Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
What happens when the scholar who knows the most about ancient Near Eastern literary genre actually agrees with young-earth creationists about what the Bible teaches?
In this clip from my interview with Dr. Marcus Ross, we dig into one of the most common objections to a literal reading of Genesis: that young-earth Christians just don't understand the literary genre. What we find might surprise you.
Dr. Ross shares a remarkable moment from the symposium behind the book "Perspectives on the Historical Adam and Eve: Four Views." Kenton Sparks -- a liberal Old Testament scholar who reads Akkadian and Ugaritic -- gently but clearly pushed back on William Lane Craig's genre argument. Sparks doesn't hold to biblical inerrancy, yet he agrees with Ross that the Bible is presenting a historical Adam in a young-earth framework. He just doesn't believe the Bible is true.
The expert who knows the most about genre agrees with the expert who knows the most about the science. That's a remarkable convergence worth paying attention to.
Get the book: amazon.com/dp/1087764904?tag=bsar07-20
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 - The old-earth genre argument against young-earth Christians
0:44 - Introducing Dr. Marcus Ross and the book 1:25 - The unlikely person who destroys the genre argument
1:43 - What does "literary genre" really mean for Genesis?
2:18 - Bill Craig's genre critique
2:42 - Kenton Sparks: the OT scholar who reads Akkadian and Ugaritic
3:18 - Sparks reads Gilgamesh overnight and finds a global flood
4:02 - Sparks' gentle rebuttal to Craig on genre
4:35 - Who is Kenton Sparks on this panel?
5:16 - The surprising agreement: Sparks and Ross on what the Bible teaches
5:40 - "I believe the Bible's teaching what Ross says. I just don't believe the Bible." 6:40 - Strange bedfellows: Ross and Sparks at the colloquium
7:37 - Craig, Loke, and John Walton's differing approaches
8:18 - The key takeaway
What happens when the scholar who knows the most about ancient Near Eastern literary genre actually agrees with young-earth creationists about what the Bible teaches?
In this clip from my interview with Dr. Marcus Ross, we dig into one of the most common objections to a literal reading of Genesis: that young-earth Christians just don't understand the literary genre. What we find might surprise you.
Dr. Ross shares a remarkable moment from the symposium behind the book "Perspectives on the Historical Adam and Eve: Four Views." Kenton Sparks -- a liberal Old Testament scholar who reads Akkadian and Ugaritic -- gently but clearly pushed back on William Lane Craig's genre argument. Sparks doesn't hold to biblical inerrancy, yet he agrees with Ross that the Bible is presenting a historical Adam in a young-earth framework. He just doesn't believe the Bible is true.
The expert who knows the most about genre agrees with the expert who knows the most about the science. That's a remarkable convergence worth paying attention to.
Get the book: amazon.com/dp/1087764904?tag=bsar07-20
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 - The old-earth genre argument against young-earth Christians
0:44 - Introducing Dr. Marcus Ross and the book 1:25 - The unlikely person who destroys the genre argument
1:43 - What does "literary genre" really mean for Genesis?
2:18 - Bill Craig's genre critique
2:42 - Kenton Sparks: the OT scholar who reads Akkadian and Ugaritic
3:18 - Sparks reads Gilgamesh overnight and finds a global flood
4:02 - Sparks' gentle rebuttal to Craig on genre
4:35 - Who is Kenton Sparks on this panel?
5:16 - The surprising agreement: Sparks and Ross on what the Bible teaches
5:40 - "I believe the Bible's teaching what Ross says. I just don't believe the Bible." 6:40 - Strange bedfellows: Ross and Sparks at the colloquium
7:37 - Craig, Loke, and John Walton's differing approaches
8:18 - The key takeaway
