History of Paradise: The Garden of Eden in Myth and Tradition

by Jean Delumeau, Matthew O'Connell

 
 
With erudition and wit, Jean Delumeau explores the medieval conviction that paradise existed in a precise although unreachable earthly location. Delving into the writings of dozens of medieval and Renaissance thinkers, from Augustine to Dante, Delumeau presents a luminous study of the meaning of Original Sin and the human yearning for paradise.
The finest minds of the Middle Ages wrote about where paradise was to be found, what it was like, and who dwelt in it. Explorers sailed into the unknown in search of paradisal gardens of wealth and delight that were thought to be near the original Garden. Cartographers drew Eden into their maps, often indicating the wilderness into which Adam and Eve were cast, along with the magical kingdom of Prester John, Jerusalem, Babel, the Happy Isles, Ophir, and other places described in biblical narrative or borrowed from other cultures. Later, Renaissance thinkers and writers meticulously reconstructed the details of the original Eden, even providing schedules of the Creation and physical descriptions of Adam and Eve.
Even when the Enlightenment, with its discovery of fossils and pre-Darwinian theories of evolution, gradually banished the dream of paradise on earth, a nostalgia for Eden shaped elements of culture from literature to gardening. In our own time, Eden's hold on the Western imagination continues to fuel questions such as whether land should be conserved or exploited and whether a return to innocence is possible.
 

Genres: History, Religion, Nonfiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

Reviews

[Valeriu Gherghel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cum și-au imaginat fericirea strămoșii noștri? Un răspuns foarte documentat putem găsi în acest volum. Antichitatea greacă și romană a propus o epocă de aur (Hesiod, Ovidiu, Vergiliu), situată la începutul istoriei. Din păcate, omenirea se îndepărtează de ea. O astfel de vîrstă e trăită ca nostalgie.

Paradisul creștin a fost imaginat, îndeosebi, ca o grădină (termenul persan „paradis” chiar asta înseamnă, loc închis între ziduri). Nu se știe cît au locuit acolo Adam și Eva înainte de a fi fost izgoniți. În secolul al XIII-lea, Vincent de Beauvais a propus doar cîteva ore (de la prînz la ora a noua din zi). După alungarea omului din rai, paradisul a fost închis, grădina a fost ferecată: hortus conclusus. Raiul e păzit de un înger gardian și apărat cu ziduri de foc. Accesul muritorilor a devenit imposibil.

Alte încercări de a descrie grădina desfătărilor: paradisul e „un loc împrejmuit, cu smochini tăcuți, cu izvoare înmiresmate, cu flori multicolore” (Efrem Sirul). Adam și Eva au locuit „într-un loc unde nici o creatură nu le putea face rău, unde focul nu provoca arsuri, unde apa nu îneca, unde nebunii nu ucideau, unde spinii nu înțepau, unde lipsa aerului nu sufoca” (Isidor din Sevilla). Nu este o realitate corporală, ci una sufletească (sfîntul Augustin). S-a vorbit și de insule paradisiace, insule ale fericiților (Horatius)...

Geografii și gînditorii medievali au încercat să localizeze paradisul pe harta lumii. E în Mesopotamia, a spus Luther, e în Extremul Orient (în regatul preotului Ioan), a susținut o scrisoare apocrifă, e la izvoarele fluviului Orinoco, a anunțat Christofor Columb.

Odată cu Conciliul tridentin (1545-1563), teologii au interzis orice speculație asupra paradisului terestru. El nu este un loc, ci un mod de a fi, o stare sufletească...

[Philippe Malzieu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delumeau is a historian who devoted his work to the perception of hereafter in Occident. He worked on the currents eschatlogic around year thousand. The romantic historians spoke about Great fear of year thousand. He proved that it was nothing.But this period was crossed by currents milénarists which hoped for the Messiah, the end of the world… Delumeau also worked on the paradise. he published 3 large volume on this subject. He summarized them in this one.
First question : can we imagine a religion without paradise? It is possible. Jews integrated paradise at the II century before JC. The paradise is associated with idea of resurrection of deaths. It is a place where people wait resurrection. It is copied on the garden of Eden, the paradise lost of Adam.
Second question : where is the paradise? They thought it was in orient, with fire wall and armed angels. Christophe Colomb thought it was at the begining of Orenoque. And there is the fantasmated kingdom of priest John. In fact quickly, this eden's nostalgy make hope that paradise in the sky. We have to good work on earth for access to paradise on sky. St-Augustin at the IV post JC speak about celest Jérusalem.
Third question : and the hell? No paradise, no hell. It was proposed to encourage the men to remain in the right way. We has thus to assist from the Middle Ages to the modern time with a process of making guilty.
Fourth question : and purgatory? It's a recent invention, in the Middle-Age it was nécessary to make hope, so the hell was described as awfull. It's an intermediate scale.
You can find many other responses on this subject. Delumeau ask him on the évolution and the vulgarizing of notion of paradise (fiscal, holydays...)
Think about paradise, it is thinking about dead, and so also our dead. Are Religions exist to permit us to accept this end because it will be also a begining?

