2005 Reflections - "The Garden of Eden" and "Adam and Eve" Illuminations
with Scripture Passages
First Reading
Genesis 2:7-9; 3:1-7 — The creation and the sin of our first parents.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 51:1-2, 3-4, 10-11, 12-15 — “Be merciful, O Lord, for we have
sinned.”
Second Reading
Romans 5:12-19 — Where sin increased, there grace abounded all the more.
Gospel
Matthew 4:1-11 — Jesus fasted forty days, and was put to the test.
Overview
The two creation stories — the first (Genesis 1:1—2:4) about the seven
days of creation and the second (2:4—3:24) about Adam and Eve in the garden
— embrace the season of Lent, one near the beginning and one near the end.
With this reading at the beginning of Lent, we hear about that first sin of
our parents, that original sin that weighed humanity down until the coming
of Jesus.
At the other end of Lent’s forty days, the first creation account will be
proclaimed. Though first in the Bible it comes later in the Easter mysteries
because the wonder of God’s creation apart from sin can be celebrated after
we have faced our tendency to sin, as captured in the Adam and Eve story.
The forty days are an opportunity for us — as individuals and as the church
— to pare back from that tendency to sin that keeps us from the fullness of
God’s creation, life, and bounty, as we move from the story of sin’s birth
to the story of the world’s birth apart from sin.
As did Jesus in those forty days two millennia ago, so we go into the
“wilderness” for forty days, and that pray to be strong so as to pare away
those sinful accretions that prevent us from receiving God’s love in the
world and society. (Martin Connell, Asst. Professor, School of
Theology, Saint John's University)
Find a quiet and comfortable place. Light a candle and ready
yourself to slowly and deliberately read Genesis 2: 4 - 11:32.
Some Thoughts on the Reading
The goodness of creation begins to crack at this point. Adam and Eve turn
away from each other and turn away from God. The Genesis writer demonstrates
a series of fractured relationships: God from Adam, Adam from Eve, Adam and
Eve from nature (represented by serpent), serpent from the earth (crawl on
its belly). The light present in Gen 1:3 is extinguished by sin.
As punishment for his murdering Abel, Cain is forced to live a banished
life, “My punishment is greater than I can bear!…I shall be a fugitive and a
wanderer on the earth.” (Genesis 4:13-14) Note the plaintive pathos in this
verse. Banishment was among the worst punishments in the ancient world. A
person pushed out his or her tribe or community would be a person denied all
possibility of love and protection. (Excerpt from The Committee on
Illumination and Text Theological Briefs, The Saint John's Bible, Saint
John's University)
How would you visually represent the Genesis 2:4 - 11:2 passage?
What elements of the passage come to mind?
Which specific lines and phrases speak to you?
How would you weave your contemporary experiences into your art and
representation?
Rather than a literal picture of the events in this reading, what
metaphors could you use to represent this passage?
Gardens are an important part of modern life. A garden can be
considered from two complementary viewpoints. The first is from the vantage
of the Garden of Eden, God’s perfect creation. The second is from the
lapsarian or post-fall perspective in which the human person must work the
garden to create the beauty. Yet, the two views of the garden are
intricately linked since God does not plant the Garden of Eden (Gen 2:8)
until he fashions Adam (Gen 2:7) to care for it. Likewise, after the fall,
Adam must “till the ground” in order to get it to yield its fruit (Gen
3:23). Tending a garden, therefore, may very well be seen as the human
participation in God’s creation, and that is the point of emphasis here. An
image of Adam with a spade may come to mind, but the spade should not
be seen as a tool symbolizing punishment; rather, it could be viewed as an
instrument for creation. (Excerpt from The Committee on Illumination and
Text Theological Briefs, The Saint John's Bible, Saint John's University)
How could your garden tending become part or your visual representation?
Before viewing the Garden of Eden and Adam and Eve illuminations from
The Saint John's Bible, take some time to bring your thoughts on this
passage to life. Make a simple drawing or write some notes about what
you would do. Let your mind free associate and explore many
possibilities. Consider creating your own full artwork to accompany
this passage. If you wish, share your interpretation with another
person. Invite someone else to do the same.
Click this link to view
Garden of Eden and
Adam and Eve.
