EBR Adamperson

299
Adalbert of Prague
6. Son of Jeroham
Adalia
1 Chronicles 9 : 12 (= Neh 11 : 12) lists this person

as one of the priests who was among the first to
return from exile to Jerusalem (1 Chr 9 : 23). He
was one of the 242 heads of the ancestral houses
living in Jerusalem, according to Neh 11 : 13. By including the names Pelaliah, Amzi, and Zechariah,
the genealogy in Neh 11 traces his ancestry back
three generations further than the genealogy in
1 Chr 9.
/Haman, Sons of
7. Descendant of Bani
This person appears in the list of men who married
foreign women (Ezra 10 : 29 = 1 Esd 9 : 30). Following Ezras command, these men separate themselves from their wives and children (Ezra 10 : 11,
44). 1 Esdras 9 : 30 [LXX] reads his name as
which may reflect the name Jedaiah (MT Ye day;
cf. 1 Chr 9 : 10; Ezra 2 : 36; Neh 7 : 39; 11 : 10) rather
than Adaia. Also, 1 Esd 9 : 30 [LXX] lists his father
as rather than Bani.
8. Descendant of Binnui
As with Adaiah son of Bani, this person appears in
the list of men who married foreign women (Ezra
10 : 39). 1 Esdras 9 : 34 [LXX] provides no record of
this person, but lists his father Binnui, among the
sons of Bani.
Bibliography: N. Avigad/B. Sass, Corpus of West Semitic
Stamp Seals (Jerusalem 1997).
Jeremy Schipper
Adalbert of Prague
Adalbert of Prague (ca. 956997 CE) became bishop
of Prague in 983 CE and argued against polygamy
and the slave trade. In 988, he entered the Benedictine monastery on the Aventine in Rome, but
returned to Prague in 993 and founded a monastery in Brevnov. He undertook missionary work,
first among the Slavic Lutizes and then the Baltic
Prussians, where he suffered martyrdom on 23
April 997. Adalbert is the likely author of a Latin
Gorgonius legend, two Latin homilies, and of the
hymn Hospodine pomiluj ny (Lord, Have Mercy on
Us; Mares 40376). He was buried in Gniezno and
canonized in 999. In 1000 CE, Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor, took pilgrimage to Adalberts grave.
In 1039, his relics were transferred to Prague.
Bibliography: M. Gerwing, Die Lage des lateinischen
Christentums um 1000, Bohemia 40 (1999) 337. H. H.
Henrix, Adalbert von Prag: Brckenbauer zwischen dem Westen
und dem Osten Europas (Baden-Baden 1977). J. Hoffmann,
Vita Adalberti. Frheste Textberlieferung der Lebensgeschichte
Adalberts von Prag (Essen 2005). F. V. Mares, Cyrilometode jsk tradice a slavistika (Prague 2000). L. Weinrich (ed.),
Heiligenleben zur deutsch-slawischen Geschichte: Adalbert von Prag
und Otto von Bamberg (Darmstadt 2005).
Manfred Gerwing
300
Adam (Person)
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII.
IX.
Hebrew Bible/Old Testament

Judaism
New Testament
Christianity
Islam
Other Religions
Literature
Visual Arts
Music
I. Hebrew Bible/Old Testament

The common noun, adam is used most often in the
Hebrew Bible/Old Testament in the sense of human being. In Genesis 2 : 4b3 : 24, it appears
nearly always with the definite article, referring initially to the first human created and then, after the
woman is created (Gen 2 : 23), to the man in the
narrative. It is a proper name only in Gen 4 : 25
5 : 5 and 1 Chr 1 : 1 (cf. possibly Job 31 : 33; Deut
4 : 32). The etymology of adam is uncertain, although it is often associated with the root dm, to
be red. What is more important in Gen 2 : 4b
3 : 24, however, is the word play between adam and
adam ground, earth, from which the first human was made (Gen 2 : 7; 3 : 19). In Gen 2 : 4b
3 : 24, the individual adam plays a representative
role. Together with Gen 1, the two sides of humanity are portrayed (cf. Ps 8 : 47) with an affinity to
the ground, emphasizing creatureliness and
adams ephemeral nature, and yet made in the image of God (Gen 1 : 26). The complex nature of humanity is further developed when, in the events of
Gen 3, we compare the unquestioning complicity
of male adam to the theologically probing nature of
Eve (although some argue she retains a subordinate
female role).
Bibliography: D. E. Callendar, Adam in Myth and History
(HSS; Winona Lake, Ind. 2000). H. N. Wallace, Adam,
ABD 1 (New York 1992) 6264. C. Westermann, Genesis
111 (London 1984).
Howard N. Wallace
II. Judaism
Second Temple and Hellenistic Judaism Rabbinic
Judaism Medieval Judaism
A. Second Temple and Hellenistic Judaism

A major difficulty in assessing Second Temple Jewish traditions about Adam is the ambiguity of the
term adam. The term can denote not only Adam
the person, but also humanity in general or a generic human. This ambiguity marks the stories of
Gen 14 and much of the literature of the Second
Temple period. Nevertheless, from the Hellenistic
period on, (ha)adam of the Genesis stories becomes
Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception 1 ( Walter de Gruyter, Berlin/New York 2009)
301
Adam (Person)
increasingly the person Adam. This tendency is evident in the Septuagint, which begins at Gen 2 : 16
to render the generic (ha)adam as a proper name,
. This is particularly clear in Gen 2 : 20, 23;
3 : 20, 22, and 4 : 1, where appears without
an article (not so in 3 : 12).
There is little to no unity in the depiction of
Adam in the Second Temple period. Occasional
agreements between different sources are generally
due to their common dependence on the Genesis
stories and the same Greco-Roman concepts. Particularly prominent are traditions about Adams sinfulness and purity, mortality and immortality, and
his dominion over other creatures. On the other
hand, this period generates mystical traditions
about Adam that would pave the way to innumerable speculations about the status and glory of the
protoplast in the classical rabbinic writings.
In regard to the exalted status of Adam, particularly significant are Sir 49 : 16, 1 En. 85 : 310, and
37 : 1. Sirach contains several generic references to
humanity in terms reminiscent of Gen 13: Sir
15 : 14; 16 : 1718 : 14; 33 : 713; 40 : 111 (
of Sir 40 : 1b translates a generic reference to
be n adam, although the latter phrase is translated
more ably with & in Sir 36 : 28). Adam
as an individual is possibly mentioned in 49 : 16:
above every other living being [is] the glory of
Adam (l kl h y tprt dm; ;< = /
0 +
0
). It is not immediately clear if the phrase describes a generic (or humanity in general) as
more honored than the animals (an idea that the
author seems to be familiar with and to have deduced from the Genesis stories cf. Sir 17 : 24) or
if Adam the person is depicted as the highest in
honor among all humans and other creatures. It
must be noted that the immediately preceding
praise of Shem, Seth, and Enosh (Greek misreads
Enosh: . + & +)
supports a reference in 49 : 16 to Adam the person.
In the terms of the allegory of the Book of
Dreams, Adam, described as a white bull that grows
larger (1 En. 85 : 310), not only shares his heavenly
color with the angels, but is also the forebear of
generations of white bulls.
The Book of the Parables (1 En. 37 : 1) reiterates
the special position of Enoch in biblical genealogies: Enoch is the seventh from Adam (cf. also Jude
14). In a common numerological speculation, this
phrase makes Enoch an elect and describes his special status as a share in the glory of Adam.
Jubilees, which tells Adams story in Jub. 2 : 14
4 : 30, marks another development in Adam traditions. In Jubilees 3 : 27 Adam is portrayed as a
priestly figure; he brings sacrifices in or in front
of the garden of Eden, a location that the author
describes as the holy of holies of creation (3 : 1213;
8 : 19). It has been argued that, prior to this explicit
depiction of Adam as a priest, the priestly status
302
of the protoplast may be evident in the parallelism

between Ezek 28 and Gen 14.
Other intriguing developments surface in the
texts from Qumran. Several Dead Sea Scrolls seem
to use adam in reference to the person of the protoplast. If adam in 4Q381 1, 1011 (dated to approximately early 1st cent. BCE) is to be taken as a reference to the protoplast (all his hosts and [his]
ange[ls ] [] to serve man (Adam) and to minister
to him [] [w] lbd ldm wlsrtw), the passage is
best read in conjunction with later speculations
about the angelic worship of Adam. In 4Q504 VIII
(Puech col. I), 4 (ca. mid-2nd cent. BCE) the identification of adam as our [fat]her precludes any possible generic reading of adam. According to this
fragment, Adam was fashioned in the likeness of
the Glory of God (ysrth bdmwt kbwd[kh]). The phrase
may attest to an early conjunction of Gen 1 : 26
with Ezek 1 : 28. Also, the argument has been made
that 4Q417 2 I, 1618 (2nd cent. BCE) may be a
witness to a tradition according to which Adam was
created in the image of the angels. Further attesting to the conjunction of Gen 1 : 26 with Ezek
1 : 28, T. Ab. 11 (rec. A) portrays Adam in terms reminiscent of the divine Glory of Ezek 1 and Ezra 10.
Sibylline Oracles 3 : 2426 (composed toward the
end of the Second Temple period) contains one of
the earliest speculations that associate the name of
Adam with the four directions (see also 2 En. 30 : 13,
longer recension; L.A.E. 57). In later Judaism the
association of Adam with the four directions will
extend to the protoplasts body; the enormity of
Adams body will be particularly linked to the four
directions. Sibylline Oracles 1 : 2285, in a brief retelling of Gen 14, depicts Adam as a youthful,
beautiful man, morphologically similar to God.
However, the text cannot be dated to the Second
Temple period with any reasonable certainty.
Philo is not entirely consistent in his thought
on Adam, but, more often than not, for him the
first creation account refers to a generic human,
(e.g., Opif. 6488). This was
an androgynous (Leg. 1.13; cf. Opif. 76) or asexual
(Opif. 134) being. The second creation account describes the partition or the sexualization of the generic human into man, Adam, and woman, Eve
(e.g., Opif. 134150). Thus, the image of God is a
quality of the generic . Assuming an emphatically anti-anthropomorphic stand, Philo emphasizes that creation in the image of God means
that humanity resembles the divine in its
and
not in its body (Opif. 69). Nevertheless, Philo seems
to know and agree with the tradition that Adam
exceeded all subsequent humans in the grandeur
of both his soul and his body (cf. Opif. 136). Moreover, at least in one instance, Philo attributes to
Adam the physical stature of a giant (QG 1 32).
Many of these speculations will resurface in
rabbinic literature, although the relation between
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Adam (Person)
the early rabbis and the writings of the Second

