Glenn wrote:
"Burgy, a question. Genesis 3 gives one of the results of the sin as
being
pain in childbirth. In modern humans this pain is caused in large
measure
by the large brain size of the infant passing through the birth canal.
The
earliest hominid with a human pattern of brain maturation and birth is
Homo
rudolfensis dated at 2.4 million years ago. Given the early existence of
this trait given by the Bible as a punishment for sin, how do you deal
with
a late Adam? Do you think that the curse was in existence prior to the
fall? Do you think that the curses didn't happen?"
Glenn, I am certainly no theologian, so take what I write here with a
large dose of skepticism. My question in this exchange is this -- was the
creature you identify above as Homo rudolfensis, who lived 2.4 MY ago in
the image of God, Imago Dei, or was he not? Put another way -- do I have
some reasonable expectation, as a Christian, of meeting him/her in a
future existence -- or not?
Based on my study of your book, I conclude the answer, with a high
reasonability, must be affirmative to both questions.
With that as background, how do I answer your question? Firstly, I
identify "Adam" not as a single individual, but as a general word for
humanity. In this identification, I am not making the strong claim "this
is so," but the weaker claim, or observation, that such an interpretation
seems most reasonable to me at this time.
Yet Fischer's thesis has its own appeal, and if "Adam" is to be a single
individual, then Dick's idea that he was selected from others of his
species at one point in history makes some sense. And I cannot rule this
possibility out.
Does it follow, then, given Dick's thesis true, that others on earth at
the time of the single individual "Adam" were not Imago Dei? I think not.
About your "curse" question. I see it as God speaking, not to specific
individuals, but to the whole Imago Dei population. And the curse was a
process, not an event, a process which came about over 1,000,000s of
years.
Obviously, I also have to accept whole Eden story as "a truth told inside
a mythical story" to make my position consistent. I have no trouble with
this; I understand that many people do. That difference of opinion does
not make me "superior" in some way, nor "inferior," just different.
Some years ago I read a book titled (this is a 68 year old memory
writing) THE BREAKDOWN OF THE BICAMERAL MIND by some professor at an
eastern university, I think Princeton or Yale. His thesis was that
"awareness" was a fairly late development in our species, and I might
equate that "awareness" with the time when we actually took on "Imago
Dei." He placed that awareness pretty late in time -- perhaps in the last
5000 years or so. Sorry, I can remember no more. But picking up on his
idea, perhaps Homo rudolfensis was NOT Imago Dei, but the attributes
which would make him (us) so were in the process of development. AT some
point then, the development culminated in people who were Imago Dei, and
perhaps in a literal Adam.
Much like the birth of a baby. The implantation process takes some time
-- perhaps an hour or so between the first penetration of the egg by the
male sperm, and the resultant zygote which still has to undergo a number
of cell splits and womb affixation before attaining to the category
"fetus." At what point is there a "person" there? ALl we really know,
even in this often repeated process, a process which has been thoroughly
studied, is that at one point (before intercourse) there is no person and
at another point (infant delivery) there is a person. All arguments of
personhood between those two points is based more on emotions and
conjectures than on anything measurable. I suspect the question of when
Imago Dei appeared is even tougher!
All this probably confuses the issue; sorry about that.
Burgy
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Mar 02 2000 - 18:21:20 EST