"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?
"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.