Eve & Adam

by Kvam, Kristen E.; Schearing, Linda S.; Ziegler, Valarie H.

• ISBN13: 9780253334909
• ISBN10: 025333490X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-06-01
• Publisher: Indiana Univ Pr

Summary

"Wonderful! A marvelous introduction to the ways in which the three major Western religious traditions are both like, and unlike one another. Scholars will be familiar with many of the texts, while others will be both new and of enormous interest. . . . The truth is Genesis 1-3 and its subsequent chapters are so rich, so complex, and so problematic on the subject of gender, that just reading the biblical text is sufficient to start engaged, even heated, discussion. As the field of Religious Studies becomes more specialized, and the focus of scholarly works increasingly narrow, anthologies such as Genesis and Gender remind us that the interpretation and impact of religious texts can be astonishingly broad, extending well beyond the communities they initially addressed. Genesis and Gender enables us to read, or reread, Genesis 1-3 through a variety of religious lenses that underscore both the interconnectedness and uniqueness of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Easily accessible to scholars, it also has great potential for use as a college or university text." Ellen Umansky, Fairfield University NP No other text has affected women in the western world as much as the story of Eve and Adam. The story has engendered countless commentaries, has been used to argue the "fallen" nature of humankind or to explain or exploit relations between the sexes, and has played a key role in justifying the ways of God toward man and woman. This remarkable anthology surveys more than 2,000 years of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim commentary on the biblical story that continues to raise fundamental questions about what it means to be a man or to be a woman.NP The selections range widely from early postbiblical interpretations in the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha to three commentaries written especially for this volume. The editors have included early rabbinic texts, interpretations from the New Testament, and commentaries from the Church Fathers. There are excerpts from the Qur'an, from medieval Jewish commentaries, from Thomas Aquinas and other later figures, as well as representative texts of the Protestant Reformation. One section focuses on nineteenth-century America and the antebellum debate on slavery, the struggle for women's equality, and new religious movements such as Shakerism and Christian Science. Twentieth century texts from all three traditions conclude the volume. A special appendix focuses on race and Genesis 1-3 at the turn of the new millennium.NP The tale told through these texts is a remarkable one of the hold the story of Eve and Adam has had on the western imagination. The editors note that though the biblical account has been invoked throughout history to justify all manner of oppression, there is an equally rich tradition of egalitarian interpretation, well-represented in this book. Far from a collection of lifeless, historical documents, these texts are lively representatives of a debate that continues to animate men and women to this day.

Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND PERMISSIONS	XIII
General Introduction	1	(14)
CHAPTER ONE Hebrew Bible Accounts	15	(26)
INTRODUCTION	15	(7)
GENESIS: SELECTIONS AND COMMENTARY	22	(19)
The Seven Days of Creation	22	(4)
A Garden in Eden	26	(5)
Sent from the Garden	31	(5)
Life after Eden	36	(2)
Adam's Descendants	38	(3)
CHAPTER TWO Jewish Postbiblical Interpretations (200S BCE-200 CE)	41	(28)
INTRODUCTION	41	(6)
APOCRYPHA (DEUTEROCANON) AND PSEUDEPIGRAPHA	47	(17)
1 Enoch 1-36 (c. 200S BCE)	48	(1)
Sirach (c. 180 BCE)	49	(2)
Jubilees (c. mid-100S BCE)	51	(4)
Wisdom of Solomon (c. 30S BCE-100 CE)	55	(1)
2 Esdras (c. 100 CE)	55	(1)
2 Baruch (c. early 100S CE)	56	(2)
Life of Adam and Eve (c. late 100S-400 CE)	58	(6)
JEWISH PHILOSOPHERS AND HISTORIANS	64	(5)
Philo, Questiones et Solutiones in Genesin (c. 20S-40S CE)	64	(3)
Josephus, Jewish Antiquities (c. 90S CE)	67	(2)
CHAPTER THREE Rabbinic Interpretations (200-600S CE)	69	(39)
INTRODUCTION	69	(8)
MIDRASH AND TALMUD	77	(23)
Humankind's Creation	77	(8)
The Disobedience	85	(11)
Adam and Eve after Eden	96	(2)
Humankind in the Post-Edenic World	98	(2)
TARGUMS	100	(8)
Targum Onqelos to Genesis (c. 100S CE)	101	(3)
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan: Genesis (pre-600 CE)	104	(4)
CHAPTER FOUR Early Christian Interpretations (50-450 CE)	108	(48)
INTRODUCTION	108	(8)
NEW TESTAMENT	116	(3)
"Egalitarian" Texts	117	(1)
1 Corinthians 15:21-22	117	(1)
Galatians 3:27-28	117	(1)
Ephesians 4:22-24	117	(1)
Colossians 3:9-11	117	(1)
"Hierarchical" Texts	117	(1)
1 Corinthians 11:3-12	117	(1)
2 Corinthians 11:2-6	118	(1)
Ephesians 5:21-6:9	118	(1)
1 Timothy 2:8-15	119	(1)
EXTRACANONICAL SOURCES	119	(9)
The Gospel According to Thomas (c. 50-150 CE)	120	(2)
The Gospel According to Philip (pre-350 CE)	122	(2)
The Acts of Thecla (c. 100S CE)	124	(4)
CHURCH FATHERS	128	(28)
Theophilus, "Apology to Autolycus" (late 100S CE)	129	(2)
Anastasius Sinaita, Anagogicarum Contemplationum (c. 150-250 CE)	131	(1)
Tertullian, "On the Apparel of Women" (c. 202 CE)	132	(1)
Origen, "Homilies on Genesis" (c. 240 CE)	133	(3)
Ambrose, "Paradise" (c. 375 CE)	136	(6)
John Chrysostom, Homilies on Genesis (c. 386 CE)	142	(6)
Augustine, The Literal Meaning of Genesis (begun c. 401 CE)	148	(8)
CHAPTER FIVE Medieval Readings: Muslim, Jewish, and Christian (600-1500 CE)	156	(93)
INTRODUCTION	156	(22)
ISLAM	178	(25)
The Qur'an (c. 610-632 CE)	179	(1)
Surah 2, The Cow: 2:29-38, 222-23, 228	179	(1)
Surah 4, Women: 4:1, 3, 34-36, 116-20, 128-30	180	(1)
Surah 7, The Heights: 7:19-27, 189-90	181	(1)
Surah 15, Al-Hijr: 15:26-45	182	(1)
Surah 20, Ta Ha: 20:115-23	183	(1)
Surah 23, The Believers: 23:12-14	183	(1)
Surah 24, Light: 24:30-33	183	(1)
Surah 30, The Romans: 30:20-22	184	(1)
Surah 49, The Private Apartments: 49:13	184	(2)
Al-Tabari, Commentary on the Qur'an (c. late 800S CE)	186	(5)
Al-Kisa'i, The Tales of the Prophets of al-Kisa'i (collected c. 1200 CE)	191	(9)
Ibn al-Arabi, The Bezels of Wisdom (c. 1200S CE)	200	(3)
JUDAISM	203	(22)
Midrashic Themes (c. 600-1300S CE)	203	(1)
The Creation of Lilith	204	(1)
Woman: God's Answer to God's Problem	204	(1)
Adam Had One Wife, Not Ten!	205	(1)
Prince Sammael and the Serpent	205	(1)
Adam: The Cause of Eve's Disobedience	206	(1)
Sammael and Eve Punished	206	(1)
The Children of Eve and Sammael	207	(1)
The Children of Adam and Lilith	207	(1)
The Children of Adam and Eve	207	(1)
Rashi, Commentary on the Pentateuch (c. late 1000S CE)	208	(5)
Nahmanides, Commentary on the Torah (c. 1200S CE)	213	(3)
Maimonides, The Guide for the Perplexed (c. late 1100S CE)	216	(4)
Isaac Kohen, A Treatise on the Left Emanation (c. 1200S CE)	220	(2)
The Zohar (c. late 1200S CE)	222	(3)
CHRISTIANITY	225	(24)
