It's always good to hear from Australia. I taught in Perth for
a couple of years - but a good fraction of a lifetime ago now.
Just a brief response to the above portion of your post. In an
important theological sense, the first human is Jesus Christ. I.e., he
is the purpose of the creation of humanity and, in fact, of the
universe. Col.1:13-20 is important here. Karl Barth brings this out
well in his little book on Rom.5 entitled, significantly _Christ and
Adam_ rather than _Adam and Christ_. Even if we interpret the early
chapters of Genesis as literally and realistically as possible, they
tell us virtually nothing about the kind of people Adam and Eve were.
(Many discussions about this are pure fantasy.) If we want to know what
God intends as genuinely human existence, we have to look at Jesus.
SHALOM,
George Murphy