The Bible starts with a story about creation and then about the first humans. In The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve the author Stephen Greenblatt discusses how this story is interwoven into our culture, and the consequences of the story being taken literally. I bought this book in a charity shop in Penrith in August last year when on holiday in the area – I highly recommend Penrith as a source of second hand books. It cost me £2.99 but it is a hardback edition, with dustcover, and in excellent condition, possibly previously unread. I am interested in history, and the history of religion and culture, and I expected that this book would be one I would enjoy. I was right about that, and I found it even more fascinating than I had anticipated.
The author looks at the story of Adam and Eve and details why he feels that it is obviously a myth. He then looks at how the church absorbed the story into its theology and how they decided that it was literal truth. The consequences of that for believers and nations are outlined – the treatment of women, the concept of original sin and even how the story related to the acceptance of slavery. Some of this is eye opening but, as you read, you realise that we still experience the echoes of it in our wider culture today.
The story has been depicted in paintings, murals, stories and poetry. The author talks about the best known of these and how the art is shaped by the belief, or occasionally the lack of belief. We could have done with a few more pictures at this point, although you can Google things, of course. There are also some sad stories about what happened to people who didn’t believe the accepted view of things and who suffered for this.
The author ends the book with the Enlightenment, when it became acceptable to disregard and challenge the teaching of the church. I would argue that the rise of the right-wing Evangelical churches in America show us that much of the damage inflicted by the way in which this story was interpreted is being revived and applied even today. Maybe there will be a sequel to this book.
I thought this book was brilliant and very thought provoking. In fact, I shall need to read it again in the future to get the most out of the narrative. Until then it will reside on my shelf with other books about the history Christianity in all its forms.
Anne Is Reading 