But I think that’s the point: Adam* refused* to fear God. We’re never clued in as to whether or not he gained wisdom. Wisdom would indicate that he’d turn back to God at some point-which he may well have-but we don’t know either way. In any case it seems obvious to me that we were exiled to this world for a* purpose-* in part to gain the wisdom, by experience, to turn back ourselves. We’re all Adams, learning what Adam needed to know. We’re here to come to know God, the knowledge Adam spurned last time we saw him.
I do not know how you came to the concept “We’re
all Adams, learning what Adam needed to know.” I am sure that idea has been expressed in a variety of ways. Therefore, it is not my intention to offend you. You are a good thinker and fine writer.
I do know that Father Michael D. Guinan OFM has presented the concept of “We are Adam and we are Eve.” as a means of denying Original Sin and the reality of Adam. In 2011, his position was picked up by diocesan newspapers across the county. Because editors edit news, there are some links which use different parts of Father Guinan’s position; however, his basic position is intact.
From
catholicreview.org/article/work/catholic-church-has-evolving-answer-on-reality-of-adam-and-eve
In this first paragraph, “that document” refers to the encyclical
Humani Generis, Pius XII, 1950.
In the six decades since that document, Father Guinan continued, “the Catholic Church has accepted the use of historical-critical tools to understand the Scriptures, which are, among other things, historical documents.
“The 1993 instruction of the Pontifical Biblical Commission on ‘The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church’ calls the historical-critical method ‘essential’ and rejects explicitly a fundamentalist reading of Scripture.”
When such an approach is applied to the Bible, he said, “Catholic scholars, along with mainstream Protestant scholars, see in the primal stories of Genesis not literal history but symbolic, metaphoric stories which express basic truths about the human condition and humans. The unity of the human race (and all of creation for that matter) derives theologically from the fact that all things and people are created in Christ and for Christ. Christology is at the center, not biology.”
snip
In an article about the first couple, Father Guinan wrote that Catholics who ask, “Were there an Adam and Eve?” would be better off asking another question: “Are there an Adam and Eve?”
The answer, he said, “is a definite ‘yes.’ We find them when we look in the mirror. We are Adam, and we are Eve. … The man and woman of Genesis … are intended to represent an Everyman and Everywoman. They are paradigms, figurative equivalents, of human conduct in the face of temptation, not lessons in biology or history. The Bible is teaching religion, not science or literalistic history.”
From my experience off CAF, I am aware of the above opposition to Catholic doctrines.
From my experience on CAF, I find that bits and pieces of the above are popular in different areas and dependent on when a person was educated in Catholicism. What Father Guinan is saying has been around for decades. Thus, teachers following him have applied their own experiences and preferences to his principles above.
Please note:
I am not implying in any way that Fhansen is talking about opposition to Catholic teaching. There are many legitimate ways we can say that “We’re
all Adams, learning what Adam needed to know.” Fhansen presents possibilities for some serious thinking. However, considering the media splash of people like Father Guinan, all of us need to be aware of a very slippery slope. We need to be aware of how people are interpreting what we are saying.
Because there are wolves in sheep’s clothing, we need to be aware of their context (We are Adam, and we are Eve) which usually leads to “symbolic, metaphoric stories which express basic truths about the human condition and humans.” For some of the fast-talking wolves, metaphoric stories and human condition slide over the reality of the importance of the “interaction” between humanity and Divinity. Being too general, these stories and truths slide over the truth about the Sacrament of Baptism and the real meaning of Christ’s Divinity.
Personally, I am at a loss as to which point above should be discussed first. So I will wait for some comments, good and bad.
:yup:
