{"id":68874,"date":"2020-08-08T05:08:52","date_gmt":"2020-08-08T09:08:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=68874"},"modified":"2020-08-07T21:26:37","modified_gmt":"2020-08-08T01:26:37","slug":"because-of-the-fall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2020\/08\/because-of-the-fall.html","title":{"rendered":"Because of the Fall: More on the Origin of Evil"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I have already shared one recent interview I did about my work on the origin of Gnosticism and my Enoch Seminar paper on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2020\/08\/talk-gnosis-the-origins-of-gnosticism.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">Talk Gnosis online radio show<\/a>. Here is another, the <a href=\"https:\/\/thegodabovegod.com\/the-shared-origins-of-monotheism-evil-gnosticism\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Aeon Byte Gnostic Radio<\/a> program whose latest episode features me talking with host Miguel Conner about the topic <a href=\"https:\/\/thegodabovegod.com\/the-shared-origins-of-monotheism-evil-gnosticism\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">\u201cThe Shared Origins of Monotheism, Evil & Gnosticism\u201d<\/a>, focusing particular attention on how it relates to the subject of evil. I hope you enjoy listening to it half as much as I enjoyed being part of the conversation!<\/p>\n<p>Let me also share some thoughts on another matter related to how some account for the origin of evil.\u00a0As an academic with the interests that I have, I definitely have a few pet peeves. One is when people refer to conservatives who \u201ctake the Bible literally.\u201d They don\u2019t. They may take some parts of it literally. But they consistently ignore other parts that don\u2019t suit them, whether it be the dome over the Earth or Jesus\u2019 statement in no uncertain terms that no one can be his follower without giving up all they possess.<\/p>\n<p>Another pet peeve is when people say that death, animals being carnivores, disease, destructive storms, and a whole host of other things exist in the world \u201cbecause of the Fall.\u201d When someone said this in a casual way on Facebook recently, I decided to respond, and thought that I would share what I wrote with readers of my blog as well.<\/p>\n<p>I think the \u201cbecause of the Fall\u201d idea really needs to be examined critically in ways that it never is by those who use the phrase but almost never is even by detractors. What is meant? That human disobeying God can cause atmospheric phenomena that generate lightning? That humans eating fruit from a tree melted magma in the Earth? Or that as punishment God rewired the brains and altered the teeth of some animals to make them carnivores, unleashing suffering more on other animals than on humans? I don\u2019t think anyone should use this phrase who hasn\u2019t addressed these issues, and I don\u2019t think anyone should be allowed to get away with growing this unbiblical and illogical idea into a conversation without getting pushback about what they actually envisage.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s what I said. Do you come across this viewpoint as often as I seem to? How do you respond? What else do you think I might have said that could have addressed this problematic way of speaking even more effectively?<\/p>\n<p>For those used to hearing that the origin of evil can be attributed to Adam and Eve, hopefully the above makes clear why that viewpoint actually makes little sense when one views evil as a problem in the wider cosmos and not merely in the human realm. No wonder the ancient Gnostics, the Enochic literature, and many other streams of thought sought an explanation elsewhere!<\/p>\n<p>I mentioned in my earlier post that I hope to talk to Tony Burke about his recent edited volume bringing together extracanonical Christian texts. We are working on it and so that will be coming your way very soon!<\/p>\n<p>Of related interest to the subject of young-earth creationism, creation, the origin of human beings, and the origin of evil:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title='Dr. Kenneth Miller, \"Darwin, God, and Design: Grandeur in an Evolutionary View of Life\"' width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/T-B3Xcqbn84?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"(LIVE) DEBATE: Dr. Kevin Anderson vs. Jackson Wheat - Is Universal Common Descent Evidence Based?\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KXhuD1Wuors?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/peteenns.com\/interview-with-ilia-delio-grounding-god-in-evolution\/?utm_source=feedly&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=interview-with-ilia-delio-grounding-god-in-evolution\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Grounding God in Evolution<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"KT1cYgvphE\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.joeledmundanderson.com\/answers-in-genesis-passes-judgment-on-oec-te-and-even-nt-wright-and-francis-collins-and-i-somehow-tie-this-all-into-2020-politics\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Answers in Genesis Passes Judgment on OEC, TE, and even NT Wright and Francis Collins\u2026(and I somehow tie this all into 2020 Politics)<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"\u201cAnswers in Genesis Passes Judgment on OEC, TE, and even NT Wright and Francis Collins\u2026(and I somehow tie this all into 2020 Politics)\u201d \u2014 Resurrecting