Re: [asa] Adam and the Fall

On the general topic of "Adam and the Fall," & Denis's views in particular, it may be helpful to call attention to the exchanges that are presently taking place on Steve Martin's blog, http://evanevodialogue.blogspot.com/2008/10/evolution-and-original-sin-series.html , in response to my "Roads to Paradise and Perdition" PSCF paper of a couple of years ago. Terry Gray, Denis and David Congdon are responding to my article (a summary of which is on the blog), & their responses are now up. My 2d order responses to them will be up shortly.

Apropos Denis's "No Adam, no Eve" position, I argue that there is no need to claim that there was a single couple from whom all present day humans are descended or who represented all humans, but that an historical origin of sin is a meaningful concept, though of secondary importance. Steve tells me that the 1st part of my response will be up Sunday.

Shalom
George
http://home.neo.rr.com/scitheologyglm
  ----- Original Message -----
  From: David Opderbeck
  To: Ian Johnston
  Cc: asa@calvin.edu
  Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 2008 10:43 AM
  Subject: Re: [asa] Adam and the Fall

  Ian, this has been an issue I've struggled with as well. I agree with you that Denis' work is excellent on many fronts. The notion of accommodation for which he argues isn't original with him, but it's becoming more prevalant even in some more conservative circles -- see, e.g., Daniel Harlow's article in the Winter 2008 Christian Scholar's Review (http://www.csreview.org/XXXVII2/harlow/)

  However, respectfully to Denis' position, I think he's too quick to dismiss any notion of a historical Adam. I'd commend to anyone to consider the alternatives proposed by Denis Alexander in his new book "Creation or Evolution: Do We Have to Choose" (some excerpts in a CiS talk here: http://www.asa3.org/ASA/meetings/edinburgh2007/papers/Edinburgh_Alexander_text.pdf) and in Daniel Harrell's new book "Nature's Witness: How Evolution Can Inspire Faith" and in Loren and Deb Haarsma's book "Origins: A Reformed Look at Creation, Design and Evolution."

  David W. Opderbeck
  Associate Professor of Law
  Seton Hall University Law School
  Gibbons Institute of Law, Science & Technology

  On Wed, Nov 12, 2008 at 10:32 AM, Ian Johnston <i-johnston@bethel.edu> wrote:

    The recent thread on Adam's Ancestors (David Livingstone's new book) has stimulated me to encourage more of us to grapple with Denis Lamoureux's scholarship (Evolutionary Creation, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2008, ISBN 9781556355813) as it bears on the biblical Adam.
    Denis (who has been a regular participant at ASA Annual Meetings for more than a decade, and an occasional contributor on this listserve) seems to me to have made significant break-throughs in arguing against a strictly literalist reading of the first 11 chapters of Genesis. Many of us have been convinced that the science of the Bible represents ancient frames of reference, and therefore we would not expect the scriptures to make any significant contribution to current scientific notions about cosmology, geology or even biology. But ancient science also encompasses ancient explanations of human origins and extends to explanations of human mortality (especially in the context of biological death).

    Denis's careful scholarship brings him to the following conclusions (on p319 of Evolutionary Creation):

    The Historicity of Adam

    The Bible presents overwhelming evidence that the inspired writers understood the physical world from an ancient phenomenological perspective. In fact, there is not one verse that reveals a scientific truth prior to its discovery by modern science. Scripture features an ancient science of the structure, operation, and origin of nature. In particular, the de novo creation of humanity has profound implications for the traditional Christian belief in the historicity of Adam.

    First, Adam never actually existed. Genesis 1 and 2 present the de novo creation of the heavens, earth, plants, and animals. This is an ancient origins science with no correspondence to physical reality. Consistency within these first biblical chapters demands that this is also the case with the origin of humans. The quick and complete creation of Adam is identical to the de novo creation of the firmament-neither happened in history. Second, Adam never actually sinned. In fact, it is impossible for him to have sinned because he never existed. Consequently, sin did not enter the world on account of Adam. Third, Adam was never actually judged by God to suffer and die. Again, he lacks existence, and as a result the ability to sin, so he was never condemned for his transgression. Thus, suffering and death are not divine judgments upon Adam, every other human after him, and the entire creation. There never was a cosmic fall.

    The historicity of Adam is built on an ancient conception of origins. The traditional belief in an actual causal connection between his sin and the origin of physical death is false. Adam is an incidental vessel that delivers inerrant foundations of the Christian faith to remind us: we are created in the Image of God, we are sinful, and God judges us for our sins. Though Adam never existed, he is the prototype of the human spiritual condition. In order to understand our existence, we must see ourselves in him - Adam is you and me.

    I hesitate to quote these conclusions without comment on how Denis gets to them ... knowing that the biblical literalists in the Christian community will certainly find these ideas to be difficult to swallow and even inflammatory. But I am convinced that Denis has something substantive to say to us as we struggle to faithfully respond to God's revelations of himself through the book of God's word and the book of God's works.

    Ian Johnston
    --
    Ian S. Johnston, Ph.D.
    Professor of Biological Sciences
    College of Arts and Sciences
    Bethel University, St Paul, MN 55112

    To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@calvin.edu with
    "unsubscribe asa" (no quotes) as the body of the message.

To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@calvin.edu with
"unsubscribe asa" (no quotes) as the body of the message.
Received on Wed Nov 12 17:33:25 2008