Research Questions

FEC is best treated as a research program with open questions.

Biblical and theological

• Does Scripture support a distinction between an original good order and the fallen order described by science?

• How should Romans 5, Romans 8, and 1 Corinthians 15 be integrated?

• What do the image of God, original sin, and solidarity in Adam mean within the model?

• How does FEC relate to historic Christian interpretations of creation and the Fall?

Philosophical

• Can causal priority be distinguished coherently from chronology internal to a created order?

• What makes a complete natural history real rather than merely apparent?

• Does FEC explain natural evil, or only relocate the question?

• What evidence or argument could count against the proposal?

Scientific and historical

• Which scientific findings are relevant to claims about human ancestry and genealogical descent?

• What constraints do archaeology, genetics, and ancient chronology place on proposed entry dates for Adam and Eve?

• Where does FEC make contact with science, and where should it remain explicitly theological?

Ethical and pastoral

• How can the proposal guard unequivocally against hierarchies of human value?

• Will the model help Christians engage evidence honestly, or create a new source of unnecessary certainty?

• How should FEC be discussed with people for whom creation debates have caused spiritual harm?

These questions are invitations to serious criticism and collaborative development.