Earthly Paradise

Explores the history of how the Eden story in Genesis has been understood.The essays contained in this volume constitute, not a continuous narrative of the history of how the Eden story in Genesis has been understood, but rather a series of snapshots taken at different moments in that history. They include examples of Christian, Jewish, and Islamic interpretations of Genesis in different periods, places and contexts. They address popular movements, learned exegesis, literary appropriations and modern theology and philosophy. They move from antiquity to the twentieth century, and span a spectrum from orthodox to heterodox interpretations of the Eden narrative.