Table Of ContentAdam and Eve in Scripture,
Theology, and Literature
Adam and Eve in Scripture,
Theology, and Literature
Sin, Compassion, and Forgiveness
Peter B. Ely
LEXINGTON BOOKS
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Copyright © 2018 by Lexington Books
Chapter one was previously published as “Paul Ricoeur on the Symbolism of Evil: A
Theological Retrieval,” in Ultimate Reality and Meaning: Interdisciplinary Studies in the
Philosophy of Understanding, University of Toronto Press, vol. 24, no. 1, 2001.
Part of chapter three was previously published as “The Adamic Myth in the Christian Idea of
Salvation,” Ultimate Reality and Meaning Journal, vol. 28, no. 2, 2005.
Part of chapter four was previously published as “Forgiveness in Christianity,” Ultimate
Reality and Meaning Journal, vol. 27, no. 2, 2004.
Part of chapter five was previously published as “Chrysostom and Augustine on the Ultimate
Meaning of Human Freedom,” Ultimate Reality and Meaning Journal, vol. 29, no. 3, 2006.
Chapter eleven was previously published as “Detective and Priest: The Paradoxes of
Simenon’s Maigret,” Christianity & Literature, vol. 59, issue 3, June 2010, 453-477.
Unless otherwise noted, scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible,
revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington,
D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the
New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the
copyright owner.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by
any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval
systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who
may quote passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Ely, Peter B., author.
Title: Adam and Eve in scripture, theology, and literature : sin, compassion,
and forgiveness / Peter B. Ely.
Description: Lanham : Lexington Books, 2018. | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017058247 (print) | LCCN 2017054680 (ebook) | ISBN
9781498573900 (Electronic) | ISBN 9781498573894 (cloth : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Adam (Biblical figure) | Eve (Biblical figure)
Classification: LCC BS580.A4 (print) | LCC BS580.A4 E49 2018 (ebook) | DDC
222/.1106—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017058247
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Printed in the United States of America
To my brother, John, and our mother, Janet, who first
taught us compassion, and to my sister in law, Kathy,
who embodies it.
Contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction: A dam and Eve, Original Sin, Compassion,
and Forgiveness 1
PART I: SYMBOL, MYTH, AND BIBLICAL NARRATIVE
1 Paul Ricoeur: A Wider Context for the Adamic Myth 25
2 The Adamic Myth in the Hebrew Testament 55
3 The Adamic Myth in the New Testament 83
PART II: THE SYMBOL GIVES RISE TO THOUGHT:
FROM BIBLICAL NARRATIVE TO
AUTOBIOGRAPHY, THEORY, AND DOCTRINE
4 Augustine: Original Sin and Compassion 107
5 Adam and Eve and Original Sin: Classical Formulations
and Modern Developments 139
6 Compassion as Prelude to Forgiveness 165
7 René Girard: Original Sin as Covetousness 187
vii
viii Contents
PART III: THE WORD BECOMES FLESH:
FROM THEORY AND DOCTRINE TO
LITERATURE
8 Perceval: Compassion Awakened through Conversion 209
9 Julian of Norwich: From Blindness to the Vision of Love 233
10 Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure: Compassion in the State 257
11 Detective and Priest: Georges Simenon’s Compassionate
Commissioner Maigret 283
Conclusion 307
Bibliography 317
Index 329
About the Author 335
Preface
In a notebook written prior to his monumental novel, In Search of Lost Time,
Marcel Proust observed, “The work [of writing] makes us a little like moth-
ers”; he wondered if he would ever be able to bring what was in him to light
(Proust 1988, xix). I now understand his use of this similie. The gestation of
my study has been long indeed. The seeds of my interest in the connection
between the story of Adam and Eve and forgiveness were planted when I first
read Paul Ricoeur’s magisterial 1967 work, The Symbolism of Evil. Ricoeur
compares four myths relating to the origin and end of evil, one of them being
the Adamic myth. I concluded from Ricoeur’s study that only the Adamic
myth—a good God, a good creation, and a disobedient humanity—opened
up any possibility of forgiveness. But what was the connection between the
Adamic myth—along with its offspring, the doctrine of original sin—and
forgiveness? I wrestled with this question, and it is the question this book
attempts to answer.
The crucial moment of awakening came during a month-long retreat at
the Trappist Abbey of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Lafayette, Oregon. In the
contemplative atmosphere of the monastery, thinking about the book I was
about to begin, but had not yet begun to write, I came across an article from
Theological Studies: Boyd Coolman’s “Hugh of St. Victor on ‘Jesus Wept’:
Compassion as Ideal Humanitas.” Coolman’s article explores the contents
of Hugh of St Victor’s (1096–1141) brief work, On the Four Wills of Christ.
In this text, Hugh “offers a carefully nuanced depiction of Jesus’ human
nature that showcases his human capacity for compassion” (Coolman, 528).
But, as Coolman points out, Hugh is eager not only to underscore Jesus’
compassion, “but also to identify such fellow-feeling as the signature attri-
bute of ideal human nature” (Ibid). Hugh of St Victor’s moving treatment,
as interpreted by Coolman, worked in my unconscious mind, what Proust
ix
