42 FEMINIST VIEWS THAT UNDERMINE SCRIPTURE
saying is that the component was (perhaps/possibly/probably) never
intended by the author to make a statement that is historical in
nature. In other words, the statement is a-historical or non-historical
but not “historically inaccurate”. (It is simply not possible to “deny
the historical accuracy” within any author’s words if the author never
intended their words to function as a historical statement.) To say
that a component within the creation narratives is literary and/or
time-displaced and as such is not intended to make a historical point
(a/non-historical) is not at all to say that this component is “histori-
cally inaccurate”!^17My conclusion after reading this is that Webb in his response to me is
stating even more strongly his belief that the narrative about Adam being
created before Eve is not historically accurate. He explains this by claim-
ing that the author never intended it to be representative of actual his-
tory, and therefore he does not want to say that it is historically
inaccurate (!); but in saying this Webb only reaffirms the fact that he
claims that Adam was not, in fact, created before Eve, but that this idea
was a literary device, inserted later. In this response paper Webb also
adds that he is “inclined to think the same about Adam being fashioned
from clumps of ground,” since other ancient near eastern creation sto-
ries had a similar theme, and modern science shows that human beings
are amazingly complex.^18 So here is another aspect of Genesis 2–3 that
Webb does not think is actual history containing events that actually
happened. (For a summary of the reasons why we must understand
Genesis 2 to be reporting actual historical facts, see Wayne Grudem,
Systematic Theology [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1994], 278-
279.) Several New Testament passages understand Genesis to be actual
historical fact all the way back to chapters 1–2: see Matthew 19:4-5;
Luke 3:38; Acts 17:26; Romans 5:12-21; 1 Corinthians 11:8-9; 2
Corinthians 11:3; 1 Timothy 2:13-14.
The denial of the authority or truthfulness of Genesis 1–3 is a sig-
nificant step on the path toward liberalism.
(^17) Webb, “Redemptive-Movement Hermeneutic: Responding to Grudem’s Concerns,” 11-13.
(^18) Ibid., 14.