Adam, Eve, and the Genome: The Human Genome Project and Theology

Adam, Eve, and the Genome: The Human Genome Project and Theology. Edited by Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite. Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2003. xvi and 200 pages. Paper. $20.00.

This volume assembles informative articles addressing the basics of the human genome projects and pertinent theological opinions. Based on lectures and materials of the course "God, Adam, and Eve: Theology and Science in the Genome Age," this book "is an attempt to provide theological reflection on the human being by means of a dialogue with the newer advances in human genetics, the Human Genome Project" (p. xii). Beginning with a primer on the speckled history shared between religion and science, the first chapter provides the reader with a fundamental understanding of Mendelian and post-Mendelian genetics.

In chapters 2 and 3, theological issues are addressed. Chapters 4 and 5 discuss theological anthropology and the etiology behind the genome. Chapter 6 enters into the African-American perspective on the Human Genome Project and the American medical system's history of racism. The last two chapters by Thistlethwaite give the reader important points to ponder on determinism and freedom, dualism, grace, and community.

First structured as a course and then transcribed into a book, this is an excellent introductory text into the theological viewpoint of the Human Genome Project. Its clear and coherent writing makes it accessible to the pastor and lay leader, providing material for group study in the congregational setting.

Joe Gaston

Chicago, Illinois

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