OF Mans First Disobedience, and the Fruit
Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal tast
Brought Death into the World, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat,
John Milton
Paradise Lost
Genesis is defined as:
• (n) a coming into being
• the first book of the Old Testament: tells of
Creation; Adam and Eve; the Fall of Man;
Cain and Abel; Noah and the flood; God's
covenant with Abraham; Abraham and
Isaac; Jacob and Esau; Joseph and his
brothers
How does one begin to make sense of
Genesis as a first-time reader?
• Genesis is a book of beginnings; it covers
primeval history (1-12) then moves into
narratives of the "fathers" of the nation
Israel.
• Chapters 1-12 contain four outstanding
events: creation, fall, flood, Babel.
From the beginning,
• …human beings were created for
relationship, both vertical and horizontal,
with God and with other human beings.
• This human being is given preeminence
and is made in God’s own image.
The Image of God (?)
The FALL of Man
• Although Satan is not mentioned in the
narrative, tradition holds that the serpent
who figures so largely in this episode was
none other than the Temptor himself, the
Devil, taking the form of a serpent to tempt
Eve.
• In the book of Revelation, Satan is
designated “that ancient serpent” (Rev.
20:2)
Let’s consider the serpent’s
strategy…
• He’s crafty!
• He doesn’t oppose anything God has said or
done – at least, not overtly.
• He asks an innocent-sounding question that
causes Eve to doubt what she has been told.
• “For God knows that when you eat of [the
forbidden fruit], your eyes will be opened and
you will be like God, knowing good and evil”
(Gen 3:5)
John Milton & Paradise Lost
• According to Milton, Satan's motive was to
be above his peers.
• Satan will never submit freely to God's
authority.
• Satan suggests that God's rule was
endangered by his revolt, that he will
never sink to the indignity of asking
forgiveness, and outlines his intention of
conducting further warfare against God.
The Protestant Reformation
• Milton puts his Protestant religion right at
the centre of his poetic imagination.
• What does Protestant mean?
In summary…
The Protestant Reformation was an attempt
launched by Martin Luther in the early sixteenth
century to rid the Roman Catholic Church of
some of the flagrant abuses which he and others
perceived in the hierarchy and in the practice of
the Roman Catholic religion.
Luther, who was an Augustinian monk,
demanded a return to what he perceived as a
much truer vision of Christian life based on the
Bible and an immediate end to the economic
abuses of the clergy.