Temple Judaism has not been fully clarified.
Bibliography: J. R. Levison, Portraits of Adam in Early Judaism (Sheffield 1988). C. Fletcher-Louis, All the Glory of
Adam (Leiden 2002).
B. Rabbinic Judaism
Classical rabbinic Judaism (extending approximately from the 2nd to the 8th centuries CE)
presents a vast spectrum of ideologies. Thus, it does
not offer a consistent portrait of Adam. Nevertheless, most of the classical rabbinic literature
reads adam of Gen 14 as the person Adam. Moreover, it seems that it was quite widely assumed that
several psalms were autobiographical creations of
Adam (e.g., Ps 92, according to BerR 22 : 13; Ps 139,
according to bBB 14b and bSan 38b). Also, several
texts suggest that certain Adam traditions generated concerns within rabbinic circles. Some rabbis
took issue with what they perceived to be polytheistic implications of certain Adamic speculations.
However, even in this regard the rabbinic literature
does not present a unified front. Certain sources
profess quite firmly what other opinions denounce vehemently.
Several texts attest to the fact that a tradition
according to which Adam was created on the first
day circulated in the Judaism of late antiquity. The
tradition is commonly opposed in rabbinic literature for the fear that it would imply that Adam
acted as Gods associate in the creation of the world
(e.g., bSan 38a). The predominant rabbinic opinion
is that Adam was created, soul and body, on the
sixth day. Even so, another rabbinic opinion places
the creation of the soul of Adam on the first day
and of his body on the sixth (BerR 8 : 1; WayR 14 : 1),
while other texts imply that Adams body was created on the first day and his soul on the sixth (cf.
WayR 14 : 1; see also Ginzberg: 5 : 79, n. 22). The
creation on the sixth day is commonly viewed as
an expression of Adams superiority and dominion
over all creatures (bSan 38a; tSan 8 : 9; BerR 19 : 4;
BemR 12 : 4). However, according to some opinions,
by creating Adam on the last day, God prevented
him from becoming conceited (bSan 38a; tSan 8 : 8).
The idea that the angels were created on the
first day is also opposed due to the same fear that
it would imply that God had helpers in the creation
of the world (cf. BerR 1 : 3; 3 : 8). Nevertheless, according to several texts, God created Adam with
the counsel and help of the angels (BerR 8 : 45;
bSan 38b; BemR 19 : 3). In most instances the angels
oppose the creation of Adam (bSan 38b; BemR 19 : 3)
and God creates the protoplast against their opposition (BerR 8 : 5). This tradition is a part of the recurring theme of the animosity between angels and
humans (see Schfer).
Adam was created fully developed (BerR 14 : 7).
His body was created from dust from all four corners of the world (bSan 38a; PRE 11) or, according
304
to another tradition, from the place of the Temple

(PRE 12; cf. BerR 14 : 8). It was enormous (BerR 14 : 8;
bSan 38b; bHag 12a), extending over the entire earth
(BerR 8 : 1, 21 : 3, 24 : 2; WayR 14 : 1; 18 : 2; PRE 11;
bSan 38b).
Adam resembled God morphologically to such
an extent that the angels mistook the protoplast
for God and wanted to venerate him as the Holy
One (BerR 8 : 10=QohR 6 : 9; Alphabet of Rabbi Aqiva
59; PRE 10). According to one version of the story
God prevents this misguided act of veneration by
making Adam fall asleep and thus showing the angels that Adam is a creature (BerR 8 : 10); according
to another version Adam himself directs the angels
to the real God (PRE 10). This tradition seems to
argue not against the veneration of Adam in general, but against the confusion of Adam with God
and his veneration as God. Indeed, in PRE 10 God
summons all the angels to worship the newly created Adam (this tradition is also extant in certain
versions of the Life of Adam and Eve).
Several texts depict the Adam of Gen 1 : 2627
as an androgynous being, mostly in reference to
Gen 5 : 2 (BerR 8 : 1; bMeg 9a). Eve was created from
the separation of Adams female side from his male
side. This tradition is used as an endorsement for
marriage, at times with strong statements against
celibacy (cf. bYev 63b; BerR 8 : 9; 17 : 2). Yet, other
texts oppose the idea that Adam was first a hermaphrodite and describe him as a male from the
beginning (cf. bBer 61a). Eve was thus created as a
needed sexual partner for Adam (bYev 63a) and was
fashioned from a modest part of him (BerR 18 : 2).
According to one opinion, Adam was created on
the site of the future temple (BerR 14 : 8) and on the
first of Tishri (WayR 29 : 1), when the temple would
also be finished. He was of an exquisite beauty
(PesRK 101) and wore garments of light (BerR
20 : 12).
Adam sinned the day he was created (bSan 38b;
WayR 29 : 1). With his sin he lost his splendor and
his size was diminished (bSan 38b; bHag 12a; PesRK
1). According to one tradition, even the diminished
body of Adam was a hundred cubits high (PesRK 1),
and God had to fold it up in order to fit it into
a grave (BerR 58 : 4, 8). The predominant rabbinic
tradition was that Adam was buried in the cave of
Machpelah in Hebron (bBB 58a; bEr 53a; PRE 20; see
also Ginzberg: 5 : 12527, n. 137).
Bibliography: L. Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews, 7 vols.
(Philadelphia, Pa. 19091938). P. Schfer, Adam in der
jdischen berlieferung, in Vom alten zum neuen Adam (ed.
W. Strolz; Freiburg 1986) 6993. P. Schfer, Rivalitt
zwischen Engeln und Menschen (SJ 8; Berlin/New York 1975).
C. Medieval Judaism
Undoubtedly the Jewish Adam traditions of the
Middle Ages should be viewed as evolving to a large
extent from earlier forms of rabbinic and non-rabbinic Judaism. Nevertheless, they are also the prod-
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Adam (Person)
uct of a continuous conversation (more or less affable) with ancient philosophy and with Christianity.
The Christological applications of Adam traditions
can explain the reluctance of certain Jewish circles
to make too much use, at least overtly, of speculations about Adam.
1. Hekhalot Mysticism. The origins of Hekhalot
literature can be dated mostly to the end of late
antiquity. However, its study here is warranted by
the fact that this literature is a forerunner of the
Spanish Kabbalah and of certain forms of medieval
Hasidism. Moreover, the extant forms of these
highly fluid writings are ultimately products of
medieval Judaism.
Considering how widespread Adam traditions
are in kabbalistic literature, it is intriguing that
Adam speculations seem to be suppressed in Hekhalot circles. Thus, while the Adamic identity of
Metatron is attested in kabbalistic sources, explicit
associations of Adam with Metatron are absent
from the Hekhalot texts. Moreover, there are no
explicit speculations about the primordial cosmic
Adam in the Hekhalot literature, yet discussions
about the supernal Adam abound in kabbalistic literature, particularly in the Spanish Kabbalah.
While this lack of Adam traditions has been occasionally attributed to reactions against Gnostic and
Mandaean speculations, it is more reasonable to assume that it reflects tensions between different
forms of Jewish mysticism and possibly opposition
to Christianity (Idel: 22023).
Nevertheless, several themes in Hekhalot mysticism seem to be related to Adam traditions, although the connection is not generally explicit.
The Ah er tradition of 3 En. 16 may be linked to BerR
8 : 9 and the Adam speculation of the Alphabet of
Rabbi Aqiva B (Wertheimer: vol. 2, 412). Also a case
can be made that Enoch-Metatron is presented in
terms reminiscent of Adams original status, although overt associations between Enoch and
Adam surface later on, particularly in the works of
the late 12th/early-13th-century rabbi David Qimh i
and of the 16th-century Kabbalist Solomon Molkho
(Idel: 22331).
2. Kabbalistic Literature. Kabbalistic texts
abound in speculations that the physical Adam was
modeled after a spiritual Adam, referred to as adam
elyon or adam di-leela in earlier sources, and as adam
qadmon starting with the 13th century. More often
than not, this first, spiritual Adam is depicted as
containing the entire world of emanation or the ten
sefirot. Particularly beginning with the 13th century, this cosmic Adam is identified with Metatron
(e.g., in Meirat Enayim of Isaac ben Samuel of Acre)
and the merkavah of Ezek 1, an identity that is
widely depicted as the goal of religious experience
or transformation.
The first human (and every human) is a smallerscale image of this supernal Adam. Through sin,
306
Adam and Eve obstructed the proper flow of the

sefirot through them and disrupted the harmony
and unity of the world that was concentrated
within them.
In the Lurianic Kabbalah adam qadmon is the
light that filled the primeval space after the retraction of the light of En-Sof. This light contained all
the souls of humankind (including the collective
soul of Israel, according to Bakharakh 2003: 20b)
and is the highest manifestation of the deity attainable through meditation.
3. Philosophy. Maimonides (11381204) asserts
quite emphatically that the image of God which
Adam emulates should not be associated with the
body. Rather, for Maimonides the divine quality of
Adam and of humanity in general is concentrated
in the intellect. Thus, full union with the divine is
the endeavor of the human intellect. In order to
achieve this divine communion Adam was endowed with an able intellect. Before his sin Adam
developed his intellect to its full capability and contemplated the rational truths of the creation and of
the divine, but in his sin he interrupted and greatly
impaired his contemplative life by exploring reality
through his senses, as opposed to his intellect, and
experiencing corporeal pleasure. He thus re-centered his life from the intellect to the physical desires.
Judah ha-Levi (12th cent.) explains that Adams
initial perfection resided both in his intellect and
his body. Moreover, Adam was endowed with the
divine power, that special faculty which, according
to Halevi, enables man to achieve communion with
God (Kadosh/Wolfe: 239).
For the 15th-century philosopher Joseph Albo,
Adam was the only creature who possessed the
knowledge of God. Albo interprets the biblical
Adam stories allegorically. In his reading, Adam
represents humanity in general and the tree of life
represents the Torah. Thus, for Albo, all of humanity is called to observe the commandments of the
Torah.
Bibliography. Primary: N. H. Bakharakh, The Valley of the
Kings (Jerusalem 2003). [Heb., first edition Amsterdam
1648]
Secondary: M. Idel, Enoch is Metatron, Imm. 24/24
(1990) 22040. D. Kadosh/A. Wolfe, Adam: Medieval
P.
Philosophy, EJ2 1 (Detroit, Mich. 2007) 37374.
Schfer, Adam in der jdischen berlieferung, in Vom alten zum neuen Adam (ed. W. Strolz; Freiburg 1986) 6993.
G. Scholem, Adam Kadmon, EJ2 1 (Detroit, Mich. 2007)
37879.
Silviu N. Bunta
III. New Testament

Adam is mentioned only nine times in the NT, all
but two in the Pauline corpus Rom 5 : 14 (twice),
1 Cor 15 : 22, 45 (twice), and 1 Tim 2 : 1314. The
other references are in genealogies: tracing the genealogy of Jesus back to Adam (Luke 3 : 38); and
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Adam (Person)
referring to Enoch as the 7th generation from

