Original Sin: Illuminating the Riddle (Volume 5) (New Studies in Biblical Theology)

Original Sin: Illuminating the Riddle (Volume 5) (New Studies in Biblical Theology)

We live in a world shot through with evil. The twentieth century has witnessed suffering and human cruelty on a scale never before imagined. Yet, paradoxically, in recent years the doctrine of original sin has suffered neglect and ridicule. In this philosophically sophisticated treatment of the biblical evidence for original sin, Henri Blocher offers a robust response. Interacting with the best theological thinking on the subject, this New Studies in Biblical Theology volume shows that while the nature of original sin is a mystery―even a riddle―only belief in it makes sense of evil and wrongdoing.After a general survey of the biblical evidence, Blocher moves on to discuss the two key texts. First, he considers the relation of the Eden story of Genesis 2 and 3 to modern scientific, literary and theological thinking. Then, he offers a new and groundbreaking interpretation of Romans 5, where Paul discusses Christ and Adam. From this exegetical foundation, he goes on to show how the doctrine of original sin makes sense of the paradoxes of human existence. In the final chapter, he discusses the intellectual difficulties that some feel remain with the doctrine itself.Addressing key issues in biblical theology, the works comprising New Studies in Biblical Theology are creative attempts to help Christians better understand their Bibles. The NSBT series is edited by D. A. Carson, aiming to simultaneously instruct and to edify, to interact with current scholarship and to point the way ahead "Blocher's short and pungent book addresses the central issues [of original sin] in an imaginative and constructive way. . . . Much wisdom is compressed into these pages along with a gentleness of touch that belies the weightiness of the subject." -- The Expository Times "Henri Blocher . . . is able to think through the interlocking contributions of historical theology, biblical theology and systematic theology, and come to fresh conclusions in the light of Scripture, without overturning all that is valuable from the past. . . . This is a book to be read and thought through with great care." -- D. A. Carson (from the series preface) "Henri Blocher . . . is able to think through the interlocking contributions of historical theology, biblical theology and systematic theology, and come to fresh conclusions in the light of Scripture, without overturning all that is valuable from the past. . . . This is a book to be read and thought through with great care." -- D. A. Carson (from the series preface) In October 2003, Henri Blocher was appointed to the Guenther H. Knoedler Chair of Theology at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. Since 1965 he has served as professor of systematic theology at the Faculté Libre de Théologie Evangélique in Vaux-sur-Seine near Paris, France. A leading evangelical theologian and statesman, Blocher was a member of the Lausanne Committee on World Evangelization (1975-1980), served the World Evangelical Fellowship/Alliance in a number of capacities, and taught in schools in Europe, Australia, Africa, Canada and the US. He is currently president of the Fellowship of European Evangelical Theologians. Blocher studied at a number of institutions including the Sorbonne, London Bible College, Gordon Divinity School, and Faculté Libre de Théologie Protestant of Paris. He has written six books, four of which have appeared in English, and several dozen articles. His English publications include Original Sin: Illuminating the Riddle, Evil and the Cross: Christian Thought and the Problem of Evil and In the Beginning: The Opening chapters of Genesis. D. A. Carson is research professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. Original Sin Illuminating the Riddle By Henri Blocher IVP Academic Copyright © 1997 Henri Blocher All right reserved. ISBN: 9780830826056 Chapter One Original sin as taught in Holy Scripture `Nothing is so easy to denounce, nothing is so difficult tounderstand.' So wrote Augustine on original sin.     To him the doctrine was a battlefield. The controversy hascontinued unabated through the centuries. The leaders of theReformation, with the exception of Ulrich Zwingli, renewed theemphasis on the Augustinian view. It was included in the mainconfessions of faith in the Reformation churches, such as theForty-two Articles framed by Archbishop Cranmer for theChurch of England in 1553. The arguments have not subsided;Protestant liberals carry on the various attacks against thedoctrine of original sin which the Socinians and some Anabaptistshad launched in the sixteenth century. The perpetualconflict probably witnesses both to the difficulty of thearguments and to the stakes involved.     A new stage was reached (and new heights in subtlety andsophistication) in the first half of the twentieth century with thepowerful neo-orthodox reinterpretation of the doctrine. In thewake of Kierkegaard's elusive The Concept of Anxiety (1844),