Orthodoxy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.joeledmundanderson.com\/answers-in-genesis-passes-judgment-on-oec-te-and-even-nt-wright-and-francis-collins-and-i-somehow-tie-this-all-into-2020-politics\/embed\/#?secret=KUm7t1ZlNU#?secret=KT1cYgvphE\" data-secret=\"KT1cYgvphE\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/friendlyatheist.patheos.com\/2020\/07\/19\/this-vacation-bible-school-for-creationists-celebrates-an-oddly-mediocre-god\/<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"GoRxXkQAsd\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/michaelroberts4004.wordpress.com\/2020\/07\/25\/100-reasons-the-earth-is-old-3\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">100 Reasons the Earth is\u00a0Old<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"\u201c100 Reasons the Earth is\u00a0Old\u201d \u2014 Peddling and Scaling God and Darwin\" src=\"https:\/\/michaelroberts4004.wordpress.com\/2020\/07\/25\/100-reasons-the-earth-is-old-3\/embed\/#?secret=Kl5bfjuUmO#?secret=GoRxXkQAsd\" data-secret=\"GoRxXkQAsd\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"7p2RBhATF3\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/letterstonature.wordpress.com\/2020\/07\/25\/a-thick-layer-a-fine-tuned-critique-of-arvin-ash\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">A Thick Layer: A Fine-Tuned Critique of Arvin\u00a0Ash<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"\u201cA Thick Layer: A Fine-Tuned Critique of Arvin\u00a0Ash\u201d \u2014 Letters to Nature\" src=\"https:\/\/letterstonature.wordpress.com\/2020\/07\/25\/a-thick-layer-a-fine-tuned-critique-of-arvin-ash\/embed\/#?secret=qPAlje9N4o#?secret=7p2RBhATF3\" data-secret=\"7p2RBhATF3\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.commonwealmagazine.org\/immune-science\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Immune to Science<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"HIzhCpneHu\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/michaelroberts4004.wordpress.com\/2020\/07\/15\/kind-of-confusing-young-earth-creationist-classification-of-the-bombardier-beetle\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Kind of Confusing \u2013 Young-earth Creationist\u2019 Classification of the Bombardier\u00a0Beetle<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"\u201cKind of Confusing \u2013 Young-earth Creationist\u2019 Classification of the Bombardier\u00a0Beetle\u201d \u2014 Peddling and Scaling God and Darwin\" src=\"https:\/\/michaelroberts4004.wordpress.com\/2020\/07\/15\/kind-of-confusing-young-earth-creationist-classification-of-the-bombardier-beetle\/embed\/#?secret=KcNp4LJJdw#?secret=HIzhCpneHu\" data-secret=\"HIzhCpneHu\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/internetmonk.com\/archive\/the-state-of-faith-and-science-at-internet-monk<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"ceTDPCd0D3\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/michaelroberts4004.wordpress.com\/2020\/07\/22\/answers-from-jeanson-revealing-the-truth-of-josephs-global-famine\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Answers from Jeanson: Revealing the Truth of Joseph\u2019s Global\u00a0Famine?<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"\u201cAnswers from Jeanson: Revealing the Truth of Joseph\u2019s Global\u00a0Famine?\u201d \u2014 Peddling and Scaling God and Darwin\" src=\"https:\/\/michaelroberts4004.wordpress.com\/2020\/07\/22\/answers-from-jeanson-revealing-the-truth-of-josephs-global-famine\/embed\/#?secret=ol7gYrlmrf#?secret=ceTDPCd0D3\" data-secret=\"ceTDPCd0D3\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I have already shared one recent interview I did about my work on the origin of Gnosticism and my Enoch Seminar paper on the Talk Gnosis online radio show. Here is another, the Aeon Byte Gnostic Radio program whose latest episode features me talking with host Miguel Conner about the topic \u201cThe Shared Origins of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":80942,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[137],"tags":[3217,6132,16260,6144],"class_list":["post-68874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-evolution-science","tag-evolution-science","tag-ken-miller","tag-kenneth-miller","tag-kenneth-r-miller"],"yoast_head":"\n<title>Because of the Fall: More on the Origin of Evil<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I have already shared one recent interview I did about my work on the origin of Gnosticism and my Enoch Seminar paper on the Talk Gnosis online radio\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2020\/08\/because-of-the-fall.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Because of the Fall: More on the Origin of Evil\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I have already shared one recent interview I did about my work on the origin of Gnosticism and my Enoch Seminar paper on the Talk Gnosis online radio\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2020\/08\/because-of-the-fall.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. 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Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. BD University of London, PhD Durham University. Author of John's Apologetic Christology, The Only True God, Theology and Science Fiction, and The Burial of Jesus, as well as (with Charles Haberl of Rutgers University) the two-volume Mandaean Book of John critical edition, translation, and commentary. Also author of numerous articles (and a few science fiction short stories) and the editor or co-editor of several volumes.","sameAs":["https:\/\/amzn.to\/3Ge8ul5","http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/jamesfmcgrath\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jfmcgrat\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/ReligionProf","http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/religionprof","https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/religionprof","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/James_F._McGrath"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/author\/james-f-mcgrath"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68874\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}