Adam (Jude 14). The fullest treatment of Adam is
therefore to be found in the Pauline epistles and
not only in the passages where the reference is explicit.
1. Pauline Passages where the Reference is Undisputed. a. 1 Cor 15 : 2122. In Adam obviously
denotes normal human existence; Adam is everyman. He represents not so much human createdness as human mortality, humankind as subject to
the power of death. The whole scope of human destiny can be summed up in the two men, Adam and
Christ, life ending in death and life beginning from
the dead.
b. 1 Cor 15 : 4449. Paul speaking of the resurrection
body plays with the distinction between the /
and the / . The former is
obviously the body of the present existence, human
embodiment, as we would say, in the space-time
complex. The latter, by way of contrast, is the body
of the resurrection, a spiritual body.
The reference to Adam is again explicit and this
time Paul quotes Gen 2 : 7 directly: the (first) man
(adam) became a living being/soul (nefes /7).
His characterization of human existence as from
the earth, a man of dust we bear the image of
the man of dust is also directly drawn from the
same passage: the Lord God formed man from the
dust (8) of the ground, and breathed into his
nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a
living being (2 : 7). It is precisely in his body
formed from the dust that Adam represents humankind. Paul presumably was well aware of the
Hebrew wordplay, between adam and the material
from which Adam was made, adam: the Lord
God formed adam, dust from adam.
c. Rom 5 : 1219. The reference is explicit: Adam is
the agent through whom sin came into the world,
and death through sin. The one (man) who features throughout the passage (Rom 5 : 12, 1519)
in parallel to and contrast with the one man Jesus
Christ is Adam. His trespass, his sinning, his
disobedience is set in antithesis to the grace,
the righteous act, the obedience of Jesus
Christ. The allusion to the Gen 23 story is obvious. The trespass was the act of eating from the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil (3 : 6). The
disobedience was disobedience to the explicit
command: of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you
eat of it you shall die (2 : 17). Genesis 2 : 17 also
provides the link between the trespass/disobedience and the death which resulted: in the day that
you eat of it you shall die. Presumably in mind
also was the further condemnation of sinning
Adam: By the sweat of your face you shall eat
bread until you return to the ground, for out of it
you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall
return (3 : 19).
308
d. 1 Tim 2 : 1314. Here again the direct use of or

dependence on Genesis is obvious. The Gen 2 account of creation makes a point of Adam being created first and then Eve from Adams side (2 : 7, 21
23). This is not just a deutero-Pauline perception,
since Paul seems to believe that the same order of
creation implies a clear order of precedence: the
&7 is head of the 7 (1 Cor 11 : 3). Likewise,
that it was Eve who was deceived is not simply a
deutero-Pauline emphasis, since Paul also earlier
makes the point that the serpent deceived Eve by
its cunning (2 Cor 11 : 3), though he does not
thereby exculpate Adam.
Paul was evidently drawing on well established
reflection in Second Temple Judaism on the link
between Adam and death, including the thought of
Adams as the original sin; sometimes also with Eve
explicitly blamed. The depth of the parallel is striking: the sense of humankind as caught up in
Adams sin or at least its consequences; the sense
that death is antithetical to Gods purpose in creation and must be somehow the effect of Adams sin;
the readiness to speak of Adams failure as archetypal and paradigmatic.
The ambiguity which is evident particularly in
Rom 5 is also typically Jewish: whether evil originated within human creation or from without;
whether death was the result of Adams transgression, as Paul seems to imply in 5 : 12, 15, 17, or
was simply part of the created order, the inevitable
outworking of a body composed from the dust, as
Paul seems to imply in 1 Cor 15; whether evil originated from within human creation or from without; and whether we should speak of an original
sin which actually encompassed everyone (Rom
5 : 19). Where Paul goes beyond the current theological reflection is in his development of the parallel and contrast between Adam and Christ: as in
Adam all die, so also in the Christ will all be made
alive (1 Cor 15 : 21); Adam as the type of Christ
(Rom 5 : 14); the whole sequence of Rom 5 : 1519
is structured on a /
0 = motif if Adams
transgression brought such consequences, how
much more Christs parallel but antithetical act.
Adam stands for death, Christ for life; or rather,
not just life, but life from the dead, resurrection
life: the last Adam became [not a living but] a lifegiving spirit (1 Cor 15 : 45), a phrase Paul uses elsewhere only of the Spirit of God (Rom 8 : 11; 2 Cor
3 : 6). In 1 Cor 15 : 4449, in contrast to Philo (Leg.
1.31), Paul insists that the spiritual/heavenly man
was not first. The second or last Adam is the resurrected Christ.
2. Pauline Passages where the Allusion is Clear.
e. In several passages Ps 8 : 46 is drawn on most
explicitly in Heb 2 : 69, but implicitly in 1 Cor
15 : 2527 Christ seen as fulfilling the role predetermined for man (e ns )/the son of man (benadam). This too can be classified as an expression
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Adam (Person)
of Adam theology and again the thought is of the

exalted Christ. This is most strikingly indicated by
the way Paul (and probably those before him)
blended Ps 110 : 1 with 8 : 6, the thought of all
things being subjected to the exalted Christ being
expressed in the language of Ps 110 : 1 (1 Cor
15 : 25, 27; Eph 1 : 20, 22; as also Mark 12 : 36 and
1 Pet 3 : 22). The implication is that for Paul, and
more widely within earliest Christianity, Christ was
exalted as to fulfill the role which God had
intended for Adam, for man (cf. again Heb 2 : 68)!
Otherwise Paul shows no interest in an Adam = Son
of Man theology.
f. Romans 3 : 23 includes the brief note that all
have sinned and lack the glory of God, which
seems to trade on the notion, again evident elsewhere in Second Temple Judaism, that the consequence of Adams sin was that he was deprived of
the divine glory (Apoc. Mos. 20 : 2; 21 : 6). In the same
vein of thought both Jewish soteriology and Pauline soteriology understood salvation in terms of
the restoration or enhancement of the original
glory. Here could be mentioned also the strand of
Pauline soteriology which talks of salvation as a
process of being conformed to the image of Christ,
particularly 2 Cor 3 : 18, Phil 3 : 21 and Col 3 : 10.
The thought is obviously of new creation, where
salvation is seen in terms of completing the work
and intention of the first creation, with the resurrected Christ as the template on which the divine
image of the first creation is recreated.
g. The famous I-passage of Rom 7 : 713 seems
intended also to evoke the Genesis story of Adams
original sin in coveting likeness to God in knowing
good and evil (Gen 3 : 5), covetousness as the root
of all sin being an already established theologoumenon in Jewish thought (Apoc. Mos. 19 : 3; Philo, Decal. 150; Spec. 4 : 8485; Jas 1 : 15). Most striking is
the echo of Gen 3 : 13 in Rom 7 : 11 (sin deceived me and killed me).
h. The only other strong allusion to the Genesis
narrative in Paul comes in Rom 8 : 1922. Creation
subjected to futility no doubt alludes to the curse
put upon the created order in consequence of
Adams sin in Gen 3 : 1718 (cf. 4 Ezra 7 : 11). It is
the irony that creation intended to be subject to
Adam (Ps 8 : 6) is, as a result of Adams failure, subjected to futility.
3. Pauline Passages Where an Allusion is Disputed. i. Romans 1 : 1832 indicts humankind as a
whole, drawing its principal colors from the palette
of Jewish disparagement of Gentile sin specifically idolatry and sexual promiscuity. The indictment that although humankind knew God they
did not glorify him as God or give him thanks
(Rom 1 : 21) sounds very like a reading of Gen 23:
Adam who knew God, nevertheless refused to give
God his due, and chose to disobey his command
310
(2 : 17). The consequence is that humankind became futile in their thinking, and their foolish
hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise they became fools (1 : 2122), which again sounds like a
different take on the familiar story of Adams
failure. Given the prominence of the Adam allusions in the rest of Romans it would be surprising
if, in talking about human failure to respond appropriately to the Creator, Paul did not have the
story of Adam in mind, and the failure of Adam as
the archetypal failure of humankind as a whole.
j. Most disputed of all is whether the Christ
hymn of Phil 2 : 611 was intended to evoke the
Adam story: Adams being made in Gods image,
his treating likeness to God as something attainable, and his consequent subjection to death. In the
reversal or counterpoint of the last Adams story,
he who was in the form of God did not count equality with God as something to be grasped, but nevertheless subjected himself to the condition of humankind that ends in death. In consequence he was
exalted to the status of lordship over all creation
that God had intended for Adam in the first place.
The contrast is at best implicit.
4. Son of Man as Adam? In the Gospels it is possible that the frequent Son of Man self-references
by Jesus allude to the man (Adam) = son of man of
Ps 8 : 46, but the allusion is never clear and its
relevance to what Jesus is recorded as saying is obscure. Most intriguing here are not the earthly
Son of Man references (like Matt 8 : 20), but those
which draw on the vision of Dan 7 (Mark 13 : 26;
14 : 62). For the Daniel vision can be seen as a reworking of the creation myth: as Adam was given
authority over the rest of animate creation (Gen 2),
so the saints of the Most High are to be given authority over their bestial oppressors (Dan 7 : 914).
So any drawing on that vision to explain Jesus destiny could be seen as a further reworking of Daniels re-use of the Adam myth.
Only if such reflection lies behind the Gospel
tradition does it become likely that the Adam story
also lies behind the account of Jesus temptation
(Mark 1 : 13): Jesus begins his mission to rectify the
outcome of Adams sin by defeating a similar temptation to that which caused Adam to fail. Some support is given this possibility by the fact that Luke
follows the genealogy of Jesus back to Adam (Luke
3 : 38) and immediately goes on to narrate the account of Jesus being tempted (4 : 1).
Bibliography: J. H. Charlesworth/G. Oegema (eds.), The
Pseudepigrapha and Christian Origins (London). [Forthcoming]
J. D. G. Dunn, Christology in the Making: an Inquiry into the
Origins of the Doctrine of the Incarnation (London 21989
[11980]; Grand Rapids, Mich. 1996) ch. 4. J. D. G. Dunn,
The Theology of Paul the Apostle (Grand Rapids/Edinburgh
1998) chs. 4 and 8.6. J. Jeremias, Adam, TDNT 1 : 141
43. J. Jervell, Imago Dei: Gen 1 : 26f. im Sptjudentum, in der
Gnosis und in den paulinischen Briefen (FRLANT 76; Gttingen
1960). J. R. Levison, Adam and Eve in Romans 1 : 1825
311
Adam (Person)
and the Greek Life of Adam and Eve, NTS 50 (2004) 51934.
H. Lichtenberger, Das Ich Adams und das Ich der Menschheit:
Studien zum Menschenbild in Rmer 7 (WUNT 164; Tbingen
2004). A. J. M. Wedderburn, Adam in Pauls Letter to
the Romans, in Studia Biblica, vol. 3 (ed. E. A. Livingstone;
JSNTSup 3; Sheffield 1978) 41330.
James D. G. Dunn
IV. Christianity
Greek Patristics and Orthodox Churches Latin
Patristics and Early Medieval Times Medieval Times
and Reformation Era European History of Modern
Times New Christian Churches and Movements
A. Greek Patristics and Orthodox Churches

