Why Ms. B doesn’t think we need a historical Adam (Part 1)

Here, dear reader, continues the conversation of Mr. A and Ms. B from "Why Mr. A believes we need a historical Adam"

Ms. B: Here's your rooibos tea Mr. A.

Mr. A: Thank you, Ms. B. You're very kind. Now, you were going to explain why you think the Christian doesn't need a historical Adam.

Ms. B: Yes, down to business. Are you familiar with the concept of accommodation?

Mr. A: I'm not sure what context you mean.

Ms. B: Accommodation refers to the process of communicating ideas in a framework or worldview apprehensible to the person you want to teach. It simply involves making an idea or concept accessible to a person.

Mr. A: Oh right, sure.

Ms. B: Let's say that your father is diagnosed with a basal cell carcinoma. If you want to break the news to your three year old, you don't read to your child a medical dictionary definition of the condition's pathophysiology, epidemiology and prognosis.

Mr. A: No, of course not. You tell her "Grandpa has an owie but the doctor will make it all better."

Ms. B: Yes, and if your child pressed you for more details, you might accommodate a bit further: "Remember when you stayed out in the sun and your arms were burned? And remember how we put that cream on the burn to help you get better? Well Grandpa has a little burn on his nose and the doctor will help him to get better." Technically it is not really correct - basal cell carcinoma is not a skin burn and it obviously requires a different treatment- but this is sufficient for your child to understand that grandpa is sick and will need a doctor to help him get better.

Mr. A: Indeed.

Ms. B: Now the gap in understanding between a child and adult is large, but it is nothing compared to the gap between God and human beings. Consequently, when God communicates he too brings things down to our level, he accommodates himself to human limitations. This means that when we read the Bible we should read it in the awareness that God has brought himself to the level of particular individuals in history, accommodating to their worldview so that they could understand the main point he wanted to communicate.

Mr. A: Can you give a specific example?

Ms. B: Sure. Consider what Paul says in Philippians 2:9-11:

Therefore God exalted him [Jesus] to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

Mr. A: Ahh yes, a great passage.

Ms. B: Did you notice Paul's reference to three spheres, heaven, the earth and under the earth?

Mr. A: Hmmm, I never really thought much about it before.

Ms. B: When Paul uses that tripartite formulation he is summarizing Hebrew cosmology which taught that God created a three-storied universe of heaven above, earth, and hades or sheol below, and that he interacts with us through that universe. But when we read that passage, do we find ourselves obliged to accept Paul's three-storied universe? In order to get what Paul is saying about Jesus, do we have to accept that the earth is a flat disc, with hades below and heaven above?

Mr. A: No, of course not. The point is that Christ will be glorified throughout all creation. And that is true whether you think creation is a three-storied universe or a three hundred billion galaxy universe.

Ms. B: Well said Mr. A. So we can strip away the accommodation to three-storied universe in order to get at the main theological point.

Mr. A: Let me guess: you're going to say that a historical Adam might also be an accommodation to human understanding of the time but that it is not necessary to maintain the theological point of the Bible?

Ms. B: Again, well said Mr. A. Would you care for another cup of rooibos?