Theologian NT Wright claims Adam and Eve were 'human-like creatures,' Jonah and the great fish a 'folk tale'

Famed New Testament scholar and Anglican bishop Tom “N.T.” Wright says he’s not sure whether some of the most famous figures in the Holy Bible actually existed.

In an April 5 episode of the “Ask NT Wright Anything” podcast, the 77-year-old Wright either deferred comment on or outright denied the historicity of four key figures in the Bible, including Adam. While it’s not the first time Wright has suggested a Bible character is fictional — he’s made similar arguments in the past — his latest comments elicited strong reactions on social media from fellow theologians and pastors over the relationship between literary interpretation, historical confidence and doctrinal implications.

Rather than dwell on their historicity, Wright cited limited external evidence for figures like Moses, Job and Jonah, and instead urged Christians to focus on the messages in their respective stories, such as Job's faithfulness in suffering, Jonah's call to enemy-love and mercy, Moses' humble leadership, and Adam’s unique role in God's redemptive plan.

Here’s what Wright said about four of the Bible’s best-known figures.

Page 2

Adam and Eve

Likely the most debated portion of the podcast concerns the biblical Adam and Eve, who Wright said were part of what he called "a very careful, layered ancient Middle Eastern story” in Genesis 1. 

Rejecting a literal 24-hour creation week, Wright said he is “inclined to see an original human pair” in the figures of Adam and Eve, referring to them as “hominids” and “humanlike creatures.”

“We might even call them proto-humans for many generations, perhaps for many thousands of years before the time we're now talking about,” he added, proposing instead that the Bible’s original couple was called, like the patriarch Abraham and his wife Sarah, for a “special purpose” to “bring the, at the moment, rather random and chaotic world under [God’s] saving sovereign stewardship.

“So that seems to me [to be] a way of saying that if there was an original Adam and Eve, that would be what it was all about,” Wright added.