Adams role as the father of humanity was the subject of much exegetical interest in the patristic period, especially concerning the meaning and effects
of the fall into sin. Most Western scholars believe
that the result of the fall of Adam and Eve was the
entrance of sin into the world. But the fundamental
anthropological problem in the Greek East is not
sin, but the corruptibility of the body. Even for
those whom some Greek Fathers thought free of
sin such as Jeremiah and John the Baptist, the issue
of death persisted.
This fall of humankind is best exemplified in
the way the bodies of Adam and Eve became corruptible. In two apocryphal tales of wide circulation, the Cave of Treasures in the Syriac East, and the
Life of Adam and Eve in the Greek and Latin world,
the principal punishment of Adam and Eve is quite
surprising. It is not the biblical curses of painful
childbirth and toiling in the field (Gen 3 : 1619)
but rather the transformation of the body that occurs the moment the forbidden fruit is consumed
(Gen 3 : 7). In both the Cave and the Life, Adam and
Eve exchanged their angelic bodies for corruptible
ones.
How do we get to this radically new reading of
Genesis? One source is the teaching of Jesus, for he
declared that at the resurrection marriage will end
because all shall become like angels (Matt 22 : 30).
Since it is a commonplace that the end times shall
match the beginning of time, it was assumed that
Adam and Eve once had an angelic constitution.
Another source of this reading is exegetical. All interpreters have puzzled over the statement in Gen
3 : 21 that God clothed Adam and Eve with garments of skin. Animals could not be slain until
after the flood. This led some to assume that the
clothing with skin meant the investing of Adam
and Eve with mortal bodies. If this was the case,
then Gen 3 : 21 implies that we were clothed differently before the fall.
This notion that Adam and Eve had angelic
bodies led to a number of exegetical adjustments
in the Genesis story. E.g., Chrysostom understood
Gen 2 : 25 (And the man and his wife were both
naked, and were not ashamed) to mean: It was
not idly or to no purpose that Sacred Scripture in-
312
dicates this to us; it was that we might learn of this

carefree condition of theirs, their trouble-free life
and angelic condition (PG 53: 126). So it is not
so much that Adam and Eve were blind to their
nakedness and then awakened to it in Gen 3 : 7;
rather they actually lost the angelic bodies they had
once possessed sometimes known as their garments of glory and were instantly clothed in
garments of skin.
If this was the case, then the narrative order of
the Genesis story did not reflect the historical
events of the fall. As a result, the Church Fathers
altered the narrative order of the Bible when they
retold the story in their own words. A good example of this can be found in Gregory of Nazianzus
(Oration 38 : 12):
[Adam] forgot the command that was given and came
to defeat through that bitter taste [Gen 3 : 6], at one and
the same time both were expelled from the tree of life,
paradise and God because of the evil deed [Gen 3 : 23
24], and put on garments of skin [Gen 3 : 21]. He became aware, first of all, of his own shame and hid from
God [Gen 3 : 7].
The value of this exegetical motif was enormous.

For one, it allowed the reader of Genesis to see that
the threatened penalty of death (on the day you
eat you will die) really occurred. Even though
Adam lived some 900 years after the sin, the reader
now knows that the donning of mortal flesh means
he had, in some sense, already fallen prey to death.
Secondly, in the idiom of Syriac Christianity the
term for the incarnation was that of putting on
a body (lebash pagr). Christ enters the world by
assuming the post-lapsarian state of Adam. At his
resurrection he sheds this mortal body and assumes
the bodily form that had been Adams in the Garden. For the Christian, the assumption of the baptismal robe at point of entry into the church was a
foretaste of glory. In some early baptismal liturgies,
the catechumen was stripped naked and asked to
trample on a skin to signify the renunciation of the
fallen state. In putting on the baptismal robe they
passed from death to life.
Bibliography: G. A. Anderson, The Genesis of Perfection
G. A. Anderson, Garments of
(Louisville, Ky. 2001).
Skin in Apocryphal Narrative and Biblical Commentary, in
Studies in Ancient Midrash (ed. J. Kugel; Cambridge 2001)
10143. P. C. Bouteneff, Beginnings (Grand Rapids, Mich.
2008). S. Brock, Clothing Metaphors as a Means of Theological Expression in Syriac Tradition, in Typus, Symbol,
Allegorie bei den stlichen Vtern und ihren Parallelen im Mittelalter (eds. M. Schmidt/C. Geyer; Regensburg 1982) 1137.
J. Danilou, Les tuniques de peau chez Grgoire de
Nysse, in Glaube, Geist, Geschichte (eds. G. Mller/W. Zeller;
Leiden 1967) 35567. A. Goshen-Gottstein, The Body
as Image of God in Rabbinic Literature, HThR 87 (1994)
17195. P. Nellas, Deification in Christ (Crestwood, N.Y.
1987). E. Peterson, Theologie des Kleides, BenM 16
(1934) 34756. J. Z. Smith, The Garments of Shame,
HR 5 (196566) 21738.
313
Adam (Person)
B. Latin Patristics and Early Medieval Times

The Latin tradition is almost wholly descended
from the mature thought of St. Augustine. As is
well known, Augustine returned to the account of
the fall several times in the course of his career.
Shortly after he returned from Africa he wrote De
Genesi contra Manichaeos. This work was very beholden to the allegorical approach he had learned
from Ambrose and at this point in his career Augustine was close to the Greek patristic tradition.
In 401 CE he began the Literal Commentary on Genesis
which he completed in 414 CE. At that time, the
Pelagian controversy was just beginning and this
provided the needed spur for this last treatment of
the story in books 13 and 14 of the City of God.
His mature approach to the story differed from
the classic Greek approach in two key ways. First,
he put a decided emphasis on the problem of sin as
opposed to that of death and secondly, and perhaps
most famously, he saw a very tight relationship between the moment of sexual awakening and original sin.
These two differences are clearly in evidence in
the way Augustine approaches Gen 2 : 25 and 3 : 7
in contrast to the Greeks. The biblical text of Gen
2 : 25 reads: And the man and his wife were both
naked, and were not ashamed. When Adam and
Eve fell, the first thing they noticed was their nakedness and as a result of their shame, they sewed
loincloths made of fig leaves so Gen 3 : 7. The
question then becomes why did they feel shame for
their nakedness only after the fall? For the Greeks
the answer was a bit complicated. Because they inferred that Adam and Eve only acquired mortal human bodies at the point of expulsion from the Garden (the so-called garments of flesh, cf. Gen
3 : 21), that meant that they must have had different types of bodies in Gen 2 : 25. As a result of this
unique angelic constitution it was altogether fitting that they were not ashamed prior to sin.
They were clothed in luminous angelic bodies. The
tragedy of the fall was the acquisition of mortal
flesh.
For Augustine the matter was to be seen quite
differently. He argued that Adam and Eve had fully
human bodies even while they were in the Garden.
(This construal of the matter allowed Augustine to
make an important point against the Platonists
the body was not the primary anthropological
problem. Adam and Eve in their pre-fallen state
had them.) Indeed, he claimed, in contrast to nearly
all Christian writers before him, that Adam and Eve
were destined to have sexual relations in the Garden as they had been commanded in Gen 1 : 28. The
reason this did not occur was that they fell from
grace too quickly. For Augustine, the reason that
Adam and Eve felt no shame before the fall was due
to the fact that their bodies and souls existed in
perfect harmony. The cleavage between the two
happens at the fall.
314
The key intertext for this reading is Pauls Epistle to the Romans. There Paul had claimed that his
bodily members were at war with those of his mind
(Rom 7 : 23), by which he meant that he could know
what the good was but be unable to practice it.
Prior to the fall, Augustine reasoned, things must
have been different a perfect concord would have
existed between the body and the soul. What was
willed could be done. After the transgression (Gen
3 : 7) the sexual organs began to disobey the dictates of the mind and as a result Adam and Eve felt
shame and put on fig leaves. The point here is not
that sex is particularly evil, but the unwilled movement of the sexual members is a sign of a larger
change in the make-up of the human person.
For many thinkers this means that Augustine
has an inherently negative attitude toward the sexual organs. But such is not really the case. For Augustine the break between will and the body cuts
two ways. To be sure the male organ could be recalcitrant and achieve erection at inappropriate times.
But even when sex is moral or even required the
organ could almost inexplicably go limp. This is
just as much a sign of the fall, Augustine claimed,
as when the organ behaves inappropriately.
It is important to note that Augustine was not
simply fixated on sex. The introduction of sexuality into his account of the fall followed from the
Bibles own observation that Adam and Eve were
ashamed of their genital members after the fall
(Gen 3 : 7). By linking sex to the fall, Augustine was
able to be far more tolerant toward sexual deviancy
than his opponents. The problem with an untrammeled free will is that one can be held accountable
for whatever one does. Augustine was much more
tolerant of human sinfulness because he realized
that much of what we do is outside our conscious
control. For Augustine, salvation is much more dependent on the gracious love of God than it is in
the thought of Pelagius and Augustines other opponents.
Bibliography: G. Bonner, Augustine of Hippo (London
P. Brown, Augustine of Hippo (London 1967).
1963).
E. A. Clark, Adams Only Companion, RechAug 21
(1986) 13962. E. A. Clark, Heresy, Asceticism, Adam
and Eve, in id., Ascetic Piety and Womens Faith (Leviston,
N.Y. 1986) 35373. P. Fredricksen, Beyond the Body/
Soul Dichotomy, RechAug 23 (1988) 87114.
Gary A. Anderson
C. Medieval Times and Reformation Era
In the Middle Ages the name Adam is used on
the one hand for the individual, the man formed
from the dust of the ground (Gen 2 : 7) and set in
the Garden of Eden where he lived together with
Eve until the first sin. On the other hand, Adam
is used to indicate the ancestor, first representative,
the educator of humankind and so the typos of man,
created in Gods image and according to Gods likeness (cf. Gen 1 : 26), fallen in sin and in need of
315
Adam (Person)
salvation, as Paul says in 1 Cor 15 : 45: The first

man, Adam, became a living being. Christ is the
last Adam who became a life-giving spirit. With
the first sin the whole of humankind was corrupted
(cf. DH 371).
The discussions concentrating on the narratives
about paradise and its loss are inspired especially
by the Augustinian commentaries on Genesis. Paradise (Gen 2 : 8) is of course understood as a historical place (cf. Peter Lombard, Sententiae II d. 17 c. 4
5 and the various commentaries on this passage).
In addition, following the literal sense, the events
of Gen 111 are understood first of all as real
events, but a spiritual exegesis is also possible.
Adam is created in a singular way, without mother
and father, out of nothing. This idea is, in the view
of salvation history, connected to the concept of a
privileged or original state (primus status, status
originalis) realized in Adam and Eve.
God created the first man as an adult (in aetate
virili; Peter Lombard, Sententiae II d. 17 c. 3 n. 2;
cited from Augustine, De Gen. litt. VI:13). Following
Gen 2 : 17; 3 : 19 and the comparison in Rom 5 : 12,
life in the original state is understood to be immortal. Augustine and some early medieval thinkers
trace this back to fruits of the tree of life (Gen 2 : 9).
Later this concept becomes less important and the
loss of immortality is connected with the loss of
original justice because death means eternal separation from God and living in paradise near God is
the place of life par excellence. The corporal death
which ruptures the unity of body and soul is a sign
of the second death which separates man from God.
So Adams immortality alludes to the possibility of
not dying (posse non mori) not that it is impossible to
die (not non posse mori, often cited from Augustine,
Enchir. 28 : 105; Gen. litt. VI:2526). So Adams life
is finite in any case. He is awaiting eternal life and
the transition shall take place without enduring
death.
The original state is free from sin. Anselm of
Canterbury describes this with the terms rightness (rectitudo) or original justice (iustitia originalis). This rightness has to prove its value through
acts of the human will (cf. De libertate arbitrii ch. 2).
This rightness is a gift and enables humans to sin
but also not to sin (posse non peccare); so humans are
free from sin, but not incapable of falling (not non
posse peccare, cf. Augustine, Enchir. 28 : 105).
The question of whether Adams state includes
only natural gifts and powers, or also elements of
grace, is discussed by medieval philosophers. A first
group, (probably) Gilbert of Poitiers and his school
attribute to Adam before the fall only the characteristics of a natural being; although later he could
have been a recipient of divine grace. Another
group, following Peter Lombard, distinguishes between the first state which is natural but with divine gifts, i.e., the original justice according to An-
316
selm (this concept was first elaborated by

