HRE 101: Unit #2 Creation, Decreation, Recreation Review

Course and Assessment Framework

• Course Designation: HRE $101$

• Curricular Unit: Unit #$2$: Creation, Decreation, Recreation

• Academic Term and Instructor: Fall $2026$, M. Medeiros

• Assessment Timing: Assessment #$2$ / Unit Test scheduled for Tuesday, November $3\text{rd}$, $2026$

• Central Theological Trajectory: The progression from God's original creation, humanity's disruption through decreation (sin and the entrance of evil), and God's restorative work of recreation through divine covenants and moral renewal

Creation Stories and Biblical Hermeneutics

• Literary Genre of Genesis:

  • The Book of Genesis utilizes the literary form of Creation / Myth.

  • It conveys fundamental spiritual, theological, and ontological truths concerning the nature of God, the order of the cosmos, and the human condition, rather than functioning as modern empirical science or journalistic history.

• Catholic Interpretation of Genesis:

  • Catholics do not interpret the biblical creation stories as literal historical truth.

  • The accounts are read contextually and symbolically to discern the enduring religious meaning rather than literal chronological events.

• Biblical Conception of Divine Time:

  • According to St. Peter, a single day in the sight of God is equivalent to $1,000\text{ years}$ ($1\text{ day} = 1,000\text{ years}$, reflecting divine eternity surpassing human measurements of time).

• Compatibility of Faith, Creation, and Science:

  • Catholics accept both evolutionary biology and the theology of divine creation.

  • The Catholic theological view affirms that God is the divine author and primary cause of all life, and evolutionary processes represent the physical mechanisms through which life unfolds within God's creative design.

• Chronology of the First Creation Account:

  • Initial Creation: Light is created on the first day ($1\text{st}\text{ day}$), preceding the creation of the sun and the moon.

  • Creation of Humanity: God creates human beings on the sixth day ($6\text{th}\text{ day}$) in the divine image and likeness.

  • The Sabbath Rest: God concludes the work of creation and rests on the seventh day ($7\text{th}\text{ day}$), instituting a model of rest, contemplation, and sacred worship.

• The Second Creation Account and Moral Agency:

  • The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil: Located in the center / middle of the Garden of Eden.

  • The Divine Commandment: God explicitly commands Adam and Eve not to eat the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge.

  • Free Will and Human Agency: Adam and Eve choose to disobey God's instruction by eating the forbidden fruit (the apple). This pivotal event demonstrates that God values human free will, giving humanity the moral autonomy to make real choices rather than compelling forced obedience.

Decreation, the Fall, and the Origin of Evil

• The Origin and Entrance of Evil:

  • Evil does not originate as an intrinsic, created substance from God; God's creation is fundamentally good.

  • Evil enters the world through human disobedience, the abuse of human free will, and the intentional rejection of divine limits and relationship with God.

• Concept of Decreation:

  • Decreation is the corruption, fragmentation, and undoing of the original goodness, peace, and harmony of creation brought about by human sinfulness and rebellion.

• Consequences and Punishments for Adam's Sin:

  • Severance from Paradise: Expulsion from the Garden of Eden.

  • Hard Labor and Toil: Adam is condemned to arduous physical labor and sweat to draw sustenance from the earth.

  • Existential Suffering: The entrance of hardship, pain, physical degradation, and mortality into human existence.

Systematic Theology of Sin, Conscience, and Moral Action

• Definition of Conscience:

  • Conscience is the internal moral faculty of knowing and discerning the difference between right and wrong, guiding individuals toward choosing good and avoiding evil.

• Systematic Definition of Sin:

  • An intentional offense against God, reason, truth, and right conscience.

  • A failure in genuine love for God and neighbor resulting from a disordered attachment to certain temporal goods.

• Definition of Original Sin:

  • The inherited state of spiritual fallenness, wounded human nature, and loss of original holiness and justice affecting all generations, resulting from the initial disobedience of Adam and Eve.

• Distinction of Sins by Gravity and Degree:

  • Mortal Sin:

  • A grave violation of God's moral law that destroys sanctifying grace and charity within the heart of the sinner.

