Introduction to the Symposium

Abstract

The Christian tradition has historically maintained that an initial couple, Adam and Eve, were the first humans. This mainstream theological tradition has held that this pair was created in a state of innocence and righteousness, and it has further maintained that this state was lost through a free act of disobedience. These affirmations played orienting and supporting roles for a significant number of related doctrinal judgments, such as the primordial goodness of the created order, the corruption of human nature, the incarnation of the Word to redeem humanity from its fallen state, and the necessity of God’s gracious initiative in salvation. In different ways, Marcionism, Manichaeism, and Pelagianism denied some aspect of the above affirmations, but, for historic Christian doctrine, such affirmations were seen as both true and important. But scientific discovery has challenged such affirmations. Well before the age of Darwin, the discovery of the native populations of the new world problematized the reigning assumptions about biblical chronology. On the conventional model, there simply did not seem to be enough time for the dispersion