{"id":1347,"date":"2009-01-29T08:50:26","date_gmt":"2009-01-29T14:50:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/2009\/01\/original-sin-the-genesis-of-a-doctrine\/"},"modified":"2015-03-13T17:06:13","modified_gmt":"2015-03-13T22:06:13","slug":"original-sin-the-genesis-of-a-doctrine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/2009\/01\/29\/original-sin-the-genesis-of-a-doctrine\/","title":{"rendered":"Original Sin: The Genesis of a Doctrine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
The Original Sin Series<\/u>
Intro<\/a>\u2013Intuition<\/a>\u2013Definition<\/a>\u2013Genesis<\/b>\u2013Jesus<\/a>-Paul-Augustine-Calvin-Conclusion<\/div>\n

Let me start with some throat-clearing.\u00a0 At least one friend and not a few commenters were bothered by the fact that I wrote about my own intuition before I started reflection on the biblical passages at play.\u00a0 One friend told me that, as a self-proclaimed Protestant, I should begin with the Bible, where Protestants always begin.<\/p>\n

Firstly, don\u2019t read too much into my decision to write about my intuition first. It has something to do with the fact that I was pressed for time on Monday.\u00a0 Further, I was trying to be a bit autobiographical, in both the introduction and intuition posts. This blog is not particularly a place for forensic arguments, like, say, my dissertation will be. Instead, it\u2019s a place for more personal, impassioned writing.<\/p>\n

Secondly, and I\u2019ve been very clear on this point here and elsewhere, I do not think it possible to \u201cbegin with the Bible.\u201d We always begin with our own hermeneutical assumptions.\u00a0 Always.\u00a0 No exceptions. A human being cannot escape her\/his own hermeneutical horizon.\u00a0 You are encased in it, just as you are encased in your own skin.\u00a0 There\u2019s no escape.<\/p>\n

Does this mean that I reject the Lutheran formula of sola scriptura<\/i><\/a>? Well, insofar as sola scriptura<\/i> is naive to everyone\u2019s interpretive biases, yes.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think I can actually rely on scripture alone. I am always also reliant upon my own reason to interpret and apply scriptural truth (this just in, Tony Jones believes in scriptural truth!). (Just a side question here: Doesn\u2019t sola<\/i> mean \u201calone\u201d?\u00a0 As in, all-by-itself-with-nothing-else? How, then, can there be five <\/i>solas<\/i><\/a>? Is that not logically incoherent?)<\/p>\n

So, I might approach the Bible differently than you do.\u00a0 So be it.<\/p>\n

Now, on to Genesis!<\/p>\n


\nLet\u2019s begin by looking at what the text really says:<\/p>\n

Read Genesis 3:1-24<\/a><\/p>\n

Now, it probably won\u2019t surprise many for me to confess that I don\u2019t think the creation of the cosmos really happened in quite the way it is described in either this creation narrative, or the one preceding it in Genesis 1:1 \u2013 2:3<\/a>.\u00a0 But my belief that the cosmos is 12-16 billion years old does not mean that I don\u2019t consider the Genesis account true<\/i>.\u00a0 Quite to the contrary, I do consider it true<\/i>.\u00a0 (Truth and factuality are not the same.) So, let\u2019s deal with it\u2019s truth.<\/p>\n

Adam and Eve are forbidden to eat the fruit of the Tree of Life by God, and bidden to eat it by the serpent. Eve listens to the latter and passes the fruit to her partner. He partakes as well. God discovers their disobedience, and they must pay the consequences.<\/p>\n

First, let us note that there are a couple catching phrases in the narrative.\u00a0 One is that the serpent tells Eve that fruit will allow her to know \u201cgood and evil,\u201d and Eve decides to eat the fruit, in part, because it was \u201cdesirable for gaining wisdom.\u201d\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\u201cThen the eyes of both of them were opened,\u201d they became ashames of their nakedness, sewed themselves fig-leaf garments, and thus there choise was discovered by God.<\/p>\n

<\/span>There are all sorts of interesting interpretive points to be made, but since we\u2019re focusing on the doctrine of Original Sin, let\u2019s focus on the consequences<\/i> of their actions.\u00a0 Because of their fruity indulgence, A&E become aware and ashamed of their nakedness. And God, in turn, lays the smack down on them: the woman will have pain in childbirth and be subservient to the man; the man will toil to bring food from the earth; they are cast out of the garden; and they will both die.<\/p>\n

In the biblical account, this is surely the orginal sin.\u00a0 And I think it\u2019s clear that it is meant to be paradigmatic of the human condition. Given the choice, the passage seems to teach, each of us would choose the fruit that opens our eyes rather than trusting God who tells us we don\u2019t need our eyes opened.<\/p>\n

But is this Original Sin?\u00a0 That is, is there anything in the passage that says that A&E might have not chosen to eat the fruit?\u00a0 Or, more to the point of the Western theological notion of Original Sin, that the consequences of their sin has been passed down to every subsequent human via the act of intercourse (thus exempting only Jesus if Nazareth from this inheritence)?\u00a0 Is there something in the passage that would lead us to believe that, as we learned yesterday, this is an \u201cinherited spiritual disease or defect in human nature\u201d?<\/p>\n

Based on 1) My own hermeneutical position that this story is truthful in that it is paradigmatic as opposed to factual, and 2) Nothing in the biblical narrative indicates that A&E were changed at the genetic level that would infect subsequent generations, I\u2019ll conclude this: The account of the original sin in Genesis 3 teaches us a lot about the state of human nature, our freedom to know right from wrong, and our proclivity to not necessarily trust God. But it does not teach that the sin of Adam and Eve is responsible for the sins of subsequent generations.<\/b><\/p>\n

Your thoughts?
<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Original Sin SeriesIntro\u2013Intuition\u2013Definition\u2013Genesis\u2013Jesus-Paul-Augustine-Calvin-Conclusion Let me start with some throat-clearing.\u00a0 At least one friend and not a few commenters were bothered by the fact that I wrote about my own intuition before I started reflection on the biblical passages at play.\u00a0 One friend told me that, as a self-proclaimed Protestant, I should begin with the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible","category-theology"],"yoast_head":"\nOriginal Sin: The Genesis of a Doctrine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Original Sin SeriesIntro-Intuition-Definition-Genesis-Jesus-Paul-Augustine-Calvin-ConclusionLet me start with some throat-clearing.  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