One of my long-standing questions is around death and decay in creation, in that it seems built into how the world works. Trees give off fruit, then the fruit falls, leaves fall, they decay, and that death brings more life to either the original tree or new baby trees. So if death is built into how creation works, then how is it a result of human Sin? This whole explanation actually deals with that question quite well… I’ll be thinking about this for a while.
Beautifully and adroitly scripted Richard, you’ve laid out in detail the structural enigmas and tensions between recapitulation atonement and evolutionary theory. Given this hypothesis though, things can get kind of sticky when diving into Pauline Dogmatics and his explanation and description of “Sin”. Had Maximus had access to evolutionary psychology, inflationary cosmology and information technology, would have his adherence to ‘dyophysitism’ been as intense? A strictly verbatim and literal interpretation of Genesis can often later lead to a ‘house of cards theology’ where many young believers not being able to square that circle, end up walking away from the Faith. Embracing the complex ambiguity of it is essential for growth. Fourth-Dimensional thinking is a natural result of a radically inclusive Gospel where ‘ALL’ men and Creation itself, will be drawn unto Him.
One problem with this provocative proposal is that I can’t imagine explaining this to the average church goer. That doesn’t mean it’s wrong, of course, for neither would I suggest my average church goer to dip into Maximus. It would,be nice is there was a more accessible way of traversing these key questions.
"Insofar as created existence comes from God it is primordially good and is protected from death due to its connection to God. Creation, however, upon stepping into existence moves away from God."
Surely the key question (or a key question, anyway) is: could it have been otherwise? Could the first human have done something other than turn away from God and thus drop into finitude?
If the answer to that is no, the first human could do no other than drop into finitude, how does it make sense to say that God did not create evil?
One of my long-standing questions is around death and decay in creation, in that it seems built into how the world works. Trees give off fruit, then the fruit falls, leaves fall, they decay, and that death brings more life to either the original tree or new baby trees. So if death is built into how creation works, then how is it a result of human Sin? This whole explanation actually deals with that question quite well… I’ll be thinking about this for a while.
Beautifully and adroitly scripted Richard, you’ve laid out in detail the structural enigmas and tensions between recapitulation atonement and evolutionary theory. Given this hypothesis though, things can get kind of sticky when diving into Pauline Dogmatics and his explanation and description of “Sin”. Had Maximus had access to evolutionary psychology, inflationary cosmology and information technology, would have his adherence to ‘dyophysitism’ been as intense? A strictly verbatim and literal interpretation of Genesis can often later lead to a ‘house of cards theology’ where many young believers not being able to square that circle, end up walking away from the Faith. Embracing the complex ambiguity of it is essential for growth. Fourth-Dimensional thinking is a natural result of a radically inclusive Gospel where ‘ALL’ men and Creation itself, will be drawn unto Him.
One problem with this provocative proposal is that I can’t imagine explaining this to the average church goer. That doesn’t mean it’s wrong, of course, for neither would I suggest my average church goer to dip into Maximus. It would,be nice is there was a more accessible way of traversing these key questions.
Exactly. Would that I had been catechized with the thoughts, ideas, and teachings of the Patristics, such as Maximos.
"Insofar as created existence comes from God it is primordially good and is protected from death due to its connection to God. Creation, however, upon stepping into existence moves away from God."
Surely the key question (or a key question, anyway) is: could it have been otherwise? Could the first human have done something other than turn away from God and thus drop into finitude?
If the answer to that is no, the first human could do no other than drop into finitude, how does it make sense to say that God did not create evil?
Wondering what you think of John Walton’s books on Genesis 1-3 (the garden is a temple etc.) JW is releasing an updated book on Genesis 1-3 in April.
Ancient readers would have seen physical death as created by God and the death of the God-Adam relationship the topic at hand in Genesis.