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The Apocryphal Life of Adam and Eve: Recent Scholarly Work
The story of Adam and Eve, as we encounter it in Genesis 2-5, presents us with many of the great dramatic themes of the human condition: conjugal love, fratricidal hate, crime and punishment, birth and death. It is also a story that leaves many questions unanswered: What was the serpent's motive in tempting Eve? How did the first couple survive outside paradise? How did they die? Were they reconciled with their Creator in the end? Hence it is no surprise that in the first centuries of the Christian era, or possibly in the century before, a narrative of the life and death of Adam and Eve should have been composed to fill some of the gaps and to address, in story form, some of the enduring questions raised by the fate of the first human couple.
The original Life of Adam and Eve was probably written in Greek, although surviving versions are represented in whole or in part in six languages, namely Greek, Latin, Armenian, Georgian, Slavonic, and Coptic. Secondary variants and related literature exist in most of the medieval vernaculars of Europe, including Middle English, and related retellings of the life of Adam and Eve survive in Arabic and medieval Hebrew as well. Hence, the apocryphal Life of Adam and Eve and related secondary literature are an integral part of the early legacy of the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic cultures, surviving as a vehicle for reflection on the problems of illness, old age, sin, death, and the afterlife. Nonetheless, the Life and related writings were generally neglected by scholars until quite recently, when a series of publications, together with a website (http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/anderson/), resulted from the collaborative efforts of Gary A. Anderson, Michael E. Stone, Johannes Tromp, and others. My intention in what follows is to sketch the background of their work, then introduce their contributions, and finally comment on the value for modern theologians of the material they have uncovered.
The Greek Life of Adam and Eve was first published in 1866 by C. von Tischendorf, on the basis of four manuscripts, and was included in a collection of apocryphal apocalyptic writings, where it acquired the misleading title, "Apocalypse of Moses." In 1969,...