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae (begun late 1260S CE)	226	(11)
Christine de Pizan, "Letter of the God of Love" (1399 CE)	237	(5)
Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger, Malleus Maleficarum (1496 CE)	242	(7)
CHAPTER SIX Interpretations from the Protestant Reformation (1517-1700 CE)	249	(56)
INTRODUCTION	249	(12)
FIVE REFORMATION THINKERS	261	(44)
Balthasar Hubmaier, Freedom of the Will (1527 CE)	262	(5)
Martin Luther, Lectures on Genesis (begun 1535 CE)	267	(9)
John Calvin, Commentaries on the First Book of Moses Called Genesis (c. 1555 CE)	276	(6)
Margaret Fell, Women's Speaking: Justified, Proved, and Allowed of by the Scriptures (1666 CE)	282	(6)
John Milton, Paradise Lost (1667 CE)	288	(17)
CHAPTER SEVEN Social Applications in the United States (1800S CE)	305	(66)
INTRODUCTION	305	(18)
ANTEBELLUM DEBATES ON HOUSEHOLD HIERARCHIES: PROSLAVERY AND ANTISLAVERY VIEWS	323	(17)
Fred A. Ross, Slavery Ordinated of God (1857 CE)	324	(2)
Samuel B. How, Slaveholding Not Sinful (1856 CE)	326	(6)
Josiah Priest, Bible Defence of Slavery (1851 CE)	332	(1)
Rev. Charles Elliott, Sinfulness of American Slavery (1851 CE)	333	(7)
WOMEN MAKE THE CASE FOR EQUALITY	340	(16)
Sarah Grimke, Letters on the Equality of the Sexes and the Condition of Woman (1838 CE)	340	(6)
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, editor, The Woman's Bible (1895, 1898 CE)	346	(10)
NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS ON GENDER RELATIONS	356	(15)
Shakers	356	(1)
Frederick W. Evans, Autobiography of a Shaker (1888 CE) and Compendium (1867 CE)	357	(3)
Paulina Bates, The Divine Book of Holy and Eternal Wisdom (1849 CE)	360	(3)
Oneida Community	363	(1)
John Humphrey Noyes, History of American Socialisms (1870 CE)	364	(4)
Christian Science	368	(1)
Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (c. 1875 CE)	368	(3)
CHAPTER EIGHT Twentieth-Century Readings: The Debates Continue	371	(112)
INTRODUCTION	371	(16)
HIERARCHICAL INTERPRETATIONS	387	(32)
Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, "The Danvers Statement" (1987 CE)	388	(3)
Susan T. Foh, "The Head of the Woman Is the Man" (1989 CE)	391	(10)
Joseph H. Hertz, editor, The Authorized Daily Prayer Book (1945 CE)	401	(3)
Samuel H. Dresner, "Homosexuality and the Order of Creation" (1991 CE)	404	(9)
Sayyid Abu al-A'la Mawdudi, Towards Understanding the Qur'an (1942-1972 CE)	413	(6)
EGALITARIAN INTERPRETATIONS	419	(64)
Sun Ai Lee Park, Poem (Untitled) (c. 1991 CE)	420	(2)
Judith Plaskow, "The Coming of Lilith: Toward a Feminist Theology" (1979 CE) and "Lilith Revisited" (1995 CE)	422	(9)
Phyllis Trible, "Eve and Adam: Genesis 2-3 Reread" (1973 CE) and "Not a Jot, Not a Title: Genesis 2-3 after Twenty Years" (1995 CE)	431	(13)
Jouette M. Bassler, "Deception in the Garden: 1 Timothy 2:11-15" (1994 CE)	444	(12)
Ann Holmes Redding, "Not Again: Another Look at the Household Codes" (1995 CE)	456	(8)
Riffat Hassan, "The Issue of Woman-Man Equality in the Islamic Tradition" (1993 CE)	464	(13)
Nancy Datan, "Forbidden Fruits and Sorrow" (1986 CE)	477	(6)
Appendix THE PREADAMITE THEORY AND THE CHRISTIAN IDENTITY MOVEMENT: RACE, HIERARCHY, AND GENESIS 1-3 AT THE TURN OF THE MILLENNIUM	483	(20)
INTRODUCTION	483	(2)
NINETEENTH-CENTURY PREADAMITE APPROACHES	485	(11)
A Minister [D. G. Phillips], "Nachesh: What Is It? or An Answer to the Question, `Who and What Is the Negro?' Drawn from Revelation" (1868 CE)	486	(5)
Prospero, "Caliban: A Sequel to `Ariel'" (1868 CE)	491	(5)
GENESIS AND WHITE SUPREMACY IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY	496	(4)
Wesley A. Swift, "God, Man, Nations & the Races" (no date)	496	(4)
Richard G. Butler, "Who, What, Why, When, Where: Aryan Nations" (no date) and "The Aryan Warrior" (no date)	500	(3)
INDEX	503