Enticed by Eden: How Western Culture Uses, Confuses, (and Sometimes Abuses) Adam and Eve

by Linda S. Schearing, Valarie H. Ziegler

Sex, seduction, and the perfect marriage. Though it may not have been the intent of Genesis 1-3, the biblical first couple has been used for generations to sell consumable goods and strange ideologies--both salacious and holy--to willing western masses. And, Linda Schearing and Valarie Ziegler argue, Adam and Eve have become archetypal figures for secular and religious society alike as they are transplanted from their ancient garden to a more modern Eden, often with eyebrow-raising consequences. Finding common ground between both religious and secular recastings of Adam and Eve, Schearing and Ziegler offer page-turning evidence of just how ubiquitous the first couple has become. From online dating services and promises of God-ordained romance to the advertising and selling of games, bathroom fixtures, and even risqué bloomers, Adam and Eve are a hot commodity in modern culture. These strange, confusing, often humorous, and sometimes shocking accounts testify to the myriad of ways in which Genesis 1-3 has been recycled and recreated in the popular imagination, and moreover, in promotion of the Western worldview.

Genres: Religion

230 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2013

Reviews

[Scott Rhee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adam and Eve. The Garden of Eden. The fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. To fundamentalist evangelical Christians, the Genesis story is meant to be taken literally: there actually WAS a Garden of Eden, there actually WERE two original human prototypes, there really WAS a tree with forbidden fruit. For these true believers, the Genesis story represents our history as a race, how we were created, and how we came to live in a fallen world of sin. Indeed, the Book of Genesis---especially the first three chapters of the book---has been utilized by fundamentalist evangelicals to justify their beliefs that Intelligent Design Theory should be taught in schools, that gay marriage (and homosexuality in general) is an abomination, and that women are biblically mandated to have no autonomy and must be completely subordinate to men.

Then there are the secularists, like myself, who look at the Adam and Eve story as simply that: a nice story. A beautiful metaphor. A symbollic parable illustrating mankind's fall from grace. As with any story, though, it's simply meant to provide food for thought. It is NOT meant to actually replace thought. God (assuming one believes in Him/Her) gave us brains and the ability to think for ourselves. As a secularist (and a Christian agnostic---I know, go figure...), I personally view the Bible as I would any book: a source of wisdom from the ancients. I don't agree with much of it, but I find solace in some sections, and I find beauty and literary merit in much of it. I do NOT believe it is the Word of God. It was written by men, who may have believed that they were channeling the words of God, but that is not enough foundation for me to instill the book with the Absolute Authority with which many, if not most or all, fundamentalist evangelical Christians instill it. In terms of Truth, I find more in Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby".

You can kind of see why i don't get invited back to too many Bible study groups...

Linda Schearing's "Enticed By Eden: How Western Culture Uses, Confuses, (and Abuses) Adam and Eve" is a fascinating look at the way both Christian fundamentalists and secularists have hijacked the Adam and Eve story for their own uses. Some parts of the book are humorous. Some parts are disturbing and weird. Some parts are fist-bitingly infuriating. Overall, though, the book is an interesting look at how the Biblical stories still suffuse our popular culture in ways that are simultaneously entertaining and frighteningly subversive.

In the first part of the book, Schearing looks at the ways in which evangelical Christians are attempting to "recreate Eden" via campaigns to encourage women and young girls to submit completely to their fathers, brothers, and husbands. After all, the Adam and Eve story makes two things clear: 1) Woman in the form of Eve was created second, from the body of Adam (thus making them subordinate), and 2) Woman manipulated Adam through the temptation of the apple. It is therefore a husband's duty to protect and control the woman because a woman will inevitably fall easily into sinful ways. Various organizations and movements have been created by evangelicals as a way to raise young girls as "princesses" for Jesus. On the more fucked-up end of the spectrum (as if raising one's daughter to do whatever a man tells her to do ISN'T fucked up) , a subculture of Christian Domestic Discipline (CDD) devotees has been steadily growing among evangelical married couples. Basically considered to be a BDSM-type fetish, CDD encourages husbands to spank their wives and for wives to submit to their husbands sexually whenever their husband desires it. It's essentially biblically-founded marital rape and permissible beatings, although CDD devotees would never call it "beatings".

The second part of the book, a section on "recycling Eden", looks at ways in which the secular world has utilized the Adam and Eve story, from pro-feminist re-imaginings, its uses in advertising, and its use in the sex industry. (The adult-oriented online sex merchandise store Adam & Eve is one of the most popular adult websites on the Internet.) Unlike the evangelicals, obviously, the secularists have removed Adam and Eve completely from their biblical context and subverted their original message.

This book will make one alternately laugh and get spitting mad, depending on one's religious beliefs. Schearing does an excellent job of simply documenting and reporting rather than passing judgment. She leaves the judgment part up to the reader.

[Robert D. Cornwall · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a most intriguing book, for it delves into the role that Adan, Eve, and Eden play in contemporary Western Culture. The authors divide the book into two parts, the first focuses on the theme "Recreating Eden," and the second on "Recycling Eden." Part two looks at how the images of Adam, Eve, and Eden are used in humor, literature, film, and the sex industry. Most of the uses (abuses) are not religious in nature, just re-purposing religious imagery. This section is informative, but I think Part One will be of the most interest. The authors detail the efforts some are making to recreate the supposed perfection of Eden, including the subordination of women. They look at a variety of trends including belief in the necessity of marriage, the idea of soul mates, courtship over dating, and even the practice of CDD (Christian Domestic Discipline), which is a "Christianized form of sado-masochism. The only difference between this version of S&M and traditional forms is that the focus is on reclaiming male dominance, which apparently was the way things were back in Eden.

Some of what you'll read is rather shocking, but I think you'll find it rather informative.

[Stephen Neal · Rating 2 out of 5]

The only positive note I have on the book is that it is well researched. If you are studying facts and trends, this book may be helpful. Unfortunately, there is no real commentary on the subject, just a lot of information. You can tell the author's position by occasional throw away lines, but the author does not engage the reader, at all, in why her viewpoint is correct or why another viewpoint is incorrect.