Re: [asa] (ancient theodicy, 'ancient theology') Deism, Apologetics, and Neglected Arguments

Yes. OTOH it's important to realize that when Gen.2 is not read as historical narrative but as a theological text that speaks, inter alia, of the human calling, then the command to "serve and keep" the garden in fact does imply that task for the whole earth - a significant point for environmental theology.

Shalom
George
http://home.roadrunner.com/~scitheologyglm

  ----- Original Message -----
  From: David Heddle
  To: gordon brown
  Cc: asa@calvin.edu
  Sent: Monday, August 24, 2009 1:23 PM
  Subject: Re: [asa] (ancient theodicy, 'ancient theology') Deism, Apologetics, and Neglected Arguments

  Gordon, that comment is spot-on.

  I often think that modern YEC-ism ignores the fact that the garden is a garden. Instead, as far as I can tell, YEC theology sees the whole earth as a garden, with nothing particularly distinctive about Eden. Paradise in, paradise out.

  On Mon, Aug 24, 2009 at 1:07 PM, gordon brown <Gordon.Brown@colorado.edu> wrote:

    On Mon, 24 Aug 2009, Dehler, Bernie wrote:

      David said:
      “Explain to us how this ancient theology is going to cause millions of
      Christians to lose their faith?”

      Because Christians learn a certain popular apologetics, which state that
      Adam brought sin and death into the world. That is ancient theology and
      wrong. When they learn that death was in the world long before Adam, they
      will throw out everything else in Christianity too, because their
      apologetics teacher told them this was foundational to the faith.

      …Bernie

    I don't know the history of Christian teaching on the origin of the death of nonhumans, and so I don't know whether what you describe should be called ancient theology. Before the discovery of fossil evidence it probably wasn't a pressing issue. When I was in my teens and twenties, the Scofield Reference Edition seemed to be the preferred Bible of evangelicals, and its advocacy of the gap theory was widely accepted as authoritative. A key feature of this theory was the destruction of the original creation including animal life in Satan's fall prior to its restoration and the creation of humans. I was not aware that this raised an issue for anyone regarding animal death prior to Adam. After all, the context of the scriptural references to one man bringing death into the world indicate that this is about death of humans. It is only since the rise of modern YECism that I have become aware that this was an issue for many people.

    Gordon Brown (ASA member)

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Received on Mon Aug 24 13:33:50 2009