  • Directly severs the human soul's relationship with God, incurring spiritual death unless absolved.

  • Example: The intentional killing/murder of another human being (fratricide), as demonstrated by Cain murdering Abel.

  • Venial Sin:

  • A lesser moral transgression that offends, weakens, and wounds charity within the soul without entirely destroying it.

  • Impedes the soul's progress in the exercise of virtues and moral good, but does not completely break the covenantal relationship with God.

  • Example: Small everyday acts of impatience, minor deception, or gossiping.

• The Three Requisite Conditions for Mortal Sin:

  • Grave Matter: The act itself must constitute serious, significant moral harm, specified by the moral law (e.g., violations of the Ten Commandments).

  • Full Knowledge: The individual must possess complete understanding that the act is seriously evil and contrary to God's law.

  • Deliberate Consent: The individual must make a free, conscious choice of the will to perform the action.

  • Moral Judgment Principle: If any single condition is lacking (e.g., lack of full awareness or diminished free will due to duress), the transgression cannot be judged as a mortal sin and is classified as venial.

• Distinction of Sins by Mode of Action:

  • Sin of Commission: A sinful action, word, or deed directly and purposefully committed by an individual contrary to God's law (e.g., committing physical assault or theft).

  • Sin of Omission: The sinful failure to execute an obligatory moral duty or good action that one is capable of and ought to perform (e.g., ignoring a neighbor in dire need or neglecting basic parental care).

Moral Dynamics: Vice, Virtue, and the Narrative of Cain and Abel

• Definitions of Vice and Virtue:

  • Vice: A bad habit, persistent negative behavioral pattern, or acquired moral disposition that inclines an individual to commit sin.

  • Virtue: A good habit, firm disposition, and habitual inclination toward performing what is morally good and righteous.

• Combatting Vice Through Virtue:

  • Virtues actively serve as remedies that oppose, dismantle, and overcome corresponding vices (e.g., charity combats envy; humility combats pride; patience combats anger).

• The Account of Cain and Abel:

  • The Driving Vice: Cain acts out of the vice of envy (jealousy regarding Abel's favored sacrifice and standing before God).

  • The Resulting Sin: Fratricide (the deliberate murder of his brother Abel).

  • Moral Severity: Classified definitively as a mortal sin due to its grave matter (taking innocent human life), full knowledge, and deliberate intent.

Biblical Covenants in Salvation History

• Definition of Covenant:

  • A sacred, solemn, and binding agreement between God and human beings that establishes a permanent kinship bond, mutual responsibilities, and divine promises.

• Biblical Symbolism of the Number $40$:

  • In Sacred Scripture, the number $40$ represents a period of testing, spiritual trial, purification, and preparation.

  • Illustrated by Noah, who experienced torrential rain for $40\text{ days and }40\text{ nights}$.

• The Noahic Covenant:

  • Divine Agreement: God promises Noah and all earthly creation that the earth will never again be destroyed by a catastrophic flood.

  • Visible Sign of the Covenant: A rainbow set in the clouds, serving as a permanent sign of peace and divine faithfulness.

• The Abrahamic Covenant:

  • Transformation of Identity: Abram's name is transformed by God to Abraham, signifying his role as the father of a multitude of nations.

  • Divine Promises: God promises Abraham countless descendants (as numerous as the stars), inheritances of land, and universal blessings.

  • Physical Sign of the Covenant: The rite of circumcision practiced upon all males as a perpetual, bodily sign of membership within the covenant community.

Papal Magisterium and Environmental Theology

• Definition of an Encyclical:

  • An official, pastoral letter written and issued by the Pope to instruct the global Catholic Church, clergy, and all people of good will on vital doctrinal, moral, and social matters.

• The Papal Encyclical Laudato Si':

  • Central Subject Matter: Ecological stewardship, taking care of God's creation, and protecting planet Earth as humanity's common home.

  • Theological Mandate: Affirms that environmental preservation, combating ecological degradation, and defending the vulnerable are fundamental religious, moral, and social responsibilities directly linked to honoring the Creator.