Genetics Reveals the ‘Real Eden’

On Monday, The Australian published a short article entitled “Genetics reveals the ‘real Eden’”. It outlined the findings of an extensive genetic study that places the origins of humanity in a “sandy, inhospitable region hear the coastal border of Namibia and Angola.” – hardly the traditional picture of the Garden of Eden! It even gives the co-ordinates!!! The area is populated by the Bushmen or San people, who are likened to the “closest thing to a Biblical Adam and Eve.” There is more of course – all pretty fascinating stuff.

The study makes the assumption that the oldest populations would have the greatest genetic diversity and that this genetic diversity decreases as people move away from the origin. It sounds pretty cool… I’m constantly amazed at how clever people are in their ways to try to find things out. The other day, I watched a show about some scientists that were teaching bees to recognise faces at various angles and then using the findings of the research to inform better design in computerised face-recognition technology. How do they come up with these ideas? There are some clever people out there.

But, I digress…

The article, while not applying its findings to anything about Biblical origin claims, got me thinking about the relationship between the Creation account in Genesis and scientific study into human and cosmic origins. I know that there are Christians who strongly link Genesis 1 to scientific theories on origins, but I’m not really sure that this is the most useful understanding of the Creation account or of the variety of ways that God might use to reveal Himself to people. I just don’t think that there is enough information on our origins in Genesis 1 for us to have really strong and clear opinions on what we find there. I think we need to keep an open mind on what kind of writing the passage is and what is in it that we can actually take away from it with any confidence.

Awhile ago, I did some study on Genesis 1 and found a body of information that suggested the Hebrews created their own Creation account after being in exile in Babylon and coming across other cultures that had a story about how the universe came about. They didn’t have one and thought they better get onto it, so they borrowed some of the ideas from the stories they had access to and put their own together. Their defining story hadn’t been a Creation account, but the story of how God had saved them from slavery in Egypt. Now, this view of the Creation account would be considered high level heresy for many, many Christian people, but there is a lot of linguistic and anthropological information to support it. But what if it is true? Should a discovery like this be a stumbling block to Christian faith for any person? I don’t think it should be, but of course it would be because of assumptions that people make about what God is like, how God does things, what the Bible is and how the Bible was put together.

The really interesting thing for me about the passage is the theology – what it says about God and the cosmos. No matter what interpretation people have on Genesis 1, there are some things that just about everyone who is into it, agrees upon - it says that God created everything; in an orderly fashion (an “intelligent design” ?); that people are special to Him; and that meaning in life can be found through having a vibrant relationship with Him, others and the world around them; and through a purposeful engagement in the various activities of life. I think that these are the important things Genesis 1 has to say to us – not whether the world was created in 6 x 24 hour days, no more than 10,000 years ago. God reveals Himself to us through His Word, the Bible, and through the world, if we are clever and open enough to see and take on the message. We need to let the Bible tell us its story, and the world to tell us its story – and try not to get the two mixed up. Having said that, I’m pretty interested to get onto Google Maps to look up 12.5E and 17.5S, just in case a glimpse of Eden is actually possible…

Shalom…