…they question whether Adam and Eve actually existed, whether there was a literal Fall, and whether we need to reinterpret the doctrine of original sin as presented in the Reformed confessions.

Two religion professors at the Christian Reformed church’s official college are asking hard questions about evolutionary science and Reformed theology.

Professors Daniel Harlow and John Schneider of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich., published scholarly articles asserting that strong evidence from both biblical studies and science creates conflicts with parts of the historic Reformed confessions and requires theological explanation.

In particular, they question whether Adam and Eve actually existed, whether there was a literal Fall, and whether we need to reinterpret the doctrine of original sin as presented in the Reformed confessions.

The papers were published in The American Scientific Affiliation’s journal Perspectives on Science & Christian Faith.

Harlow wrote that he was exploring from the perspective of mainstream biblical scholarship, which is that “Adam and Eve are strictly literary figures—characters in a divinely inspired story about the imagined past that intends to teach primarily theological, not historical, truths about God, creation, and humanity…”

Schneider wrote that the traditional understanding of the Fall does not fit with current science: “[T]he narrative of human evolution makes it very hard, if not impossible, to maintain [the position that human and demonic creatures are responsible for evil]…”

Harlow and Schneider were working under the authority of the college, according to Harlow: “I had circulated drafts of my articles to numerous faculty members [and] to our provost and academic deans. John Schneider had presented the bulk of his paper as part of a sabbatical proposal that was approved by our top governance committees in October of 2009 and later ratified by our board of trustees.”

Read More (including a long line of comments):
http://www.thebanner.org/news/article/?id=3032