When did Adam/Eve Live?

[Ghosty]

The CCC does say that Adam and Eve were real people: it says that they commited a personal sin. Symbols and figures of speech are not persons, and cannon commit personal sins; the CCC is going on the assumption that this would be understood.

This doesn’t mean that the two very real people, Adam and Eve, aren’t discussed in figurative language and descriptions, and even their names may be figurative. You can read Pope Pius XII’s Humani Generis for more. Of particular note is this paragraph:

When, however, there is question of another conjectural opinion, namely polygenism, the children of the Church by no means enjoy such liberty. For the faithful cannot embrace that opinion which maintains either that after Adam there existed on this earth true men who did not take their origin through natural generation from him as from the first parent of all or that Adam represents a certain number of first parents. Now it is in no way apparent how such an opinion can be reconciled with that which the sources of revealed truth and the documents of the Teaching Authority of the Church propose with regard to original sin, which proceeds from a sin actually committed by an individual Adam and which through generation is passed on to all and is in everyone as his own.

Peace and God bless!

 

[thistle]

Ghosty:

The CCC does say that Adam and Eve were real people: it says that they commited a personal sin. Symbols and figures of speech are not persons, and cannon commit personal sins; the CCC is going on the assumption that this would be understood.

This doesn’t mean that the two very real people, Adam and Eve, aren’t discussed in figurative language and descriptions, and even their names may be figurative. You can read Pope Pius XII’s Humani Generis for more. Of particular note is this paragraph:

Peace and God bless!

Thanks. I’ve extracted what seems to be the relevant section from Humani Generis:

37. When, however, there is question of another conjectural opinion, namely polygenism, the children of the Church by no means enjoy such liberty. For the faithful cannot embrace that opinion which maintains either that after Adam there existed on this earth true men who did not take their origin through natural generation from him as from the first parent of all or that Adam represents a certain number of first parents. Now it is in no way apparent how such an opinion can be reconciled with that which the sources of revealed truth and the documents of the Teaching Authority of the Church propose with regard to original sin, which proceeds from a sin actually committed by an individual Adam and which through generation is passed on to all and is in everyone as his own.

It certainly seems to be clear that the Church teaches Adam and Eve were both real people and that we are descended from them and not others.
It doesn’t actually say there were no other humans living at the same time or before. Its possible there were but that only the decendents of Adam and Eve prevailed. What is not clear is if they were created with a soul or if they were chosen from other humans and given souls by God. Any thoughts on that?

 

[wildleafblower]

vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p1s2c1p7.htm#404

 

[hecd2]

thistle:

Thanks. I’ve extracted what seems to be the relevant section from Humani Generis:

37. When, however, there is question of another conjectural opinion, namely polygenism, the children of the Church by no means enjoy such liberty. For the faithful cannot embrace that opinion which maintains either that after Adam there existed on this earth true men who did not take their origin through natural generation from him as from the first parent of all or that Adam represents a certain number of first parents. Now it is in no way apparent how such an opinion can be reconciled with that which the sources of revealed truth and the documents of the Teaching Authority of the Church propose with regard to original sin, which proceeds from a sin actually committed by an individual Adam and which through generation is passed on to all and is in everyone as his own.

It certainly seems to be clear that the Church teaches Adam and Eve were both real people and that we are descended from them and not others.
It doesn’t actually say there were no other humans living at the same time or before. Its possible there were but that only the decendents of Adam and Eve prevailed. What is not clear is if they were created with a soul or if they were chosen from other humans and given souls by God. Any thoughts on that?

See this post:
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?p=1189068#post1189068

and this one:
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?p=1189367#post1189367

Alec
http:www.evolutionpages.com

 

[Pensees]

Ghosty:

The CCC does say that Adam and Eve were real people: it says that they commited a personal sin. Symbols and figures of speech are not persons, and cannon commit personal sins; the CCC is going on the assumption that this would be understood.

This doesn’t mean that the two very real people, Adam and Eve, aren’t discussed in figurative language and descriptions, and even their names may be figurative.

I would have to disagree that Adam and Eve are only ‘symbolic’:

"Do we as Orthodox Christians take the Genesis account of Adam and Eve literally, or are they figurative characters? (June '01)

Let’s look at two “rock solid” sources in order to answer this question. Our first “rock solid” source is the God-inspired Holy Scriptures themselves. And let’s, for a moment, leave aside the Old Testament Genesis account to which you refer and look rather at the New Testament. In the Holy Gospel according to St Luke the Evangelist (3:23-38), we find the genealogy of our Lord Jesus Christ which begins with St Joseph the Betrothed (who, the Evangelist says, people “supposed” was the father of Jesus) and ascends to “Adam the son of God.”

Our second “rock solid” source is the Synaxarion or Great Synaxaristes which is a muti-volume set of books in which are listed the commemorations for each day of the year with an account or description (some brief and some rather extensive) of each. When we look in the volume for December, we find a listing under December 18-24 which is titled “The Sunday before the Nativity which is also known as the Sunday of the Holy Fathers.” The account of that commemoration enumerates all of the ancestors of our Lord Jesus Christ beginning with “Adam and Eve the First-created.”

Now we all know that to be listed in a genealogy as a progenitor or ancestor, one must be a person and not a figurative character – people, not ideas or concepts, beget and bear children. So to answer your question, yes, the Church takes literally that there was a first-created male human being who is called by the name ADAM ('adam in Hebrew, which is etymologically related to 'adamah meaning “earth”) and that there was a first-created female human being who is called EVE ('hawwah in Hebrew, which is etymologically related to hay meaning “life”)."
antiochian.org/1307

 

[mostafa11]

Hi,
As a muslim, i can tell you that according to Quran, Adam appeared on earth around 300,000 years ago. The lifetime of humans was longer and it kept on decreasing till our days (now is around 60-70 years long).Adam was created to live on earth, there was no heaven or hell in skies, in fact according to Quran, heaven and hell aren’t created yet. Angels are devils are extraterrestial creatures of other dimensions, we can see them only if they project into our 3-dimensional world. God is one and only, cannot be seen and cannot be imagined, becasue we arel imited with our senses and brain and cannot imagine except what we see or sense in this world.