..................................................
The Image of God
and the Biology of Adam

A New Look at the Theology and Natural History
of our Beginnings

Richard E. Ecker, Ph.D.

..........With debate heating up over teaching
the theory of evolution in public schools...with rising contention over the use of embryonic stem cells in medical research...with continuing conflict over the ethics of abortion, the likelihood of continuing discord among the passionately committed at both ends of the ideological spectrum has never been greater. Many of us, however, find little appeal in these far-end ideologies and find the prospect of perpetual discord particularly distasteful. We empathize totally with the dying words of Romeo's friend Mercutio, whose life had been sacrificed to the intransigence of two feuding families, "A plague on both your houses!"
..........This conflict becomes all the more confounding to casual observers as it becomes more apparent that many of the logical, biological and theological foundations of these opposing ideologies have little basis in reality. That is, they are fighting passionately over issues that they cannot even properly define...or they so limit their definitions that there is no way that their arguments can ever fit into an overall world view that makes any sense. The fact is, unless you can develop a model of beginnings that offers a consistent, integrated picture of all related issues, no single one of those issues can be debated with any hope of resolution.
..........The following discussion offers a proposal for an integrated model of beginnings. It was written as my response to all the public wrangling over issues of evolution, abortion and stem-cell research. My perspective is one of a scientist who is also a Christian believer. My contention is that there is not, and cannot be, any conflict between biblical revelation and the revelations of scientific inquiry. My purpose is to provoke productive discourse. If you would like to join that discourse, I invite you to check out the model outlined in the adjoining table. Just click on the headings.
..........Thanks.

Prologue
Introducing a perspective on the interpretation of divine revelation in which both scripture and nature are identified as equally trustworthy resources for understanding the events of creation. Scripture provides the big picture. Nature fills in the details.

In the beginning...
A view of the ex nihilo (from nothing) creation of the universe--"The Big Bang"--as an event in which the blueprint of everything that was to come was designed into the quantum mechanical rules that govern the behavior of matter.

...and the earth.
How the earth and all that is in it emerged following these rules and ultimately produced the biological entity that would become, at the appropriate time, the crown jewel of creation...adam (humanity).

...in his own image...
A logical argument, based on paleoanthropological evidence, that the Image of God was first invested in humanity at a specific point in time about 50 thousand years ago.

Set Apart
Speculation concerning who became the original recipient of the Image of God, based on what the best evidence tells us about when and how that image is acquired by each new human individual today.

The Garden of Eden
Discussion of how the imposition of the Image of God on an already existent biological being impacts traditional biblical interpretations of the doctrine of sin.

Ethical Issues
How the proposal that human life in the Image of God begins when an embryo implants in the uterus of the mother influences the ethics of abortion and the ethics of research using pre-implantation human embryos.

Epilogue
Guidelines for future discourse, to the end that the interface between science and religion can be critically examined without trivializing one side or the other.

References