Category Archives: Adam

Wright right about Ezra, or wrong about Esdras?

Posted on 07/08/2013 by Jon Garvey

A couple of months ago I embarked on reading (intermittently) through the Old Testament Apocrypha, most of which I’ve not read before, though it contains useful insights into the times between the testaments. Reading 2 Esdras in the New English Bible, I realised it was the same as the “4th Ezra” cited by Tom Wright in the quote I included in this piece on Adam. There he says: [In Judaism] there isn’t a doctrine of Original Sin until 4th Ezra and 2 Baruch, which were written after the destruction of the temple in AD 70. Where the destruction of the temple has forced them to say ‘we were aware of … Continue reading →

Posted in Adam, Creation, Science, Theology | 3 Comments

Creation in theological context

Posted on 31/07/2013 by Jon Garvey

I thought it worth expanding the comment I made on penman’s quotation from N T Wright in a recent post, because it occurs to me that not everyone sees the creation issue in the same broad context that I (and those like Wright) do. Essentially, this is the context of biblical theology.

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Wright and wrong

Posted on 25/07/2013 by Jon Garvey

Penman, always helpful in providing useful links, has pointed me to a quotation from an interview with theologian N T Wright. In the wide-ranging interview by Andrew Wilson, he is asked about belief in a historical Adam and Eve.

Posted in Adam, Creation, Science, Theology | 10 Comments

Four unlikely horsemen – Feser, Nagel, Aquinas, Meyer

Posted on 19/06/2013 by Jon Garvey

Ed Feser finishes his review of reviews of Thomas Nagel’s important book Mind and Cosmos  here. I did my own non-review here. Feser deals there with reviews by two analytic philosphers and two Aristotelian-Thomists like himself. In assessing the former, by J P Moreland and Alvin Plantinga, although they are Christians, he brackets them with atheist Nagel in sharing a personalist view of divinity formed by Enlightenment philosophy.

Posted in Adam, Creation, Science, Theology | 4 Comments

Freedom and autonomy #4

Posted on 10/06/2013 by Jon Garvey

I showed in #2 that the Bible’s approach to free-will is based on the commonsense reality of our daily experience, with its positive teaching aimed at showing how that experience should be modified by God’s revelation. Any resulting paradox it leaves unresolved, calling only for humility before God’s truth (eg Romans 9.19-21). Any resolution of such issues requires theologising which is, at least in part, philosophical. Indeed, the need to resolve them usually arises from philosophical speculation.

Posted in Adam, Creation, Prometheus, Theology | 2 Comments

Freedom and autonomy #3

Posted on 09/06/2013 by Jon Garvey

Freedom is a buzzword with an enormous emotional resonance. Beware reading this stuff, those of you who live in democracies, especially in those that honour emblematic bells or statues named “Liberty.” Freedom in its modern context is almost synonymous with libertarian autonomy, the ability to do things completely independently of all other agents, including God. And that may be fair enough in politics, psychology and so on. But in theology we ought to start with revelation, and it’s rather important to ask if the Bible’s understanding of “freedom” is the same as ours, particularly if “freedom” is to be the mainstay of our system, as it is in the kind … Continue reading →

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Freedom and Autonomy #2

Posted on 08/06/2013 by Jon Garvey

The first post in this series has already generated some good comment, which shows how live the issue of “freedom” is for many of us. I’ve decided on a slight change to plan – I feel the argument will be clearer if I deal with the biblical position first, and then proceed to how people have understood it historically. But keep in mind the thesis I’m presenting is not “free-will v predestination”, but that: (a) Theologies based on the centrality of human and natural freedom and God’s “letting go love” are novel. (b) The explanation for them is found in the enthronement of autonomy as a primary “good” over several recent … Continue reading →

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Dusting off the Gap Theory

Posted on 26/05/2013 by Jon Garvey

Contrary to what is popularly supposed, young earth views did not predominate amongst conservative Christians at the time Darwin published The Origin of Species. I’m grateful to historian of science Ted Davis for pointing that out to me in one of his BioLogos posts. In fact, it’s obvious from the Origin itself, in that although Darwin’s main “opponent” is special creation (a slight straw man itself by 1859), he makes no attempt to argue for deep time, although he does mention the need for it in passing.

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What is man?

Posted on 28/03/2013 by Jon Garvey

As mentioned in my last post my foolish decision to respond to Melanogaster on BioLogos was a mistake. If you look at that thread (or any other in which he has participated) every response he makes is a long list of sins one has supposedly committed, with a demand for lengthy and abject penance. Any further reply just gets added to the list of sins. It’s a bit like being in a confession meeting in Mao’s Cultural Revolution, or at least on National Service, where answering a charge just earns you another. An interesting discussion style, that – if  communication is low on your priorities.

Posted in Adam, Creation, Genealogical Adam, Science, Theology | 2 Comments

Gleanings from “Adam’s Ancestors”

Posted on 11/02/2013 by Jon Garvey

I’ve been reading a book brought to my attention by Penman (you might want to add some thoughts of your own, if you’re around, P), called Adam’s Ancestors by David N Livingstone. It’s a history of the various theories about pre-adamic man since the idea was first suggested by Isaac La Peyrère in the 17th century, which if it seems esoteric, is. It was of interest to me in general because of modern attempts to retain a historical Adam in an evolutionary scheme, on which I thought it might cast some light.

Posted in Adam, Creation, Genealogical Adam, Science, Theology | 11 Comments