Alexander of Hales in the Glossa in IV libros Sententiarum II d. 26 n. 10) and the second state, where
sanctifying grace is necessary for the performance
of saving deeds. This distinction is necessary because grace needs free consent to be effective.
Thomas Aquinas, together with Praepositinus, sees
Adam created with both natural and supernatural
gifts (in naturalibus et gratuitis) and he agrees that
Adam enjoyed grace from the first moment (Summa
Theologiae I q. 95 a.1 ad 5).
The text of Gen 2 : 25, And the man and his
wife were both naked, and were not ashamed, and
the description of the consequences of the first sin
(Gen 3 : 810, 16, 21) were interpreted as indicating
original integrity and freedom from concupiscence.
Body and soul stood together in harmony and the
soul was subordinate to God.
The gifts of the original state also included
marvelous knowledge. Adam knew his creator,
himself, and the world. As he was created in adult
form he needed adequate knowledge to have dominion over all animals (Gen 1 : 28), to till and
keep the earth (Gen 2 : 15), and to give names to
the living creatures (v. 19). Adam knew ordinary rational matters in a perfect way from the beginning
(cf. Hugh of St. Victor, De Sacramentis Christianae fidei I p. 6 c. 1215, PL 176: 270C-272C).
Adam received original justice not only for himself but also for the whole of humankind. That is
why his sin is so serious. Gods commandment not
to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
(Gen 2 : 1617; 3 : 13) is a challenge, a disciplinary
precept (cf. Hugh of St. Victor, ibid. I p. 6 c. 28,
PL 176: 281A-C; also Thomas Aquinas and Duns
Scotus). The temptation (vv. 17) becomes a theme
of its own (see e.g., Peter Lombard, Sententiae II d.
21 and the various commentaries). Adam and Eve
gave in and fell into sin. The first parents have to
carry the consequences for their sin: death (Gen
2 : 17; 3 : 3), shame (v. 7), the penalty for man,
woman, and serpent (vv. 1719), and finally, the expulsion from paradise (vv. 1419). Adam lost original justice with the first sin and from that moment
on the whole of humankind has been burdened
with original sin.
Late medieval mysticism, e.g., the Theologia
deutsch (3; 1516; 49), emphasizes the Paulinian opposition between Adam and Christ. Everything
that has died in Adam is reborn in Christ; everything that is living in Adam dies in Christ. Adams
sin is selfishness and disobedience, which is overcome by Christs obedience. The old Adam in me
has to die and I shall be vergottet (deified).
In the Reformation era these concepts are perpetuated in the main and are influenced by the conflicts about justification and original sin. For M.
Luther Adam was created by God just and holy
(iustus et sanctus) and lost original justice with the
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Adam (Person)
first sin (WA 4 : 690). In the Lectures on the First Book

of Moses (153545), Luther describes life in paradise.
Adams life was both animal and immortal or
spiritual. He and Eve depended on food and were
satisfied. They should have had children by procreation but without concupiscence and they should
not have known pain, death, or fear (cf. WA 42 : 42
43). P. Melanchthon follows Anselm in his view of
original justice (cf. Loci praecipui theologici CR
21 : 66869). Adam and Eve are elected in the beginning and the Holy Spirit is sent to them. With
the fall, however, they turned away from God (ibid.
682 with citation of Rom 5 : 18).
H. Zwingli characterizes paradise as a place of
freedom: Adam lives there as citizen, paterfamilias, and master. Having sinned, he died the
death of the soul and recognized his shame (De
vera et falsa religione CR 90: 65657, following Gen
2 and Rom 5 : 12).
The Council of Trent mentions Adam in the decree on original sin. It points out that he sinned
and lost holiness and justice, and therefore became
subject to Gods anger, disgrace, death, and servitude. Trent also teaches that the first sin damaged
not only the first man but also his progeny (Sessio
V, Decretum super peccato originali, citing Rom 5 : 12).
Bibliography. Primary: Alexander of Hales, Glossa in Libri
IV Sententiarum Petri Lombardi, 4 vols. (BFSMA 1215; Quaracchi 195157). Anselm of Canterbury, De libertate arbitrii, vol. 1 of id., Opera omnia (ed. F. S. Schmitt; Stuttgart
1968) 20126. Augustine, Enchiridion ad Laurentium de
fide et spe et caritate (ed. E. Evans; CChr.SL 46; Turnhout
1969) 21114. Augustine, De Genesi ad litteram libri XII
(ed. J. Zycha; CSEL 28/1; Vienna 1894) 1456. Hugh of
St. Victor, De Sacramentis christianae fidei (PL 176; Paris 1880)
173618. Peter Lombard, Sententi in IV libris distinct
(Grottaferrata 197181). Philip Melanchthon, Loci theologici (CR 2122; Leipzig 185455). Theologia deutsch (ed.
W. von Hinten; MTUDL; Mnchen 1982). Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, vols. 412 of id., Opera omnia (Rome
18881906). Huldrych Zwingli, De vera et falsa religione
(CR 90; Leipzig 1914) 590912.
Secondary: H. Kster, Urstand, Fall und Erbsnde: In der
Scholastik (HDG II/3b; Freiburg 1979). H. Kster, Urstand,
Fall und Erbsnde: Von der Reformation bis zur Gegenwart (HDG
II/3c; Freiburg 1982). L. Scheffczyk, Adam: I. Adam in
der christlichen Theologie, LMA 1 (Stuttgart 1977) 111
14. W. Seibel, Der Mensch als Gottes bernatrliches
Ebenbild und der Urstand des Menschen, in Die Heilsgeschichte vor Christus (ed. J. Feiner; MySal 2; Einsiedeln 31978)
80543.
Hubert Philipp Weber

D. European History of Modern Times
The reception of biblical Adam among European
commentators in the modern period understandably is marked by a grappling with the question of
the figures historical nature. Efforts to present dehistoricized understandings, of course, have clear
antecedents as far back as Origen; still, the assumption that Adam was an actual historical figure persisted largely unchallenged in the Christian West
318
until the development of modern literary criticism

and the rise of biological evolutionism. The desire
to reconcile scientific discovery with the biblical
record concerning Adam is apparent in the early
modern period in Johann Jakob Scheuchzers Physica Sacra (1728), which sets alongside Gen 1 : 26 a
vignette of Adam framed with a series of images of
a developing human, from egg to embryo to skeletal fetus.
Interest in the person of Adam has centered on
the idea of human creation in the image of God
(Gen 1 : 2631) and on the significance of the Eden
narrative (Gen 3). Johann Gottfried Herder, among
the earlier influential interpreters offering non-historical treatments of Adam, read the image of God
not in traditional terms as reflecting an early state
of humanity, but as humanitys potential to be
achieved in the future. Among 20th-century theologians, Wolfhart Pannenberg has been a principal
exponent of a Herderian approach. According to
Pannenberg, humanity, as the image of God, is not
complete. Rather, the image of God is a teleological concept.
The Christian understanding of Adam as a
mechanism for explaining human evil in historical
terms through the doctrine of original sin, found
alternative expression in Immanuel Kant, who presented a rationalized interpretation of the Adam
narrative in Genesis, regarding it as the atemporal
presented as temporal. Of the source of evil, Kant
argued a rational origin of evil actions, whereby
one must consider every such action as preceded by
a state of innocence. Similarly, for Friedrich Schleiermacher, original sin is an incapacity for good that
is present in an individual prior to any action of
his own, and which he understands as the inability to develop a powerful God-consciousness which
informs thoughts and actions (Schleiermacher
1963: 282). The inherited aspect of original sin refers to a social dimension, whereby others who suffer from deficient God-consciousness constantly
model such a consciousness before us.
Some theologians have gone to greater lengths
explicitly to challenge the idea of an historical
Adam. Ernst Troeltsch noted the relative silence on
the part of theologians regarding Adam and Eve
and the new discoveries that have the world in
an uproar, and considered among theologys most
important tasks to help people develop a religious
approach to these things (Troeltsch 1991: 59).
Such an approach would render historical-religious
propositions that are truly religious statements,
not historical-critical ones (Troeltsch 1991: 75).
Emil Brunner thought it important not simply to
present alternative readings, but to abandon the
historical approach altogether, stridently stating
this whole historic picture of the first man has
been finally and absolutely destroyed for us today. The historical view, he argued, obscures the
319
Adam (Person)
essence of the Christian teaching of the origin of

man, and must therefore be deliberately renounced
as a necessary purification of the Christian doctrine for its own sake, not for the sake of science
(Brunner 1947: 88). Brunner understood the accounts not in terms of an historical period, but of
an historical moment. He colorfully explains, It
is not some human being who happened to live in
the far off and dim ages of pre-history who is the
Adam created in the Image of God; it is you, and
me, and everybody. The Primitive State is not an
historical period, but an historical moment, the
moment of the Divinely created origin, which we
only know in connection with its contrast, with
sin (Brunner 1947: 111). The image of God, for
Brunner, is responsibility; and the doctrine of original sin is problematic insofar as it obscures responsibility. Karl Barth, too, had in a sense de-historicized the account of Adam, preferring to treat it as
saga, which uses intuition and imagination in order to give prophetic witness to what has taken
place by virtue of the Word of God in the (historical
or pre-historical) sphere (Barth 1956: 508). Given
that saga must be understood on its own terms, the
Genesis narratives relate something unprecedented
and incomparable concerning Adams origin and
existence. This sense is compromised when the text
is taken as history and considered either favourably or unfavourably in the light of scientific palaeontology, or to what we now know with some historical certainty concerning the oldest and most
primitive forms of human life (Barth 1956: 508).
Within the Catholic Church, Pius XII in the
1950 encyclical Humani Generis dismissed the validity of evolution, upholding the Genesis account as
historical. Thus, humanity issued naturally from
the individual and first parent Adam, who committed an actual sin, original sin, passed on to his descendants. Although John Paul II in a 1996 address
expressed a relaxed stance toward evolution, his
comments do not mention Adam and the particulars of Genesis.
Bibliography. Primary: K. Barth, Church Dogmatics, vol.
4 : 1 (New York 1956); trans. of id., Kirchliche Dogmatik, vol.
4 : 1 (Zurich 1953). E. Brunner, Man in Revolt (Philadelphia, Pa. 1947); trans. of id., Der Mensch im Widerspruch (Berlin 1937). W. Pannenberg, Anthropology in Theological Perspective (Philadelphia, Pa. 1985); trans. of id., Anthropologie
in theologischer Perspektive (Gttingen 1983). F. Schleiermacher, The Christian Faith, vol. 1 (New York/Evanston
1963); trans. of id., Der christliche Glaube nach den Grundstzen
der evangelischen Kirche, vol. 1 (Berlin 1821). E. Troeltsch,
The Christian Faith (Minneapolis, Minn. 1991); trans. of id.,
Glaubenslehre (Mnchen 1925).
Secondary: J. Behr, Adam, Encyclopedia of Christian
Theology (New York 2005) 1013. H. Pyper, Adam, in
Oxford Companion to Christian Thought (Oxford/New York
2000) 67. K. M. Wong, Image of God as Both Fount
and Destiny of Humanity, SJTh 59 : 1 (2006) 4563.
W. E. Wyman, Jr., Rethinking the Christian Doctrine of
Sin, JR 74 : 2 (1994) 199217.
Dexter E. Callender, Jr.
320
E. New Christian Churches and Movements

