1. Chapter 2-1 Text pp. 36-42 HW p. 65 #2, 3, 6, 9

2.  Genesis 3:15 “I will put enmity between you [serpent, devil] and the woman, and between your seed [offspring] and hers. He [man] will strike at your head while you [serpent, devil] strike at his heal.”  What is likely to do the most harm, a blow to the head or a blow to the heal?  The implication here is that mankind would eventually be redeemed from their fall instigated by the devil.  The passage above is called the protoevangelium (first good news)  There would be a new Adam (Jesus) and a new Eve (Mary)  Where the first eve’s choice led to the fall, the new Eve’s choice would lead to redemption.

3.  Why would God allow original sin in his creation? Couldn’t he have intervened and saved us all the trouble?  Early Church Father’s spent a lot of time thinking about this and decided that Original Sin had actually been a “happy fault” Felix Culpa  While sin was terrible, it occasioned the coming of Christ who would become friend and redeemer to us all.  The original grace we lost was more than made up through the abundance of grace we now have in Christ.  The early Fathers (St. Leo the Great and St. Thomas Aquinas) noted there is nothing to prevent us from being lifted up higher than we were before the fall, thanks to the intervention of Christ.

4.  The Church recognizes two senses in which scriptural text can be read.  Literal and Spiritual  Literal – That which the sacred author, under the inspiration of God, intended to express.  Spiritual sense is further subdivided. The Holy Spirit sometimes puts even more meaning into a passage than the author himself recognized.  Allegorical (typical) sense: Shows how people and events in salvation history parallel future people or events. (Noah’s flood is a type for Baptism).  Moral (tropological) sense: interpretation of heroes of scripture as models for life (Job as a model of patience and suffering).  Anagogical sense: helps us to recognize heaven through images and events in scripture (the New Jerusalem described as a place of peace and prosperity where even Gentiles go).

5.  Cain’s murder of Abel was an early fruit of original sin.  Read Genesis 4:1-16  What are possible explanations for why Abel’s sacrifice was considered better than Cain’s?  The fratricide of Abel was the result of several emotions to come out of Original Sin:  Envy, resentment, both of which can be unhealthy extensions of pride.

7.  The Protoevangelium is __________ a) A promise made by Adam to Eve b) The first recorded mention of God’s promise to send a redeemer c) Eve’s revelation that she would be the salavation of the world d) God’s judgement to banish Cain from his family  Read the verse on the board. This represents what type of spiritual sense studied in class? Explain your choice. a) Spiritual b) Literal  By killing his brother _____________________, ______________________committed the first _________________ in human history.