[Eric Vanden Eykel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wouldn’t call this a “pleasurable” read - it’s much like reading an encyclopedia. But it’s remarkably thorough and erudite.

[Tony Gualtieri · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the history of ideas, especially those that were once of central importance only to be consigned to absurdity by science or other aspects of modernity. The location and chronology of the Garden of Eden is once such field of speculation, admirably surveyed in this book. Quotations and digressions abound making this a delight. I enjoyed, for example, the story of the heavy stone passed to Alexander through the wall of Paradise, which became light when sprinkled with dust to showthe vanity of earthly desires.

[Lorena · Rating 5 out of 5]

o carte complexă, pe care mi-aș fi dorit demult să o fi citit.
mi-a plăcut faptul că este foarte bine documentată; conține mărturii justificate ale unor personalități importante care au studiat "fenomenul" paradisului, exemple din alte cărți și păreri contradictorii, care te îndrumă, citindu-le, să-ți formezi propria idee despre acel spațiu pe care sperăm toți să-l cunoaștem
o voi reciti, cu siguranță

[Béatrice · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dommage qu'il n'existe pas ici une rubrique "arrêté la lecture" ! Je suis allée jusqu'à la centième page, sans aucun plaisir...à la différence du titre, si alléchant! Et j'ai décidé d'arrêter là, ayant bien d'autres titres passionnants dans ma bibliothèque...On dirait une thèse de doctorat, particulièrement ennuyeuse !

[Citesc · Rating 1 out of 5]

Citate… nu recomand

[Realini Ionescu · Rating 4 out of 5]

History of Paradise- The Garden of Eden by Jean Delumeau

A wonderful book with a mesmerizing subject – 9 out of 10



“Words create worlds”

This is one of the quotes that Tal Ben Shahar uses in his most popular course of positive psychology at Harvard.

And when these words refer to the Garden of Delights chances are you are in for a huge treat when you read this book.

I have had the chance to read another work by Jean Delumeau, The Religions of the World and it was fantastic.

Religions of the World had such an impact on me that it changed my admittedly flexible reading calendar.

If I had had an aversion for religious teachings before The Religions of the World, after it I made a list with:

Mere Christianity, Confessions of Saint Augustine, The Prophet, The Screwtape Letters- the latter to be read again, from a Christian perspective.

The order of the day is to try and understand religion better and eventually have an epiphany that would reveal the Absolute Truth.

The Garden of Eden is perhaps too technical for that.

It approaches the History of Paradise with a scholarly view, which is all very fine if you posses the arsenal.

Jean Delumeau certainly has all the knowledge necessary and I am mesmerized by his erudition, even I do not dig all that he writes.

- Did I say all?

- Well, I was fooling myself for I am lucky if I grasp the complete meaning of 10%

Some questions and issues seem accessible enough:

- Is paradise a material place or just fiction?

And the answers are within reach; even if one has not been through a complete library on the subject- maybe just the Bible is enough to cover the issue.

But the author refers to Augustine, Dante- that we all know- together with Raban Maur, Petrus Lombardus, Honorius from Autun.

There are names of sources that say nothing to the lay person.

Thomas Aquinas has arguments on the subject of Paradise and seems to suggest that there could be a place on earth where Eden did exist

The question of the Tree of Life is also presented in terms of material or spiritual existence and Thomas feels that it could have been for real.

When the Americas were discovered, the fruits found there and brought to Europe seemed to originate in Paradise.

Maracuja aka passion fruit was considered to come from the tree of good and evil and others were fascinated by pineapple

And very important for me-

“The parrot had an important, prestigious place in the traditional image of paradise…a bird of paradise indeed”

Rubens painted parrots in Eden…

I could not agree more, as a proud owner and friend of two fabulous Paradise Macaws that can really bring heaven on earth.

At the same time, when they shout they appear to represent Hades, but that is just for a short while, and generally they want your attention and you to come back to them.

A wonderful book with a mesmerizing subject