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Summary

We have seen that in his interpretation of Genesis 1-3, Men is keen to draw a
real ontological distinction between humans and animals. He uses this
distinction to separate the anthropological Fall that results in the appearance
of moral evil from the Cosmic Fall, which causes the appearance of Chaos in
the universe. This means that Men associates physical death with the Cosmic
Fall and the ensuing Chaos, and spiritual death with the anthropological Fall.
Particularly in his later writings, he associates Chaos and cosmic evil with
demonic evil and both have a personal nature. This Angelic Fall takes place
before Gen 1:2 as part of the universe that was perfectly created in Gen 1:1.
Men does not allow for a pre-temporal world of metaphysical perfection.
The reference in Gen 1:31 to the ‘goodness’ of creation is interpreted as
God’s valuation from a position outside of time. In this light the ‘goodness’
takes on a eschatological direction, describing creation in its metaphysical
fullness and completion. Eden is understood as a reality, but this reality is not
naturalistic; rather it is a state of direct communication between the Creator
and his creatures. Adam is described as ‘vsechelovek’ in the sense that he is a
super-organism made up of individuals. Men’s views on the possibility of one
original individual, the first human are not negative, but rather agnostic.
It may be noted that Men makes far greater use of the Genesis 1-3
accounts than his four predecessors.
Concerning the philosophical aspects of his account, it is clear that
freedom grounded in the kenosis that is fully demonstrated in the Incarnation
is the aspect of God’s personality that makes possible the existence of evil.
Men sees the origins of freedom and evil ultimately as inaccessible to rational
thought, an area that can only be understood in terms of relationship and
encounter and best portrayed in the arts as a medium open to revelation.

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