Systematic Theology, by Louis Berkhof - New Leaven

een proved but rather discredited. Agassiz propounded the theory of the Coadamites,
which assumes that there were different centers of creation. As early as 1655 Peyrerius
developed the theory of the Preadamites, which proceeds on the assumption that there
were men before Adam was created. This theory was revived by Winchell, who did not
deny the unity of the race, but regarded Adam as the first ancestor of the Jews rather
than as the head of the human race. And in recent years Fleming, without being
dogmatic in the matter, says that there are reasons to assume that there were inferior
races of man preceding the appearance of Adam on the scene about 5500 B.C. While
inferior to the Adamites, they already had powers distinct from those of the animals.
The later Adamic man was endowed with greater and nobler powers and probably
destined to bring the whole of the other existing humanity into allegiance to the Creator.
He failed to preserve his own allegiance to God, and therefore God provided for the
coming of a descendant who was human and yet far more than man, in order that He
might accomplish what the Adamic man failed to do. The view which Fleming has been
led to hold is “that the unquestionably Caucasian branch is alone the derivation by
normal generation from the Adamic race, namely, from the God-worshipping members
of the Adamic race which survived the flood — Noah and his sons and daughters.” 8 But
these theories, one and all, find no support in Scripture, and are contrary to Acts 17:26
and to all that the Bible teaches concerning the apostasy and deliverance of man.
Moreover, science presents several arguments in favor of the unity of the human race,
such as:
a. The argument from history. The traditions of the race of men point decisively to a
common origin and ancestry in Central Asia. The history of the migrations of man tends
to show that there has been a distribution from a single center.
b. The argument from philology. The study of the languages of mankind indicates a
common origin. The Indo-Germanic languages are traced to a common primitive
tongue, an old remnant of which still exists in the Sanskrit language. Moreover, there is
evidence which goes to show that the old Egyptian is the connecting link between the
Indo-European and the Semitic tongue.
c. The argument from psychology. The soul is the most important part of the
constitutional nature of man, and psychology clearly reveals the fact that the souls of all
men, to whatever tribes or nations they may belong, are essentially the same. They have
in common the same animal appetites, instincts, and passions, the same tendencies and
8 Cf. The Origin of Mankind, Chaps. VI and VII.
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