Adam figures strongly in the Latter-day Saints
(LDS) religion, where he is identified with the Archangel Michael. Indeed, Brigham Young, in developing the founder Joseph Smiths conviction that God
is an exalted man, equated Adam not only with Michael but with our Father in Heaven, and as the
creator of spirit offspring, including Jehovah (identified by LDS with Jesus) and Lucifer. All earths
people once lived with God and Jesus Christ as spirits in a pre-mortal life. LDS interpret Rev 12 : 79
as describing a war in heaven during that period,
at the end of which Michael cast out Lucifer. Michael was then born into this world as Adam, the
father of all, the prince of all, the ancient of days
(identified with the figure in Daniel), and a
prophet. Adam and Eve were placed by God in the
Garden of Eden, located by LDS in Jackson County,
Missouri. Other details are closer to the Genesis account, including the disobedience of Adam and Eve
by eating forbidden fruit. LDS hold that this subjected them to spiritual as well as physical death.
But the fall is not some great cosmic drama but
rather a necessary step in the plan of life for humans, making them mortal, able to have children
and to distinguish good from evil, all of which are
blessings. After Eden, Adam and Eve worshipped
and sacrificed to God, and an angel taught them
the gospel about Jesus Christ. Adam became the
first Christian, was baptized with water, was gifted
with the Holy Spirit, and was bestowed the Melchizedek priesthood, to which he ordained some of
his descendants. Some LDS refer to seven dispensations, associated with figures, the first of whom is
Adam, and the last is Joseph Smith, Jr. Three years
before his death at the age of 930, Adam gathered
his religious descendants in the Valley of Adamondi-Ahman in present-day Daviess County, Missouri, where he and Eve lived after their expulsion
from Eden. There he blessed them in the presence
of Jesus Christ, who blessed him. The meeting was
attended by Enoch, who recorded prophecies uttered by Adam at that time. Some Presidents of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, starting
with the founder, Joseph Smith, Jr., have claimed
visions of Adam and Eve. Smith foretold the return
of Adam to his people at Adam-ondi-Ahman, which
would prepare for Christs second coming, at which
Adam will sound the trump that raises the dead for
judgment. At the close of Christs millennial rule,
Adam will lead Gods forces against Satan.
Indebted to the teachings of Frederick Franz,
Jehovahs Witnesses believe that Adam was created
in 4026 BCE, and that human beings have until
Armageddon to undo the effects of his sin. When
that event failed to happen in 1975, as Witnesses
believe it should have, one strategy was to argue
that the unknown date of Eves creation moved it
to an unidentified future time. Adams sin was dis-
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Adam (Person)
obedience, listening to Eve rather than to God, and

their joint sin contaminated humans, who lost happiness and everlasting life, and found only sin, suffering and death. This is based on a sternly distributive interpretation of Rom 5 : 12, which some
witnesses use to explain sin as akin to a genetic
human trait. Still, Jesus undoes the sin of our original parents: through him, God will eliminate sin
and its effects and make the earth a global paradise.
Bibliography: D. J. Davies, An Introduction to Mormonism
(Cambridge 2003). M. J. Penton, Apocalypse Delayed (Toronto 1997).
Martin Forward
V. Islam
For Muslims, Adam is both the first human and
also the first prophet in a line which ends in Muh ammad. Indeed, Adam is widely seen as the primogenitor of the prophet of Islam.
1. Adam in the Quran. The material on Adam in
the Quran is scattered over three main narratives,
with several shorter passages elsewhere adding details to the overall picture. The name Adam (Arabic
Adam) comes 18 times in the Quran. Adam is not
included in the Qurans typical lists of prophets
(S 4 : 163; 6 : 84; 33 : 7). However, God chose Adam
(istafa, S 3 : 33, ijtaba, S 20 : 122). The first reference
to Adam in the canonical progression is when God
announces to the angels that he will place a viceroy (khal fa) in the earth (S 2 : 30). God says he will
create a human (bashar) from clay (S 38 : 71), or dust
(S 3 : 59), shape him and breathe into him of his
spirit (S 38 : 72; 15 : 29). God creates Adam with his
two hands (S 38 : 75) from a clay of mud moulded (S 15 : 28).
God teaches Adam all the names and challenges the angels to tell him the names. When the angels are unable to do this, God asks Adam to tell
them of their names (S 2 : 3133).
A major concern of the Adam passages appears
to be Gods command to the angels to bow down
to Adam. This theme appears seven times in the
Quran. God commands the angels to prostrate (sajada) themselves before Adam. All of the angels
obey except Ibl s, who refuses out of pride (S 2 : 34;
cf. 7 : 11; 20 : 116, 38 : 7276). Scholars have drawn
parallels between this episode and similar stories in
Midrash and Talmud, as well as in Christian sources.
The Quran mentions that God makes a covenant with Adam (S 20 : 115), which includes the
stipulation that his descendants will not serve Satan but rather serve God (S 36 : 6061; cf. 7 : 172).
However, Adam fails to keep this covenant: He
forgot, and we found in him no constancy
(S 20 : 115). Gods offer and prohibitions in the garden come to both Adam and his wife, as do the
consequences of their subsequent actions (see
Adam and Eve, Story of). But in a number of
322
cases Adam is singled out. Satan whispers to him,

Adam, shall I point you to the tree of eternity
(khuld) and power (mulk) that does not decay?
(S 20 : 120) Adam disobeys (asa) his Lord, and goes
astray (ghawa) (S 20 : 121). After his sin, Adam alone
receives certain words from his Lord, and God
turns toward him (S 2 : 37). God also chooses him
and guides him (S 20 : 122).
2. Adam in Islam. The quranic passages on Adam
leave many interesting details unexplained, and
early Muslim transmitters of the stories about him
supplemented them from the abundant lore contained in traditions current in the Middle East at
the time. The expanded story appeared in works of
quranic commentary, biographies of Muh ammad,
h ad th and Muslim history, and especially in qisas
al-anbiya (tales of the prophets). There was lively
speculation on every aspect of the quranic words
on Adam. Muqatil ibn Sulayman (d. 767), e.g., immediately supplied extra details about the materials from which Adam was created and the exact
way in which Gods spirit entered his body (on
S 2 : 30). Ibn Ish aq (d. 767) added information from
the people of the Torah that God created Adam
in his image. In order to fill out the narrative, these
early writers seemed comfortable with borrowing
information from and often explicitly attributing
it to the people of scripture.
Commentators from al-T abar (d. 923) on traced
Adams name to ad m al-ard , because he was created from the surface of the earth (at S 2 : 31). Storytellers and commentators expanded on the meaning of khal fa (at S 2 : 30), the figure of Ibl s, the
prostration of the angels, the names which God
taught to Adam, and much else.
3. Adam in Polemic and Mysticism. Some Muslim writers took the quranic materials on Adam in
the direction of polemic or mysticism. Commentators used S 3 : 59 to deny Christian claims for the
divinity of Jesus: Truly the likeness of Jesus with
God is as the likeness of Adam. He created him of
dust, then said to him Be, so he is (S 3 : 52). According to Ibn Ish aq, God revealed this verse to
Muh ammad when the prophet was countering the
argument of the Christians of Najran that Jesus had
no human father. As the Islamic doctrine of prophetic impeccability (isma) gained strength, Sunn
theologians argued that Adams call to prophethood came after his descent from paradise therefore he did not sin as a prophet.
The expression When your Lord took from the
loins of the sons of Adam (S 7 : 172) was interpreted to mean that God takes from Adams back
all of his progeny until the day of resurrection and
predestines them either to Paradise or Hell. God
shows Adam all of his progeny, including Muh ammad, who stands at the head of those bound for
Paradise. Strong traditions related that Adam saw
the Muslim shahada on the throne of God, that God
323
Adam (Person)
creates the world for the sake of Muh ammad, that

Adam and his offspring are created from Muh ammads light (nur), and that Adam begs God to forgive him by the merit of Muh ammad.
Al-Kisa and other writers of the tales of the
prophets also told how Adam was the original
builder of Mecca and the kaba and the first to circumambulate the kaba in worship.
Bibliography. Primary: Ibn Ish aq, The Life of Muhammad
(Karachi 1955); trans. of id., S rat Rasul Allah (ed. F. Wstenfeld; Gttingen 18581860). Al-Kisa , Tales of the Prophets (Library of Classical Arabic Literature 2; Boston, Mass.
1978). Muqatil ibn Sulayman, Tafs r Muqatil ibn Sulayman, 5 vols. (ed. Abd Allah Mah mud Shihata; Beirut 2002).
G. Newby, The Making of the Last Prophet (Columbia, S.C.
1989). al-T abar , Tafs r, 12 vols. (Beirut 1997).
Secondary: L. N. B. Chipman, Adam and the Angels,
Arabica 49 : 4 (2002) 42955. A. H. Johns, Fall of Man,
EQ 2 (Leiden 2002) 17273. M. J. Kister, Adam, IOS 13
(1993) 11374. J. Pedersen, Adam, EI2 1 (Leiden 1960)
U. Rubin, Pre-existence and Light, IOS 5
17677.
(1975) 62119. C. Schck, Adam and Eve, EQ 1 (Leiden
2001) 2226. R. Tottoli, Biblical Prophets in the Quran and
Muslim Literature (Richmond 2002); trans. of id., I profeti biblici nella tradizione islamica (StBi 121; Brescia 1999). S. M.
Zwemer, The Worship of Adam by Angels, MW(K) 27
(1937) 11527.
Gordon Nickel
VI. Other Religions

