Person

Henri Blocher

French evangelical theologian (b. 1937). Professor of Systematic Theology at the Faculté Libre de Théologie Évangélique de Vaux-sur-Seine (1965-2003) and Gunther Knoedler Professor of Theology at Wheaton College Graduate School (2003-2008). Blocher is the most significant continental-European evangelical systematic theologian of the late 20th century and a co-developer of the Framework Hypothesis through In the Beginning: The Opening Chapters of Genesis (IVP, 1984), which brought the Framework reading to a broad English-speaking evangelical audience. He is also the author of Original Sin: Illuminating the Riddle (NSBT 5, Apollos/IVP, 1997), the standard contemporary evangelical treatment of the doctrine.

Key works

In the Beginning: The Opening Chapters of Genesis (IVP, 1984; French original Révélation des origines, 1979), Framework Hypothesis defense; the work that introduced the Framework position to mainstream evangelical readership beyond the Reformed-confessional guild where Kline had launched it
Original Sin: Illuminating the Riddle (New Studies in Biblical Theology 5, Apollos/IVP, 1997), comprehensive evangelical engagement with the doctrine of original sin; engages Augustinian, Eastern, Pelagian, and modern frameworks
Evil and the Cross: An Analytical Look at the Problem of Pain (Kregel, 1994; French original 1990), theodicy from an evangelical-Reformed perspective
Songs of the Servant: Isaiah's Good News (IVP, 1975), Isaiah Servant Songs exegesis

Theological position

Genesis 1: Framework Hypothesis, the six days are a literary-theological structure (two parallel triads), not a strict chronological report. Blocher's treatment in In the Beginning is more systematic-theological than Kline's exegetical-article approach, integrating the Framework reading with broader creation-theology (goodness of creation, imago Dei, the Fall, eschatological new-creation hope)
Original sin: Affirms the classical doctrine with nuance. Engages the Augustinian-seminal, Reformed-federal, and Eastern-Orthodox frameworks; favors a form of federal-headship reading that takes the inherited-corruption seriously without committing to every detail of Augustinian seminal-participation. Argues that the doctrine is illuminated rather than resolved by systematic theology, the "riddle" language is deliberate
Historical Adam: Affirmed; Blocher insists on historical-Adam within the Framework reading, maintaining that the Framework position concerns the literary genre of Genesis 1 (not 2-3) and does not require abandoning the historicity of Adam and Eve
Theodicy: Evil is a surd, genuinely irrational, not explicable within a closed rational system. The Cross is the divine answer, not a philosophical explanation. This positions Blocher between strict rational-theodicy (Leibniz, Plantinga's free-will defense) and anti-theodicy (D. Z. Phillips, Terrence Tilley)
Confessional stance: evangelical; broadly Reformed but working within the French-Swiss evangelical tradition rather than the Anglo-American Presbyterian-Reformed guild

Apologetic significance

Blocher's In the Beginning is load-bearing for two distinct apologetic fronts:

Against the "Christianity = YEC" charge: Blocher demonstrates that a sophisticated evangelical theologian can hold the Framework position while affirming inerrancy, historical Adam, and the Fall. This undercuts the atheist move of equating Christianity with a 6,000-year-old-earth commitment.
Against the "original sin is incoherent" charge: Original Sin: Illuminating the Riddle provides the most accessible contemporary evangelical engagement with the philosophical-theological difficulties of the doctrine. The work is referenced across the codex's soteriology and anthropology hubs.

In the codex

Genesis Hermeneutics, Framework Hypothesis proponent alongside Kline
Genesis Interpretation Spread, Framework position in the four-position synthesis
Origins and Cosmology, broader origins domain hub
Old Earth Creationism, Framework as OEC variant
Six Day Creation Falsified Objection Defeater, Framework in the defeater's scholarly anchors
Bible Scientific Errors Objection, Framework as hermeneutical response
Bible Scientific Errors Objection Defeater, scholarly deployment
Original Sin, referenced as contemporary evangelical engagement
Inherited Guilt and Visiting Iniquity Objection Defeater, original-sin scholarly anchor
Romans 5.12, modern conservative scholarship reference
G0266 - hamartia, sin vocabulary; Blocher cited on doctrine of sin
H0120 - adam, Adam vocabulary; Blocher cited
Theistic Evolution, Romans 8 eschatological reading reference
Genesis 1.14-19, Day 4 problem; Framework response