{"id":2743,"date":"2016-09-13T16:39:37","date_gmt":"2016-09-13T16:39:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/?p=2743"},"modified":"2016-10-21T21:06:41","modified_gmt":"2016-10-21T21:06:41","slug":"origen-on-adam-part-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/2016\/09\/13\/origen-on-adam-part-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Origen on Adam, Part 4: A Postmodern Christian Platonism?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"800px-origen-768x911\"This is the fourth\u00a0post in my series about Origen and “Adam.”<\/a><\/p>\n

A Postmodern Christian Platonism?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

In the Introduction to this series\u00a0I noted the philosophical, critical, and scientific problems with an \u201cAugustinian\u201d view of Adam, the Fall and original sin.\u00a0 Origen\u2019s approach to the problem can help us navigate through these treacherous shoals.\u00a0 Philosophically, the ontological idealism suggested by Origen\u2019s selective use of Greek thought can help us articulate how the universal of \u201chuman nature\u201d is to some extent corrupted by the sin of the \u201cone man,\u201d Adam.\u00a0 In response to modern historical criticism, Origen\u2019s hermeneutic centered on the Rule of Faith can help us understand how Paul, and the later Patristic tradition, \u201cread backward\u201d into the Hebrew Scriptures and saw the sign both of universal human depravity and universal human redemption in the \u201cone man,\u201d Adam. \u00a0And, scientifically, Origen\u2019s affirmation of \u201cmatter\u201d as the created temporal substrate of higher levels of reality located ultimately in the Divine Ideas can help us affirm the scientific evidence concerning development of the human body and genome from our hominid ancestors while refusing the reductionism entailed by modern materialism.<\/p>\n

Before unpacking these three claims, it is important to note that there is no suggestion here of a return to the actual details of Origen\u2019s Platonic-Christian synthesis.\u00a0 The Tradition was right to reject the Gnostic speculations of later Origenism concerning the preexistence of souls, the diversification of souls into humans, angels, demons, and other beings, and the necessary apokatastasis<\/em> in which all souls return to their original source (different, it should be noted, from the hopeful notion of apokatastasis <\/em>generally), whether or not Origen actually held those views firmly himself.\u00a0 The Biblical narrative of creation, fall, and redemption is vastly different from the neo-Platonic and Gnostic ideas that were at issue in the fourth century debates over Origin\u2019s legacy.\u00a0 Nevertheless, Origen correctly saw that the Biblical texts that outline this grand narrative extend outward from themselves, out from the gritty history in which they are grounded, and point toward transcendent truths, without losing their grounding in the literal sense, precisely because they are both human and divine texts.\u00a0 The same is true, Origen saw, in human nature:\u00a0 what makes us \u201chuman\u201d is the donation of matter-with-Logos<\/em> by the eternal wisdom of the transcendent God, that the fall is a turn away from this transcendent Logos<\/em> and a dissolution into mere matter, and that our redemption entails our return to participate in God\u2019s transcendent life and to receive his Logos<\/em> again.<\/p>\n

Anthropology, Christology, and Justice<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

In more contemporary terms, Origen rightly concluded that theological anthropology is really Christology.\u00a0 Indeed, the link between the theology of creation, anthropology, and Christology is particularly evident in Origen\u2019s first Homily on Genesis.[1]<\/a>\u00a0 There Origen linked the \u201cin the beginning\u201d of Genesis 1:1 with the \u201cin the beginning\u201d of John 1 and suggests that \u201c[s]cripture is not speaking here of any temporal beginning, but it says that the heaven and the earth and all things which were made were made \u2018in the beginning,\u201d that is, in the Savior.\u201d[2]<\/a>\u00a0 Concerning the \u201cimage of God\u201d in humanity, he asked rhetorically, \u201cwhat other image of God is there according to the likeness of whose image man is made, except our Savior who is \u2018the firstborn of every creature\u2019 . . . .\u201d[3]<\/a><\/p>\n