The Druze (mostly found in Lebanon, Syria and Israel) accept Adam as the first prophet though, unlike other Muslims from whose religion they originate, they accept Plato and other Greek
philosophers as members of a lower order of prophets, and they honor their own holy men who
founded their religion in the 11th century.
Adam has an even more pronounced role in the
Bah religion, which is an offshoot of Iranian
Shia Islam. Most Bahs regard the story of Adam
and Eve symbolically and allegorically, based on
the teaching of Abdul-Bah, Bahaullahs son.
Adam was the first manifestation of God (or
prophet), starting the Adamic cycle about 6,000
years ago that culminated in the coming of Bahaullah. Eve represents Adams soul and the serpent attachment to the material world. Ever since
Adams fall, humans have been aware of good and
evil. More Bahs live in India (over two million)
than in any other country, so, in an appealing attempt to indigenize their faith there, and to emphasize its claims to be an inclusive and all-embracing religion, they associate Manifestations of God
or prophets with Hindu avatars (down-comings)
sent by Brahma, the supreme reality, of whom
Adam was the first, and the Bab and Bahaullah
(the forerunner and founder of the Bah faith) the
final two. They include Krishna and the Buddha
among these illustrious figures.
Among the religions of the world with origins
unrelated to the Bible, various myths describe the
324
creation of a first human, similar to Adam. Because

most were handed down orally and never codified
in the manner of the Genesis account, details vary.
In Norse mythology, e.g., there are two variants of
the story of the creation of the first humans. The
first man was Ask, identified with the ash tree, and
the first woman was Embla, associated with the
elm or the vine. They were given life by three
brothers (Odin is common to both accounts). In the
longer, prose account, Ask and Embla were created
from wood. One brother gave them the breath of
life, the second gave them movement and intelligence, and the third gave them shape, speech, hearing, and sight. The brother-gods named, clothed,
and sheltered them.
In many other creation accounts, the creation
of man and woman is either taken for granted or
not an important part of the story. For example, in
the many variant creation accounts of African Traditional Religion, there is usually no story of the
creation of the first person. These myths often emphasize instead that humans are in the hands of an
unpredictable supreme reality. The oral stories of
many traditional religions tell of the creation of
their group, rather than of a first person or of humankind as a whole. So a Comanche myth tells of
the Great Spirit collecting dust from the four directions to create that tribes ancestors.
Some major world religions believe in an original man. Hindu texts and oral tradition tell of
Manu. According to the Mahabharata, all human beings were born from his race. Because he saved humankind from a flood, he seems more like the biblical Noah than Adam, but the reality is that there
is no direct connection between Hindu and Hebrew
myths, though there do seem to be universal
mythic themes such as the origin of the first humans, which different religious traditions describe
and interpret in particular ways. In Buddhism, the
creation of the first humans is one of the questions
that the Buddha thought it pointless to consider,
since it could not contribute to human enlightenment.
Bibliography: K. Bowers, God Speaks Again (Wilmette, Ill.
2004). P. K. Hitti, The Origin of the Druze People and Religion (London 2008). D. Leeming/M. Leeming, A Dictionary of Creation Myths (Oxford 1994).
Martin Forward
VII. Literature
Amongst the earliest mentions of Adam in European literature are those in 9th-century West Saxon
royal genealogies, tracing kingly ancestry back
through pagan gods to Noah and Adam. In medieval literature, outside the mystery plays, a significant text is the 14th-century religious lyric, Adam
lay ibowndyn, in which Adam is doomed to imprisonment for a thousand years. But it was a felix culpa,
a fortunate fall; otherwise, we are told, Our Lady
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Adam (Person)
would never have been Queen of Heaven. The Cursor Mundi (probably early 14th century) contains a
lengthy lament in which Adam, on Seths return
from Paradise to tell him that he will die, is depicted as a worn-out old man who has lived long
enough and welcomes death. Even hell will be better than prolonged life on earth. He is buried where
the seeds of the tree of the cross (the rood-tree) will
lie dormant for a thousand years. In Langlands
Piers Plowman (late 14th century) Adam appears as
Sir Do-Well. Chaucer, in an early poem, seems to
jest that Adam is his amanuensis (Adam scriveyn). After the rich treatment of the story of
Adam and Eve in medieval drama, Adam is increasingly metamorphosed into Everyman in medieval
morality plays such as The Castle of Perseverance. In
the Vienna Passion Adam throws away the robe of
immortality, thematically counterpoised with
Christs seamless cloak.
After the Reformation, Adam becomes an element in the development of the figure of Faust,
as in C. Marlowes Doctor Faustus (1604) and Jacob
Bidermanns Cenedoxus (1609). Marlowe himself
had been accused of blasphemy in 1593, part of the
evidence being his claim that, if Adam lived 6,000
years ago (as was conventionally believed), he could
not have been the first man, since ancient authors
referred to events 16,000 years ago.
A popular folk-rhyme of the middle ages was
the couplet, When Adam delved and Eve span,
Who was then the gentleman? quoted by John Ball
in his Blackheath sermon of 1381, which led to his
execution in front of the king. In the 17th century
the lines were drawn in England between the Levellers who, like Ball, found sanction in the Eden
story, and figures like Thomas Peyton who presented the royal line as Adamic. Elsewhere Verstegen speculated that the Adamic language was
Dutch.
Miltons Adam is on negotiating terms with
God. When he asks for human company in Book
VIII of Paradise Lost, God reminds him that God has
always been happy in solitude. This was one of the
many arguments of Paradise Lost which W. Blake in
Urizen essayed to overturn, in this case making Jehovah project his own loneliness onto Adam.
The ancient idea that Adam was androgynous,
revived by J. Boehme (15751634), is perhaps reflected in two works of Dryden (16311700), The
Unhappy Favourite and The Hind and the Panther, in
which the roles of Adam and Eve are conflated.
Blake certainly treated Adam as androgynous until
divided into male and female, something effectively accomplished by Jesus to enable his own birth
as redeemer. Satan and Adam are brothers in
Blakes poem Milton (1804), with Satan as the lower
part of The Mundane Egg in an illustration and
Adam the upper part. In Urizen, Los as Jehovah is
contaminated by the malevolent and materialistic
326
characteristics of Elohim-Urizen, creating an Adam

torn by the contradictory influences of the two divine forces. Adams return to Paradise is a theme of
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. In German literature
Mllers Adams erstes Erwachen und erste seelige Nchte
(1778) lyricizes Adams life before the creation of
Eve, and Heines poem Adam der Erste (1840) marks
a new Promethean stage in that poets work. W. B.
Yeats poem Adams Curse (1904) connects the hard
work associated with creative writing (as well as
with womens beauty) to Adams fall.
Puritan biblicist influence on American literature is evident in the recurrence of Adamic themes
in the writings of Hawthorne, Melville, Whitman,
Faulkner, and others. Melvilles Billy Budd has been
seen as the tragic collapsing of the traditional
Adam-Christ typology in the outlook of Captain
Vere. Isabel Archer, the main character of H. James
The Portrait of a Lady (1881), has been seen as a transposed Adam figure.
Lorcas poem Adan (ca. 1922) has two Adams,
one the father of bloody conflict, the other seedlessly fathering the child of light. Charles Williams play Seed of Adam (1936) has Adam making a
futile attempt to return to Paradise, frustrated by
humanitys division into two opposing camps of
materialism and aestheticism, led by two of the
Magi, Gaspar and Melchior. However, the marriage
of his daughter Mary to young Joseph, a Muslim
cavalry officer, leads to the Incarnation, greeted by
Adam in his own new incarnation as Augustus Caesar. Guided by the Third King, who has plumbed
the depths of post-lapsarian despair, Adam discovers the Way of Return.
In Russian literature, Pushkins narrative poem
The Bronze Horseman has Yevgeny as a tragic Adamfigure, longing for a lost paradise with his sweetheart, but pursued by the nightmarish figure of
Tsar Peter the Great as the bronze statue comealive. Zamyatins We (1924) is a dystopian sciencefiction in which the Adam-figure is the builder of
a spaceship designed to export the benefits of the
ideal planned economy to the rest of the galaxy.
From the same period comes the Czech playwright
Karel Capeks R.U.R. (1923), famous for its coinage
of the word robot, in which humanitys efforts
to secure a work-free utopia by the mass-production of robots lead to the annihilation of the human race. The situation is only relieved in the Epilogue when the two most humanized robots,
Primus and Helena, are acclaimed as Adam and Eve
by the last surviving human being, Alquist.
The Argentinian novelist Leopoldo Marechals
Adan Buenosares (1948) is a counterpart to Joyces
Ulysses, but set in Buenos Aires and using Genesis
as its pretext. H. Blls 1951 novel Wo warst du
Adam? (Eng. trans. Adam, where art thou?) depicts the
bleak inhumanities of the Eastern front. There are
distant echoes of Adam in the 1956 novel of A. Ca-
327
Adam (Person)
mus, La Chute (The Fall), in which Jean-Baptiste

Clamence struggles with the self-deceptions of
leading a morally-upright life until finally reaching
a modus vivendi with his own state of innocence
about the nature of goodness.
The androgynous Adam recurs in Michel Tourniers short story, La Famille Adam (1978). Italo Calvinos Adam, One Afternoon (1957) translates the
Eden story into a childhood fantasy of magic-realism. Adam lay ibowndyn resurfaces in Adam, a rewriting by the poet Ted Hughes. Here Adam Lay defeated, low as water. Environmental concerns find
expression in a succession of English poems dealing with the Exile from Eden. In R. S. Thomas
poem Adam Tempted Adams undoing is that though
A slow traveller, with all the time to arrive, he is
tempted by the machines smiling undertaking to
get him there sooner. The Caribbean poet Derek
Walcott affirms the themes continuing resonance
in Adams Song.
Bibliography. Primary: I. Calvino, Adam, One Afternoon and
other stories (London 1983); trans. of id., Ultimo viene il corvo
(Turin 21977). T. Hughes, Collected Poems (London 2003).
R. S. Thomas, Collected Later Poems (Highgreen 2004).
D.
Walcott, Selected Poetry (Oxford 1981).
Secondary: B. Murdoch, Adams Grace, Fall and Redemption in Medieval Literature (Cambridge 2000). E. Budick,
American Israelites, in Biblical Patterns in Modern Literature
(eds. D. H. Hirsch/N. Aschkenasy; Chico, Calif. 1984).
S. F. Damon, A Blake Dictionary (London 1979).
T. W.
Machan, Texts, in A Companion to Chaucer (ed. P. Brown;
Oxford 2000). D. Norton, A History of the Bible as Literature, vol. 1 (Cambridge 1993). W. V. Spanos, The Christian
Tradition in Modern British Verse Drama (New Brunswick, N.J.
1967). L. Tannenbaum, Biblical Tradition in Blakes Early
Prophecies (Princeton, N.J. 1982).
Anthony Swindell
VIII. Visual Arts

