_
Genetic ghosts. Forgotten histories. The illusion of race. The science of ancestry is interesting, meaningful, and non-intuitive. For most of human history ancestry has been shrouded in mystery and used as a divisive cultural weapon. With recent advances in genetic and genomic research, we are poised to enter a new era of understanding and common ground. The Genealogical Adam and Eve is written in five movements: Fracture, Ancestor, Human, Mystery, and Crossroads.
1 / 5
I grew up in a fractured world - cracked in two. Science and faith were mutually exclusive. My belief in the good news of the Bible and my belief in science could not both be true descriptions of human origins. People on both sides seemed solidly entrenched and happy to live with the rift - there was no common ground.
Two years ago, that started to change for me when I started to think critically about both beliefs and learn from people who were working to repair the fracture. Our origin story was broken apart by our own divisions, but the pieces of the story are still there, waiting to be repaired by people who are looking for common ground.
2 / 5
One of the most interesting revelations in The Genealogical Adam and Eve is between genealogical ancestors and genetic ancestors. Genealogy is a human construction - formed by tracing family ties that often do not transfer any genetic data. Marriage, adoption, surrogacy - all of these and more shape our family tree but not our genetic makeup.
Additionally, our genetic makeup does not include information from all of our ancestors. In fact most of our ancestors leave us no genes at all - they are genetic ghosts in our past - untraceable.
This image shows the relationship between the two in the individual’s family tree. Their genetic ancestors leave traces of themselves, but the genetic ghosts fill in the negative space.
3 / 5
Racism is an unnatural rift in the fabric of human relationships, torn by violence. This is the third image responding to the book, The Genealogical Adam and Eve, which invites a conversation about ancestry, race and kinship. It’s an exploration of what we share, not what separates us. Quote: “Rejecting the claims of both racist theology and racist science, we affirm that everyone ‘to the end of the earth’ is equally human, with the same worth and dignity.”