Here be dragons. And doves. Human beings long for transcendence. Such longing is, for the world, always out of fashion because, of course, it is not a longing for the world, and the world knows it. We know what the world wants. The world—by which we mean Satan, the Lord of the World—wants above all our obedience, a jewel so precious that he will do anything to get it: lie, steal, murder, bear false witness, pretend to social standing, pretend to insider knowledge to get us to consent to his influence. “God lied to you. You will not die.” And suddenly we are anxious about having other people dislike us, about losing prestige in our social circles, about other people being more popular or influential or successful, about other people having secret knowledge, about our own influence and fame. “You shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” And with that temptation, our first parents fell. The irony is cosmic. There they were in the Garden, privy to conversation with God face-to-face, and
Hi Rachel, I look forward to listening to this later. I wondered if you'd seen this post making the rounds on twitter by a Baylor PhD student: https://mobile.twitter.com/gerhardstuebben/status/1258433215615963136
ReplyDeleteHaving an advanced degree in Church history I understand, though largely disagree with, his attempt at nuance in this interpretation. However, I'd be curious to know your thoughts/response, since, given your specialization as an medievalist and convert from Presbyterianism, you are uniquely situated to provide comment.
For a Protestant, he seems to have little room for faith.
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