by John R. Schneider
Recent genomic science strongly supports the theory of common ancestry. To classical Protestants, particularly, this theory seems incompatible with Scripture, most especially with the “historical Fall,” which Protestants presume to be manifestly biblical and so have cemented it securely into their confessions and theology as a whole. Nevertheless, John Schneider proposes that it is important for traditional Protestants to consider alternatives to this essentially “Augustinian” view. He invites readers to examine Eastern thinking (mainly in Irenaeus of Lyon) together with a minority of Protestants (such as Karl Barth and supralapsarian Calvinists), for whom the Incarnation and Atonement are the purpose of creation from the beginning. Their understanding differs from the execution of divine “Plan B,” as implied by the Augustinian western version of an unintended “fall” from utopian first conditions. Schneider appeals to a fresh reading of the book of Job in support of an “aesthetic supralapsarianism,” which sustains Protestant virtues of biblical authority, divine sovereignty, and grace, while opening avenues to compatibility with evolutionary science.
I don’t think I have ever seen an issue of Perspectives that grabbed my attention as this one. The four articles, by Collins, Venema, Harlow, and Schneider are an excellent approach to the difficulty we have in reconciling the traditional interpretation of the first eleven chapters of Genesis and the evidence we find in Creation. The point made by John Schneider about the Eastern Orthodox interpretation of the first part of Genesis in an interesting one and has some interesting implications for Christians in the Calvinistic tradition, among other. Will LD 3 in the Heidelberg Catechism have to be revised? Will these articles make it easier for us to bring the Good News to scientists if we see Genesis 1-11 in a new light? These are exciting days. Thanks to the four authors and to the editor who brought these four papers into a single issue.
[...] Science.Today I would like to look at the first part of the article by John R. Schneider “Recent Genetic Science and Christian Theology on Human Origins: An “Aesthetic Supralapsarianism…. We will look at more of this article, at the article by C. John Collins “Adam and Eve as [...]
[...] in view of the existence of evil (Merriam Webster). This issue comes up in John Schneider’s article and, less directly, in C. John Collins’s article as a significant contribution to the [...]
[...] about troubles at Calvin College, in western Michigan. A couple of the religion professors wrote articles about the implications of modern thinking about human evolution for the Calvinistic (essentially [...]
[...] Schneider, has taken an “early retirement” in response to massive controversy surrounding a Fall 2010 article on human origins that appeared in Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith. He and another [...]
[...] a recent controversy involving two professors form Calvin College, Daniel C. Harlow and theologian John R. Schneider. They had recently taken part in a journal series examining the theological implications of recent [...]
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