument, I found the first part of “Adam and the Genome” highly convincing and well argued. As I read, I felt as if the author was directly writing to me. Not that he addressed every concern that I might have, but that each point was presented fairly and with easily accessible language with a force and purpose to each chapter. I found the first four chapters of the book to be concise and very well-written. It is very persuading and very respectful of those who might feel as if they are courting apostasy just by being intrigued by the topic.

Being a systematics guy, I expected to more fully appreciate the second part of the book. The author of those chapters presents the different approaches to traditional Jewish and Christian views of Adam. Since much of the significance of evolution and Christian theism boils down to the question of how the Apostle Paul viewed Adam (as historical, as moral figure, etc.), a large portion of these chapters concentrates on how Adam is interpreted in earlier texts and cultures. As I read this section, I felt as if the author was baiting me on, not really willing to commit to answering the big question of the historical Adam. Ultimately, I was disappointed and the conclusion was almost anti-climactic. I felt too much time was spent on ancient near-eastern and apocryphal texts. If the target audience is conservative evangelicals, the focus on a literary interpretation is likely not the way to their heart.

In all, I found the book to be worthwhile. As is apparent, I thoroughly enjoyed the explanations of biology and paleontology. There were many little arguments sitting below the surface in my mind as I read and it was almost as if the author anticipated and responded to those nuggets as they bubbled to the surface.

I would also recommend “Adam, the Fall, and Original Sin: Theological, Biblical, and Scientific Perspectives” by Michael Reeves. I found the theological presentation more satisfying in Reeves’ presentation.

My hopes for this book exceeded what was presented. I expected more from genetic science than the very basic information presented. I supposed the authors think Christians know nothing about genetics, because that is how they treated the matter.  The book is really more about how we should view Genesis 1-11 in view of modern science. Findings of the human genome project are taken into account in the author's argument of a theistic evolutionary approach. The writers incorporate too much from apocryphal works for their conclusions to be accepted by many Evangelicals. They spend a lot of time discussing the literary Adam, the historical Adam, and the genealogical Adam. Ultimately they were not very convincing in their arguments. While I received an Advance Review Copy from the publisher through NetGalley, I forgot I had pre-ordered a copy. I compared both and am basing the review on the completed copy.