This is part 2 of our critique of Rachel Held Evans’ book titled Inspired. For Part 1 click here. Lord willing part 2 and 3 of our series will look at chapter 1 of the book which is on “Origin Stories.”
On page 9 Rachel Held Evans stated the following concerning the Bible’s origin story in the book of Genesis:
Origin stories are rarely straightforward history. Over the years, they morph into a colorful amalgam of truth and myth, nostalgia and cautionary tale, the shades of their significance brought out by the particular light of a particular moment.
Contrary to what many of us are told, Israel’s origin stories weren’t designed to answer scientific, twenty-first-century questions about the beginning of the universe or the biological evolution of human beings, but rather were meant to answer then-pressing, ancient questions about the nature of God and God’s relationship to creation. Even the story of Adam and Eve, found in Genesis 2 and 3, is thought by many scholars to be less a story about human origins and more a story about Israel’s origins, a symbolic representation of Israel’s pattern of habitation, disobedience, and exile, set in primeval time.
In her own words Rachel Held Evans sees the Bible’s origin story to be in the same league with other origin stories. And origin stories in her own words “are rarely straightforward history.” As she later explained this means that Genesis 2-3 is “less a story about human origins and more a story about Israel’s origins.” Evans therefore sees Genesis 2-3 as “a symbolic representation of Israel’s pattern.”
There’s so much to say with just these two paragraphs. Here’s my response:
The Domain for Truth 