Robert Schneider wrote:
> I believe with Adrian that the Holy Spirit guides the Church, but I also
> think with Luther than "councils may err" as well as that human beings may
> err; and perhaps we are not always getting right what the Holy Spirit is
> "breathing" upon us. Cardinal Newman gave to the Catholic Church the gift
> of the nation that theology undergoes historical development. It is a good
> principle for any Christian tradition to adopt, and the doctrine of original
> sin, which has been interpreted in a variety of ways, in my view, certainly
> needs a good going over, especially as we come to understand better and
> better the evolution of homo sapiens and gain greater insight into the
> evolution of the psyche, and perhaps also, the moral sense.
I agree that the doctrine of original sin needs to be thought through
afresh in light of our knowledge of human evolution. But that is
something quite
separate from the traditional Pelagian or semi-Pelagian call to drop
or minimize
that doctrine.
The doctrine of original sin does not stand or fall with a literal
interpretation of Genesis 3. It
begins with the observation that everybody is a sinner and that this is a
condition that we simply aren't able to escape from on our own. We
then have to
asks how that can be so in view of the basic belief that human beings
are part of
God's good creation. The traditional Augustinian answer is to appeal
to Gen.3 by
way of Rom.5. It is that explanation of our being "in bondage to sin
and unable
to free ourselves" rather than the fact of sinfulness that evolution
challenges.
Again I point out that Paul speaks strongly & at length about the
universal problem of human sin in Rom.1:18-3:18 with no reference to Adam.
The real challenge presented by evolution is not so much to "original
sin" but to "original righteousness" - the idea that for some time the first
humans existed in a "state of integrity" in which they did _not_ sin.
Shalom,
George
George L. Murphy
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
"The Science-Theology Interface"
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Apr 25 2002 - 17:39:44 EDT