Look carefully at the depiction of the Garden of Eden in the Saint John’s
Bible. What elements jump out at you first? In what ways is the picture
similar to how you imagine the story? Are there elements in the story that
you would have highlighted more or less to represent your own experience of
creation? Of humanity? Of sin? Of cunning, speaking snakes? (Martin
Connell, Asst. Professor, School of Theology, Saint John's University)
The Garden of Eden illumination is a collage of vibrant creatures
and plants. The images combine somewhat chaotically, but revolving around
the human figure in the center, and ultimately bound by the gold unifying
presence of God. It is inhabited by the African huntress from the Creation
illumination, and with other dancers and hunters peopling the background.
The figures are derived from cave paintings and recall early humankind’s
need to tell its story. The illumination challenges the notion that Adam and
Eve alone inhabited the garden.
The illumination is meant to evoke a time of richness, plenty, and
innocence. The animals are colorful, the plants rich and bountiful. People
hunt and dance.
At the top of the image is a reprise of the illumination of the days of
creation.
At the center left of the image is a piece of a mandala, an image seen in a
number of illuminations in both Old and New Testaments, for example in the
anthology page of Jesus’ miracles in the Gospel of Luke, an in the opening
illumination for the Gospel of Matthew where the mandala is woven into the
image of the menorah depicting the lineage of Jesus. For Donald, “The
Buddhist mandala … is about the birth of intellect. …. People begin to make
patterns.” Adam and Eve begin to organize their world by naming the animals.
At the bottom of the image are the beautiful but predatory harlequin
shrimp, the coral snake and several poisonous insects, symbols foreshadowing
the end of innocence. (Alan Reed, Order of Saint Benedict, Curator of
Art, Hill Museum & Manuscript Library, Saint John's University)
Adam and Eve are presented as an African man and woman surrounded
by patterned fabrics from various ancient cultures. Donald’s influence in
drawing these images came from photographs of the Karo tribe of the Omo
River in southwest Ethiopia, and his intention is to link the notion of the
first man and woman with current archeological and anthropological theories
that humankind evolved from our predecessors in Africa.
The painted faces, part mask, part decoration, emphasize the “enigmatic
quality of that divided but connected relationship between men and women and
between them and their environment” while at the same time imply “our
universal connectedness.” (notes from artist Donald Jackson -DJ)
The decorative framing around Adam and Eve includes African tapestry
patterns, and on the right of the image, a Peruvian feather cape, while the
horizontal stripes are details of mid-Eastern textiles. “There’s a
progression from painted skin, to ‘primitive’ stuff, to woven textiles.”
(DJ)
Between Adam and Eve is the fragmented and divisive coral snake, the
alluring but deadly poison which gave humankind an impression of equality
with God. The coral snake appears first in the Creation illumination at the
bottom of the sixth day (“Let us make humankind in our image…”), in this
illumination, and in the following illumination of the Garden of Eden. The
gold bar-forms around them evoke the presence of God as a framework for
humankind.
The platinum leaf behind Eve is meant to suggest the mirror mentioned in
the quotation on the right of the image from Second Corinthians 3:18 : “And
all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though
reflected in a mirror are being transformed in the same image from one
degree of glory to another…”
The quote links the theme of the first parents to the New Testament and
our own longing to see God. (Alan Reed, Order of Saint Benedict, Curator
of Art, Hill Museum & Manuscript Library, Saint John's University)
Some Connections to Other Art Forms
The garden is a specific and delightful metaphor for our earthly
creation, and, whether as a hobby or as one’s livelihood, gardening is an
art form in which people cooperate with God’s gifts to the world in nature.
While being wary of conversing snakes in your life, consider the earth and
work connected to the earth as a metaphor for divine and human interaction.
(Martin Connell, Asst. Professor, School of Theology, Saint John's
University)
Some Things to Do
In our culture, the greatest temptations are material possessions: the
biggest house, the fastest car, the latest clothes. Yet the appetite for
acquisition is never incapable of being fulfilled. Is there something in
your life that provokes a strong attraction to possessions? Does this
distract you from appreciating the depth of God’s goodness? Is there a way
to strengthen your appreciation of God’s gifts to help you pull
away from the distracting possession? (Martin Connell, Asst. Professor,
School of Theology, Saint John's University)
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