Adam and Eve, (detail), Lucas Cranach the Elder

LAURA E. writes:

Most Christians would describe the fall as follows: “God makes Adam and then Eve. God tells them not to eat from the tree of knowledge.  Eve does it anyway. Mankind is banished from Eden and original sin is born.” I would have said the same until a few years ago.

My husband and I went through a rather unusual “Pre Cana” [marriage preparation] program. Over a third of the program was dedicated to studying Adam and Eve and what their story means for man and woman, husband and wife.  Adam’s passive stance during the fall was a major theme explored in these classes.  Our class emphasized that, contrary to popular belief, Adam was at Eve’s side throughout the serpent’s tempting spiel (Genesis 3:6).  Then God calls on Adam, not Eve, to account for what has happened (Genesis 3:9). Adam is accountable for both of them before God, as the husband is the spiritual head of his family. But Adam does not take responsibility.  He does not own up to what he has done. Instead he blames Eve. He even blames God a little: “the woman whom you put here with me…” (Genesis 3:12)

During the class, I wondered if the instructor was emphasizing Adam’s culpability to make some kind of dreary feminist point: “See, original sin is not all woman’s fault after all!”

Gradually I realized that the intent was more subtle and noble than that. The fall is an inversion of the right order between husband and wife. Eve got too big for her britches and Adam let her get away with it. Since he is head of them both he is just as much, if not more so to blame.

— Comments —

Terry Morris writes:

My wife would say Laura E. is a woman who “gets it.”

Dan K. writes:

This coincides with my recollections of part of a Bible Study I heard (available here on the mp3 for “Sin and Fall: 14 Oct 2010”) by Fr. Francisco Nahoe, OFM Conv., previously pastor of St Thomas Aquinas Cathedral, NV , and much enjoyed.

My memory is that Adam had a responsibility to protect Eve and the Garden – he was placed in the garden to “work and guard” it. Fr. Nahoe understood Adam as being present for the serpent’s temptation. When the serpent came, Adam stood by rather than endanger himself. The serpent isn’t merely a liar, as a snake he is lethal – Adam fears the serpent.

Adam’s sin begins with omission – he wouldn’t act, wouldn’t risk sacrificing himself for the woman. And as Laura E. related, Adam then blamed everybody: his wife and God.

I think if Fr. Nahoe’s interpretation was pointed at either of the sexes, it was targeted at men. If I could put words in Fr. Nahoe’s mouth (forgive me) it would be something like “Men…do what God made youfor!”. The omission of we men to say and do what God commands, especially avoiding self-sacrifice, strikes me as a recurring theme here, and it is timely.

But men will self-sacrifice if they’re all doing it (or risking it), together. The sense we’re doing it alone (as we lose faith that He is with us) together with (politically correct) shame heaped on us, paralyzes. It may be as hard to allow oneself to be singled out for shame and destruction as to confess ones sins. Actually, I think that confession is easier.

(Regarding the recording quality: apparently, his microphone was hanging loosely during this and several of the earliest recordings of the set. He fixes the microphone properly at some point. And about the third or fourth session, the recording technician caught on to the recurring problem and thereafter the sound quality for the balance of sessions was very good.)

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