Review
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Title: Approaching Eden: Adam and Eve in Popular Culture
Author: Theresa Sanders
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Genre: Non-fiction
Year Published: 2009
Number of Pages: 264
Binding: cloth
ISBN-10: 0742563332
ISBN-13: 978-0742563339
Price: $34.95
Reviewed by Richard C. Russell
Hardly anyone has not heard of Adam and Eve. The ancient tale and its explicit and implicit messages for human beings shape popular as well as religious culture. Few myths have touched so many knowingly or unknowingly, believer and nonbeliever alike, so completely. The English language is full of references to Adam and Eve, such as "forbidden fruit," "Edenic," "fig leaf," or "Adam's apple."
Theresa Sanders, associate professor of religion at Georgetown University, thoroughly analyzes the story acknowledged by the world's three leading monotheistic religions as the account of human origins. She looks at its historicity, theology, sociology and cultural influences and even examines whether it is objective, subjective, literal or figurative and what the implications of each are for people through time. Her study reveals the assumptions we have made about what the story both says and doesn't say. She accomplishes this in articulate fashion that engages, informs and entertains without being pedantic.
Here is an example wherein she restates her purpose on p. 210: "The purpose of this book has been to give readers some insight into the history of interpretations of the Genesis story and to enable them to make sense of the bewildering array of allusions to it. If nothing else, readers at this point should have developed a healthy skepticism regarding any simplistic reading of the Genesis story, as at so many points, the meaning, the text hinges on the translation of a particular word or phrase. Do the words ezer kenegdo (Genesis 2:18-'It is not good that the man should be alone: I will make him an ezer kenegdo' mean 'a helper as his partner' or 'a companion in front of him' or 'a power equal to him'? Does the word imah in Genesis 3:6 mean 'with her' or 'also'? That is, does the woman give the fruit to her husband who was with her as she conversed with the serpent, or does she give it to him also, that is, after the conversation was over, and therefore without his knowing where it came from? Vast differences in theological, artistic, and popular presentations of Genesis can hinge on tiny details such as this."
Through the lens of modern cultural phenomena she lets us glimpse how the chronicle from the first chapters of Genesis touches our lives in ways we may not even be aware of. The three art media that do the heavy lifting are literature, print cartoons (four are reproduced in the pages of the book) and movies/TV that reinforce the already profound influence of the story. She lists or breaks down over 150 titles in film alone. She illuminates plot lines, portrayals of characters and objects (What was the "fruit" that Eve tasted and gave to Adam? What were the trees? What is the meaning of the rib, was it literal or figurative? Who is Lilith?), and rifts and variations on the themes. Little is immune from her scrutiny including various Biblical translations and the Creation Museum in Kentucky.
I gained new insights into films I had already seen. I was provoked to look up at
www.imdb.com many more that I had not even heard of before. I even rented one that she devoted a good deal of attention to, The Shape of Things by Neil LaBute. While well done, it was too cynical and brutally calculating for me, though I don't regret spending the time with it and had to admit Dr. Sanders nailed it.
In ten chapters, Sanders sheds light on what we always thought were familiar icons. Chapter 1, "In the Beginning" - "You don't have to be religious to know the story of Adam and Eve. Nearly everyone has heard the tale, or at least heard about it. And nearly everyone has absorbed something of its symbolism. That is why it is no accident that the mascot of Harry Potter's foe, Lord Voldemort, is a snake; after Eden, we all know that snakes cannot be trusted. It is no accident that the wicked queen in Walt Disney's Snow White (1937) tempts the innocent girl with an apple; we know that apples are forbidden fruit and that biting into one can be dangerous. This lesson is so deeply embedded in our culture that an advertisement for Beech-Nut baby food could feature an apple with the simple caption 'The permitted fruit' and everyone would get the joke." P. 1.
Chapter 2, "And God Said" - History or myth, text and context, beginnings and endings, two stories - tne event, who wrote it?
Chapter 3, "A Helper Fit for Him" - Who came first?, he shall rule over thee, evil Eve, Eve was framed.
Chapter 4, "Fig Leaves" - Temptation, nudity, Lilith, "Adam and Steve.”
Chapter 5, "The Curse of Adam" - Death.
Chapter 6, "The Curse of Eve" - "If death is the curse of Adam, what then is the curse of Eve? The answer to that question goes by many different names: 'that time of the month,' 'a visit from Aunt Flo,' 'being on the rag,' 'my friend,' and other euphemisms too numerous to list. 'The curse of Eve' is another term for menstruation. Because Eve sinned (advertisements, movies, and television shows inform us) a woman must endure monthly mood swings, bloating, cramps, and, worst of all, the potential humiliation of having a male discover a tampon in her purse." P. 113. Also pain in childbirth.
Chapter 7, "Monkeyshines" - The Scopes Trial, the Scopes Trial and Hollywood, Creationism, Intelligent Design and the Dover Trial, the Creation Museum, culture wars.
Chapter 8, "Back to Nature" - The serpent, naked and unashamed, the two trees, to till it and keep it.
Chapter 9, "Paradise Regained" - Shakers, Oneida Colony, image versus likeness, perfection.
Chapter 10, "The Final Frontier" - Seeking Eden and paradise, multiply and replenish.
Twenty pages of end notes and five pages of index round out this engrossing and pleasurable romp. I noticed that as much as ten percent of her notes referred to web sites noting the url and date it was accessed. This is a soundly modern work.
No matter your religious orientation, beliefs or cultural leanings, only an absolute hermit would be indifferent to the delightful discoveries to be found.
