Gender and Sexuality in the Garden of Eden

Various attempts have been made to argue that the plain meaning of the story of the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2-3 supports a feminist, or at least a woman-friendly, understanding of the gender and sexual relationships between Adam and Eve. I counter that these arguments are not convincing and are ha...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Gellman, Jerome (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group 2006
In: Theology & sexuality
Year: 2006, Volume: 12, Issue: 3, Pages: 319-335
Further subjects:B Phyllis Bird
B Adam
B Garden of Eden
B Phyllis Trible
B Sexuality in the Bible
B feminist interpretation
B Eve
B patriarchy in the Bible
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Parallel Edition:Electronic
Description
Summary:Various attempts have been made to argue that the plain meaning of the story of the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2-3 supports a feminist, or at least a woman-friendly, understanding of the gender and sexual relationships between Adam and Eve. I counter that these arguments are not convincing and are hard to square with the biblical text, by considering four central elements in the story: (1) The sexual nature of ha'adam, Adam/ the earthling at the start of our story; (2) God's ‘curse’ of Eve; (3) The meaning of the woman being a ‘helper’ to Adam; and (4) Adam's naming of the woman. I conclude that the most plausible meaning of these chapters is that Adam dominates Eve sexually and otherwise from the very moment of Eve's creation.
ISSN:1745-5170
Contains:Enthalten in: Theology & sexuality
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1177/1355835806065391