…but I was reminded of it today.
Perhaps some PS forum visitors will be interested in their book review:
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I find it paradoxical that a book about “When Did Sin Begin?” doesn’t define what sin is? Would sin be the same in an agrarian society 12,000 years ago compared to a hunter gatherer society 100,000 years ago? Is sin species dependent? Could Homo Erectus sin? How about Neanderthals?
I haven’t read the book but I got the impression from the review that the book does indeed define it. The reviewers wrote:
The remaining chapters examine the four scenarios in the light of a variety of theological issues, such as when sin began, the nature of sin, and how sin is propagated.
That sure sounds like the author tackles the definitions and other specifics. Am I missing something? (Or did you read the book and not find any definitions of sin?)
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I am now reading Nathan Lents new book, “The Sexual Evolution” How 500 million years of sex, gender and mating shape modern relationships. I can’t fathom how biblical definitions of sin could apply to small groups of humans 300,000 years ago. Humans lived for over a million years in small cultural groups roaming across Africa and Eurasia in search of animals to kill and eat in order to survive. Sin is a social construct that takes time to evolve. Would it be a sin for Neanderthals to eat meat on Fridays during Lent?
Considering that the Roman Catholic tradition of no meat on Friday was based on commemoration of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ on a Friday, I would speculate that Neanderthals living many thousands of years before that event would not be aware of that tradition.
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But what about the Neanderthals who lived centuries after that event?
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All I know is that just a few years ago they were doing the GEICO caveman commercials:
I don’t know if the scene in a restaurant was on a Friday but he did order “the mango salsa”, a no meat option.