The link between anthropology and Christology helps mediate the philosophical tensions within the doctrine of Adam\u2019s fall and original sin.\u00a0 Western theology after Augustine and prior to modernity generally drew on juridical and political categories to explain why it is just for God to hold all of humanity to account for Adam\u2019s sin.\u00a0 At a time when political authority was understood to inhere in the absolute rule of Kings, it made sense to suggest that the King directs the commonweal, for good or ill.[4]<\/a>\u00a0 For Western people today who reside in Constitutionally ordered nation states, this kind of analogy does not resonate so deeply.\u00a0 Nevertheless, we still recognize the justice of some kinds of collective political responsibility even if a sanction produces injustice in individual cases.\u00a0 For example, if the leader of a modern nation-state engages in acts of genocide, we might expect the United Nations to enact sanctions and perhaps to authorize military intervention, and most people likely would think such action in general is just, even though we know some innocent civilians will be negatively impacted.[5]<\/a>\u00a0 But even if we can understand the broader justice of upholding the international rule of law and stopping a genocidal leader, we usually do not think justice has truly been served in the individual circumstance of a civilian who loses his livelihood or life as a result of the sanctions.\u00a0 The individual innocent civilian did not deserve<\/em> this fate, even if it was unavoidable to stop the genocide.[6]<\/a><\/p>\n

At the same time, in our globalized, post-modern context, we have once again become more sensitive to the things that bind us together as human beings beyond juridical categories.\u00a0 As the Rio Olympics recently reminded us, we can speak of a universal \u201chuman spirit\u201d that brings people together in a celebration of excellence that exceeds political, tribal and racial boundaries.\u00a0 And as terrible events like the mass shooting in Orlando likewise recently reminded us, we can experience depths of grief and loss together that exceed even our hottest culture war issues.\u00a0 Notwithstanding the claims of \u201cnew atheist\u201d leaders like Richard Dawkins and Michael Graziano, who claim (ultimately, in contradiction with each other) that we are nothing but genes or brain chemicals, most people know there is something transcendent and universal about human nature.[7]<\/a><\/p>\n

Classical Christian theology, including Origen\u2019s theology, reading from the Biblical concepts of the \u201cimage of God\u201d and of the universal efficacy of Christ\u2019s death and resurrection, understood this universal to reside ultimately in God\u2019s own \u201cmind.\u201d\u00a0 Of course, classical Christian theology also emphasized God\u2019s simplicity, so that the use of a term like \u201cmind\u201d here was analogical.\u00a0 The point is that the source of human nature transcends materiality and indeed that materiality itself derives from this transcendent source.\u00a0 This is why Christian anthropology ultimately is Christology:\u00a0 only in Christ, the incarnate Son, do we really see the meaning of \u201cAdam.\u201d\u00a0 As Orthodox theologian and Patristic scholar John Behr reminds us, \u201c[t]heologically speaking, creation and its history begins with the Passion of the Christ and from this \u2018once for all\u2019 work looks backwards and forwards to see everything in this light, making everything new.\u201d[8]<\/a><\/p>\n

This approach can help us see that the implications of Adam\u2019s sin for universal human nature are not so much about juridical<\/em> categories of \u201cjustice\u201d as they are about ontology<\/em>.\u00a0 If Adam\u2019s sin distorts the relationship between the particulars of human experience and the universal ideal form of human nature, and if we each take some of that distortion as derived from Adam, it is easier to see why Adam\u2019s sin impacts us all.\u00a0 We could even use here an Augustinian-sounding analogy from modern genetics, though we must be careful to emphasize that the \u201ctransmission\u201d of original sin is not \u201cbiological.\u201d\u00a0 The human genetic code must conform to certain forms, certain sequences of amino acids, if it is to produce a properly functioning human being.\u00a0 If the form is disrupted through a mutation, such as a missing or changed amino acid, a disease can result, and that disrupted form can be passed down through generations and affect an entire community of people.\u00a0 Such is the case, for example, with sickle cell anemia among some people of African ancestry or with \u201cFragile X Syndrome\u201d and other genetic conditions among people of Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry.[9]<\/a>\u00a0 In a roughly analogical way, Adam\u2019s original disruption of human participation in the Divine life distorts the \u201cmoral field\u201d of the human life in which we all subsequently find ourselves as the community of humanity.[10]<\/a>\u00a0 And Christ, the second Adam, repairs that field and reunites human nature with God.<\/p>\n

