Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Gender and Sexuality in the Garden of Eden

2006; Routledge; Volume: 12; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1177/1355835806065391

1745-5170

Jerome Gellman,

Biblical Studies and Interpretation

AbstractVarious 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.Keywords: Garden of EdenAdamEvepatriarchy in the Biblefeminist interpretationsexuality in the BiblePhyllis TriblePhyllis Bird