While Barr has addressed some of these issues elsewhere, biblical theologians will welcome this overview of the significance of Genesis 1–11. He argues that both death and sex were present before the events of Genesis 3. Immortality was available by partaking from the tree of life. Genesis does not explicitly teach original sin but it does show the progressive course of sin and violence in the world. It is the nature of a lecture series, which this volume is, to make broad and provocative statements. Nevertheless the proposed solutions to the controversies outlined here cannot find acceptance without careful exegesis of the relevant passages.

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