__________________________<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> See <\/em>The Fathers of the Church, A New Translation, Vol. 71, Origen:\u00a0 Homilies on Genesis and Exodus, trans. Ronald E. Heine (Washington, D.C.:\u00a0 The Catholic University of America Press (1982), 47-71.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Ibid.<\/em>, 47<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Ibid.<\/em>, 65.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> See, e.g., <\/em>Thomas Aquinas, On Kingship<\/em>, Book 1, trans. Gerald B. Phelan and I.T. Eschmann (Toronto:\u00a0 The Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies 1949), available at http:\/\/dhspriory.org\/thomas\/DeRegno.htm. This statement is admittedly a significant oversimplification of long and complex historical trajectories in both the Christian East and West about the relative authority of Emperors, Princes, and Popes.\u00a0 See generally<\/em> Oliver O\u2019Donovan and Joan Lockwood O\u2019Donovan, eds., From Irenaeus to Grotius:\u00a0 A Sourcebook in Christian Political Thought<\/em> (Grand Rapids:\u00a0 Eerdmans 1999).<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> For a list of current U.N. sanctions, see Consolidated United Nations Security Council Sanctions List, available at https:\/\/www.un.org\/sc\/suborg\/en\/sanctions\/un-sc-consolidated-list.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> For a general discussion of contemporary notions of justice, see Michael J. Sandel, Justice:\u00a0 What\u2019s the Right Thing to Do<\/em> (New York:\u00a0 Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2010).<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> See, e.g., <\/em>Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene:\u00a0 40th<\/sup> Anniversary Edition<\/em> (Oxford:\u00a0 OUP 2016); Michael S. Graziano, God, Soul, Mind, Brain:\u00a0 A Neuroscientist\u2019s Reflections on the Spirit World<\/em> (Freedonia:\u00a0 Leapfrog Press 2010).<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Cf. <\/em>John Behr, The Mystery of Christ:\u00a0 Life in Death (Crestwood:\u00a0 St. Valdimir\u2019s Seminary Press 2006), 90.<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> See <\/em>The Mayo Clinic, \u201cSickle Cell Anemia,\u201d Causes, available at http:\/\/www.mayoclinic.org\/diseases-conditions\/sickle-cell-anemia\/basics\/definition\/con-20019348<\/a>; Genetic Jewish Disease Consortium Website, available at http:\/\/www.jewishgeneticdiseases.org\/jewish-genetic-diseases\/.<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> For a compelling use of the \u201cmoral field\u201d metaphor, see Oliver O\u2019Donovan, Self, World and Time:\u00a0 Volume 1:\u00a0 Ethics as Theology:\u00a0 An Introduction<\/em> (Grand Rapids:\u00a0 Eerdmans 2013) and Finding and Seeking:\u00a0 Ethics as Theology:\u00a0 Volume 2<\/em> (Grand Rapids:\u00a0 Eerdmans 2014).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the fourth\u00a0post in my series about Origen and “Adam.” A Postmodern Christian Platonism? In the Introduction to this series\u00a0I noted the philosophical, critical, and scientific problems with an \u201cAugustinian\u201d view of Adam, the Fall and original sin.\u00a0 Origen\u2019s approach to the problem can help us navigate through these treacherous shoals.\u00a0 Philosophically, the ontological […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[37,78,50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-early-christianity","category-origen","category-science-and-religion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p824rZ-If","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2743"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2743\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2826,"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2743\/revisions\/2826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}