Banished from Eden: Original Sin and Evolutionary Theory in the Drama of Salvation [Paperback]

Raymund Schwager (Author), James G. Williams (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2006

The biblical primal history, Genesis 1-11, from the Fall in Paradise to the Tower of Babel, describes a dynamics of evil that seems to correspond to modern experience. Yet original sin is now a problematic notion for many - in the 'dogma' of modernity, nature and freedom are separated. Raymund Schwager explores how, if approached in an interdisciplinary way, and understood at the profound levels of human experience and thought that they represent, evolutionary theory and the doctrine of original sin need not contradict each other. Original sin, which ostensibly confuses separate realms in a mythological way, may preserve a deeper and critical view of what the 'dogma' of modernity has on the surface artificially separated. Looking at current developments in genetic technology, based on the concept of the organism as a living memory, he observes the experience of suffering and evil in the contexts of natural and human history, and of revelation history. The Christian message of the drama of salvation provides the context for this dynamic exploration of the fundamental issues for human self-reflection and for theological enquiry. English language publication of this, the final work of Raymund Schwager, one of the key exponents of the ideas of René Girard, has been eagerly awaited. Raymund Schwager was Professor of Theology at the University of Innsbruck, Austria. He died in 2004, shortly before the completion of the translation of this volume. His exciting and revolutionary work Must There Be Scapegoats: Violence and Redemption in the Bible is also co-published by Inigo Enterprises and Gracewing.

Product Details

• Paperback: 191 pages
• Publisher: Gracewing Publishing (August 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0852446063
• ISBN-13: 978-0852446065
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,606,841 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intelligent and perceptive analysis of original sin operating in man's evolution, June 9, 2009

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Aquinas "summa" (celestial heights, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Banished from Eden: Original Sin and Evolutionary Theory in the Drama of Salvation (Paperback)

Schwager is a Jesuit (he died a few years ago) who spent much of his academic life dialoguing with Rene Girard and working out the implications of Girard's theory for theology.

In this book, taking seriously man's evolution, he seeks to unravel, using mimetic theory, how original sin entered into humanity during evolution. This book makes fascinating reading because it tries to do what Catholicism seeks to do, namely take the complimentarity of faith and reason seriously. Thus, Schwager interprets the Genesis narratives in light of mimetic theory. For fundamentalists/literalists, all is explained, but Schwager shows how exciting is the process of man's evolution , his awarness of the transcendent dimension and how sin penetrated human evolution. Now, the book is a little frustrating because what we get from Schwager is essentially some initial thoughts/sketches which need to be worked out in time. Let me just give one quote from page 50 as a taster:

"We see that organisms living today have a "memory" that extends back to determinative events and "bifurcations" in the early history of the cosmos and of life. Human beings belong to these organisms. From this viewpoint, therefore, a doctrine is not surprising which holds that all present humans bear wihin themselves the memory of another form of bifurcation, of a deviation from the right way in the beginning of humna history."