Man and Sin by Piet Schoonenberg (1964) 2.3 ED
[Adam and Eve leaving the garden is like the soul descending into the corruption of matter.
Nothing good comes of this. All humanity falls. Even babies are doomed.]
08/9/17
08/8/17
Man and Sin by Piet Schoonenberg (1964) 2.3 EC
[In Augustine’s treatment of the Story of the Fall, Adam and Eve, like the soul on the verge of its descent, make a fate-filled choice.
Despite their perfection, they do not see the trap door.]
08/7/17
Man and Sin by Piet Schoonenberg (1964) 2.3 EB
[In order to justify infant baptism, Augustine turns to the fairy tale at the start of Genesis. He imagines a Story of the Fall that parallels the Gnostic descent of the soul.
Adam, like the soul before incarnation, is perfect (incorruptible and good). Adam could even control his you know what by reason. Imagine that.
Better, try not to imagine that.]
08/4/17
Man and Sin by Piet Schoonenberg (1964) 2.3 EA
Summary of text [comment] page 82
[So, for Augustine, the question becomes:
How to explain this infant baptism business to the fellows?]
08/3/17
Man and Sin by Piet Schoonenberg (1964) 2.3 DZ
[The women of the pagan Roman Empire know this: Christian baptism transforms hellacious vessels of evil matter into joyful, wonderful, innocent babies.]
08/2/17
Man and Sin by Piet Schoonenberg (1964) 2.3 DY
[In Augustine’s time, mothers know this.
They also know that their babies could die long before they were old enough to acquire secret knowledge.
Baptism is like a ticket out of a Manichaean trap. Mothers want their children baptized in order to redeem the baby’s spiritual spark within its material evil.
Plus, they wanted it done without delay.]
08/1/17
Man and Sin by Piet Schoonenberg (1964) 2.3 DX
[So the question becomes: How do I redeem the spiritual spark that makes up my true self?
Redemption is promised through secret knowledge (gnosis) that guides the ascent of the soul.]
07/31/17
Man and Sin by Piet Schoonenberg (1964) 2.3 DW
Summary of text [comment] page 82
[Does the first singularity confirm Augustine’s social construction of Original Sin?
So far, I noted, in blogs on Anthony Zimmerman’s work, that Augustine’s paradigm looks like the myth of the descent of the soul.
Augustine was once a Manichaean philosopher.
In the Manichaean view, babies are evil.
Why?
They are material.
The incorruptible and good spirit that animates each baby collects corruptible and evil material in its descent.
The details about how this occurs are never quite clear. But, everyone knows the punchline: Babies are eternal spiritual sparks trapped in corruptible mortal flesh.]
07/28/17
Man and Sin by Piet Schoonenberg (1964) 2.3 DV
Summary of text [comment] page 82
[Our current Lebenswelt is not the Lebenswelt we evolved in.
The transition from intuitive reference to projected reference was the first singularity experienced by our species.
To me, this singularity is captured in those early stories of Genesis.
Indeed, all ancient written mythologies of southwest Asia testify to the first singularity.]
07/27/17
Man and Sin by Piet Schoonenberg (1964) 2.3 DU
[The materialist ideologies of the Cold Battle (1945-1989 AD; 7745-7789 U0’) desired to control this fundament of civilization.
However, if “property” cannot be smelled, tasted, touched, seen or heard, then what on earth is it?]