RIEŠENIE OTÁZKY PÔVODU ZLA V OBDOBÍ MEDZI STAROU A NOVOU ZMLUVOU
SOLVING THE QUESTION OF THE ORIGIN OF EVIL BETWEEN THE TESTAMENTS

Summary/Abstract: The article deals with the issue of the origin of evil in the documents of Second Temple Judaism (the books of Enoch, the Book of Jubilees, Sirach, and some texts from Qumran – the Damascus Document, Sapiental Work A, the Community Rule). In the period between the Testaments, there was a very lively debate on the origin of sin. One explanation, provided by the Book of Watchers in 1 Enoch 1–36, expanded the mythic account of the origin of evil on earth through the activity of fallen angels (Gen 6). The problem was how to balance a monistic belief in a good omnipotent Creator with the presence of evil in the world. A guilty inclination of man is the second explanation of the origin of sin. The text from Qumran Damascus Document (CD) bypasses the story of fallen angels, but subscribes to the tradition that the root of sinful behavior is the human decision to follow evil inclination. A much more elaborate explanation of the origin of evil is found in the Instruction on the Two Spirits in the Community Rule (1QS 3,13–4,26), according to which two spirits fight “in the heart of man” (1QS 4,23). Neither pseudepigrafic nor sapiental literature ever completely resolved the question of the origin of evil, because of the tension between free will of man and predestination. In the first century AD, the debate on these issues was still going on in 4 Ezra, 2 Baruch, and also in the epistles of Paul. In Christian tradition, the emphasis was put on the hereditary transmission of sin from Adam.

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