Paradise Interpreted: Representations of Biblical Paradise in Judaism and Christianity (Themes in Biblical Narrative)

234 Pages·1999·11.34 MB·English

by  Gerard P. Luttikhuizen

Paradise Interpreted
Edited by
Gerard P. Luttikhuizen
V O L U ME 2
Paradise Interpreted
Representations of Biblical Paradise in
Judaism and Christianity
by
Gerard P. Luttikhuizen
'/68V
BRILL
LEIDEN · B O S T ON
1999
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
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A C.I.P. record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 90 04 11331 2
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PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS
As GOOD AS A FEAST
She didn't eat much, really.
Indeed was barely hungry.
And when she had gone, taking
her small noontime shadow
with her, the apple lay
on the upright grass; both,
of course, perfect but the apple
as red as arterial blood.
There was dew, of course,
even at noon: the entire garden
like the produce section of
a fancy grocer's—the world was good
enough to eat—and the blades
of grass upright as spears
held the apple on a hundred
sharp points. (The grass, unbent,
stood up like thorns.) No apple
had ever fallen before
and the perfect grass pricked
small wounds, like the elegant circle
left by her teeth, where the flesh,
now poisoned by the perfect air,
turned brown. That, of course,
was death. And that wavy
dark line, leading nowhere
in the dew, was the serpent.
(Arthur Lindley)
Reprinted by permission of the author, after original
publication in Westerly (Perth, Australia, 1988) 33.3, p. 59

CONTENTS
Preface ix
Abbreviations xi
Paradise: from Persia, via Greece, into the Septuagint 1
J.N. BREMMER
Gan-Eden in the Context of the Mythology of the Hebrew
Bible 21
E. NOORT
Eden and Paradise: The Garden Motif in Some Early Jewish
Texts (1 Enoch and other texts found at Qumran) 37
EJ.C. T1GCHELAAR
Eden and the Temple: The Rewriting of Genesis 2:4—3:24 in
Tixe Book of Jubilees 63
J.T.A.G.M. VAN RUITEN
Man and Woman: Halakhah Based upon Eden in the Dead
Sea Scrolls 95
F. GARCIA MARTINEZ
Paradise as Paradigm: Good and Evil in Rabbinica and
Kabbalah 116
WJ. VAN BERKUM
A Visit to Paradise: Apocalypse of Paul 45 and Its Background .... 128
A. HILHORST
A Resistant Interpretation of the Paradise Story in the Gnostic
Testimony of Truth (Nag Hamm. Cod. IX.3) 45 50־ 140
G.P. LUTTIKHUIZEN
Paradisiacal Life: The Story of Paradise in the Early Church .... 153
H.S. BENJAMINS
Paradise Now—but for the Wall Between: Some Remarks on
Paradise in the Middle Ages 168
CHR. AUFFARTH
Russian Medieval Concepts of Paradise 180
S. BROUWER
Milton and Genesis: Interpretation as Persuasion 197
H. WILCOX
References to Ancient Texts 209
PREFACE
This book contains twelve papers given at a conference of the research
group "Early Jewish and Christian Traditions" of the Faculty of Theology
and Religious Studies, University of Groningen, held in June, 1998. The
conference was devoted to Paradise accounts in the Hebrew Bible and
to their reception in Judaism and Christianity. As the actual research
of the team is centred on the interpretation of biblical texts in early
Jewish and early Christian traditions, the emphasis in the conference
was on these traditions. But it was decided to include also some later
receptions of the biblical Paradise. A number of scholars were invited
to comment upon views of Paradise in Rabbinica and Kabbalah, in the
Christian Middle Ages, and, finally, in John Milton's poetic works about
Paradise.
The proceedings of the conference open with a historical investiga-
tion of the Greek loanword paradeisos, used in the Septuagint version to
render the Hebrew word gan, "garden" (J.N. Bremmer). A second fun-
damental chapter discusses the two different concepts of Paradise in the
Hebrew Bible: the orchard where Adam and Eve lived, in Genesis 23־,
and the garden on the mount of the gods in Ezekiel 28 (E. Noort).
Post-biblical views of Paradise elaborate mainly on the Genesis story.
The third chapter deals with the motif of the Paradise garden in early
Jewish literature, particularly Enochic texts and some fragments found
in the Judaean Desert. The Enochic references to Paradise seem to be
dependent on traditions that are older than the final version of the
Genesis story (EJ.C. Tigchelaar). In this chapter the Book of Jubilees is
mentioned only in passing. The rewriting of Genesis 23־ in Jubilees is
analysed in more detail in a separate essay (J.T.A.G.M. van Ruiten).
This chapter is followed by a discussion of two texts known from
Qumran, the Damascus Document and 4Q365, in which elements of
the biblical Paradise narrative are used in order to base halakhic rules
concerning man and woman (F. Garcia Martinez). The part of this vol-
ume dealing with Jewish Paradise interpretations is concluded with a
discussion about Paradise as a paradigm for good and evil in Rabbinica
and Kabbalah (W.J. van Bekkum).
A chapter about Paul's visit to Paradise in the early Christian Apocalypse
of Paul marks the transition to Christian views of Paradise. Moreover