1. Description of the Normative Figure of Adam
in the Visual Arts. The visual paradigm for the
figure of Adam was as a nude, youthful man, in
many cases exhibited with his companion Eve.
There are representations of Adam without his
companion, recalling scriptural episodes from the
Genesis account, including his Creation (see /plate
4.a) and Adam Naming the Animals. In many representations, particularly in the early Christian era,
Adam was marked by his nudity. Adam was depicted as a clean-shaven youth, and his nudity suggested birth or creation in his pre-Fallen condition.
While a nude or partially nude Adam may appear
uniform in artistic representations, there were frequent examples of a clothed Adam. These images
exhibited Adam after the Fall. Not only was his nudity concealed due to his shame, his tattered appearance indicated his torturous condition. The Labors of Adam following the Expulsion from Paradise
illustrated Adam clothed in a drab garment, holding a spade or a rake as he attended to his manual
328
labors that were now required for his survival. The

spade and the garments of Adam suggested the
Fallen condition of the first man. In medieval representations of the Resurrection of Jesus, Adam appeared with a similar threadbare garment and an
aged, bearded face, as Christ rescues him from the
realm of death. The nudity of Adam in the visual
arts was an important attribute emphasizing the
condition of the first man before the Fall, while a
clothed Adam indicated the result of the first sin.
2. Attribute and/or Symbol. In the visual arts,
Adam was represented with several of the details
mentioned in the Genesis scriptural narrative. The
tree in the Garden of Eden was commonly included
in representations of Adam (and Eve), directly recalling the Temptation episode. The serpent was a
frequent inclusion in images of the Temptation, indicating the moment of the first sin and consequent Fall. Adams physical appearance, especially
in representations of Adam in Paradise, emphasized his pre-Fallen condition as he was unashamed
of his nudity. Adams nudity hidden by the fig leaf
was an attribute of his representation in the visual
arts, although the fig leafs presence was not uniform. Adam obstructing his nudity with his hand
or with the use of a fig leaf, revealed the moment
of the Temptation and the Fall, as the first couples
sin resulted in shame at their nakedness. The concealment of Adams nudity may also express a desire for modesty by the artist or the patron commissioning the work. In the Creation of Adam, the
representation of the divine in the figure of God or
Jesus was included. Christ was a commonly present
figure in representations of Adam, either at the
Creation, the Expulsion from Paradise, or the commission of Adams Labors. Inserting Christ into the visual narrative emphasized the pre-existent nature of
Christ as the Divine Logos. In the early Christian
era, patristic authors reiterated the claim of the existence of the Word before the Creation event, thus
emphasizing the supremacy of Christ. The visual
arts obviously followed suit. Adam was a symbol of
Creation, as reflected in the scriptures (Gen 1 : 26
30). In the visual arts, the Creation of Adam was
expressed in two different styles. In one style, God
shapes Adam from clay, corresponding to the etymology of the first mans name (adamah). Such a
representation has a Greco-Roman precedent in
Prometheus shaping humans from clay. The second
style captured the Animation of Adam. These representations included God breathing the breath of
life into the first man, as well as God infusing
Adam with a soul by the power of Gods touch,
memorably rendered by Michelangelo in the Sistine
Chapel. Other common attributes of the person of
Adam in the visual arts included various animals
accompanying Adam in Paradise, recalling the episode from scripture of Adam Naming the Animals
(Gen 2 : 1921). Beginning with the dawn of Chris-
329
Adam (Person)
tianity, the figure of Adam was a symbol suggesting baptism. The earliest uncovered baptistery at
Dura-Europos from the 3rd century CE included a
depiction of Adam, shown nude. The patristic authors Cyril of Jerusalem (Myst. cat. 2.2) and Theodore of Mopsuestia (Bapt. hom. 3.8) both emphasized Adam as a baptismal figure to their
candidates in catechetical homilies. Adams nudity
in the visual arts reflected the nudity that a candidate embodied in the ancient rite of baptism. Candidates were exhorted to personify the unabashed
nudity of the first man. Their clothing served as a
reminder of the shame and mortality that followed
the Fall, and was ceremoniously removed in a ritual
inaugurating the process towards new life in
Christ. In the visual arts, the symbol of Adams nudity signified Adam as a baptismal candidate. In
the examples that portrayed a clothed Adam,
Adams garments were slightly tattered, and he was
illustrated in the action of performing his labors.
The garments and the spade of Adam depicted in
representations of his Labors were symbols of the
Fall. Adam was shown tilling the earth, emphasizing his physical toil. Several 5th-century Syrian
floor mosaics (see Huarte, northern Syria; National
Museum, Copenhagen; Hama Museum) exhibited
Adam enthroned. Adam enthroned demonstrated a
connection to Jesus, recalling the passages in Pauls
letters that deliberately associate Adam with Christ
(Rom 5 : 14; 1 Cor 15 : 22). In the visual arts, the appearance of Adam accompanied by the figure of
Christ made this connection quite lucid. Artistic
scenes that demonstrated a connection between
Adam and Christ asserted Adam as the Man of
Creation and Christ as the New Creation. Thus, the
person of Adam in the visual arts symbolized
death, birth, renewal, and resurrection.
3. Scriptural Episodes in the Visual Arts. Images
of Adam are common throughout history, from the
initial development of the Christian artistic language through the Renaissance. The scriptural episodes depicted were: the Creation of Adam (occasionally referred to as the Animation of Adam: God
Modeling Adam out of Clay; God Breathing Life into
Adam), Adam in Paradise, Adam Naming the Animals,
the Expulsion from Paradise (the Labors of Adam, Adam
Digging with a Spade), and the Death of Adam (Gen
5 : 5).
4. Frequent Iconographic Motifs in the Visual
Arts. In the visual arts, images that solely included
Adam were less common than images that incorporated his companion, Eve.
a. Late Antiquity. In early Christian and Byzantine
art, Adam was most often depicted with Eve in
scenes of the Creation and the Fall. Images displaying Adam as a baptismal figure, emphasizing
death, birth and resurrection, occurred regularly in
funerary artworks of late antiquity. Adam was frequently portrayed in early Christian catacombs and
330
baptisteries, and on sarcophagi. Depicted with Eve

and sporadically with Christ, the nude Adam was
witnessed by viewers as a baptismal figure, and as
a figure connoting eventual resurrection. Adams
association with Christ was not always visually explicit; however Adam in a context of creation, death
or resurrection inevitably foreshadowed Christ as
the New Adam. In the visual arts, Adam was realized as a type of ancestor of Christ, as indicated in
Lukes genealogy (Luke 3 : 2338).
b. Middle Ages and Renaissance. Medieval and Reformation images of Adam focused on the Creation,
the Temptation and the Fall, and the Labors of
Adam. In medieval art, particularly in the East,
Adam was included in representations of the Resurrection of Jesus. In scenes of the Resurrection, Christ
grasps the wrist of a clothed Adam, dressed in a
tattered garment, indicating his destitute state
after the Fall, and emphasizing the ultimate victory
of the resurrection event. Akin to the early representations of Adam, this image of Adam signified
resurrection. In mosaics at Hosios Lukas and Hagia
Sophia, Adam was portrayed in the Resurrection
scene, displaying the Old Adam rescued by the New
Adam. Eve was included in the scene; however she
was not consistently grasped by the wrist as Adam
was. In medieval representations, Adam was a reminder of humanitys fallen condition that was
only corrected by Jesus. Christ resurrecting the
Fallen Adam revealed an attention to the resurrection of the flesh in Christian thought. During the
Reformation era, the person of Adam was captured
in altarpieces that effectively illustrated the Protestant doctrine of the relationship between the Law
and the Gospel. Created by the Cranach workshop,
the Temptation and the Fall labeled under the rubric of Law was illustrated on one side, while the
Gospel narrative flanked the Hebrew Bible scenes,
with Adam acknowledging the impact of the crucified Christ. The climax of the artistic representation of Adam in the visual arts was in Michelangelos Sistine Chapel fresco. Michelangelo
portrayed the Animation of Adam in a unique manner that became foundational in Western art. God
was included amongst the characters in Michelangelos drama as well as several other figures of disputed identity. Eve was possibly portrayed next to
the arm of the Creator, while the infant child below
the female figure was potentially Christ. In Michelangelos fresco, Adam was depicted nude as a
model of perfection, as the figure awaited the touch
of the Creator.
c. Other Iconographic Motifs. Adam was represented
amongst wild beasts in the Naming of the Animals,
akin to images of Noah and Daniel in the lions
den. Adam was noted by patristic authors as a figure whose virtue protected him from the wild animals. Adam was considered immune from the
beasts as he was immune from sin in his pre-Fallen
Adam (Person)
331
condition. In notable representations of Adam Naming the Animals, Adam was shown in Paradise, gesturing towards the beasts in the symbol of speech,
exhibiting his authority and their submission. The
scene of the Naming of the Animals has a precedent
in the Greco-Roman image of Orpheus with the
animals. The scene also was similar to images of the
Good Shepherd, bearing an association with Christ.
The action of Adam Naming the Animals demonstrated his command over the dominion of Paradise
and his ability to make judgments. Adam as Judge
was a motif that appeared in several enthronement
images in the visual arts. Adam was shown enthroned on a backless seat in several mosaic representations in Syria. An enthroned Adam demonstrated the iconographic connection to Jesus of
Nazareth. The enthroned Christ was also regularly
portrayed in Western art, emphasizing his dominion and imminent judgment. In the visual arts, the
person of Adam was a recognizable and enduring
figure, as it reflected issues derived from the Genesis narrative as well as purveying particular elements of Christian doctrine germane to its era.
The popularity and utility of the person Adam are
attested by his ubiquity in Christian art.
332
dral, Burgundy; Geneva Bible; Brussels Tapestry, Acad.,

Florence; William Blake, tempera on canvas, Collection of
Sir John Stirling Maxwell. The Labors of Adam and Eve:
Sculpted frontal, Dogmatic Sarcophagus, Museo Pio Cristiano, Rome; Mosaic, San Marco, Venice; Bronze doors, Cathedral of Monreale, Sicily; Psalter of St. Alban, Hildesheim; Miniature, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; Stained
glass, Sainte Chapelle, Paris; Psalter of Queen Mary, British
Museum; Portal, Rouen Cathedral; Western portal, Church
of Ulm; Arch, portal of the Church of St. Thibault, Thann.
Adam Digging with a Spade: Mosaic, Baptistery, Florence;
Bronze doors, Cathedral of Hildesheim; Relief in the faade
of Modena Cathedral; Relief, San Zeno, Verona; Fresco,
Saint Savin, Poitou; Mosaic, San Marco, Venice; North portal, Chartres Cathedral; North faade, Amiens Cathedral;
Foundation, Cathedral of Bourges; Chapel, Salisbury Cathedral; Tympanum, Cathedral of Freiburg; Stained glass, Canterbury Cathedral; Ps. of Queen Mary, British Museum; Andrea Pisano, relief, S. Maria del Fiore, Florence; Ghiberti,
bronze doors, Baptistery, Florence; School of Paolo Uccello,
cloister, Santa Maria Novello, Florence; Jacopo della Quercia, portal of S. Petronio, Bologna; Stalls, Amiens Cathedral;
Antonio Lombardo, relief, Basilica of Lorette. Death of
Adam: Portal, Cathedral of Ulm; Piero della Francesca,
Resurrection: Mosaic,
fresco of San Francesco, Arezzo.
Hosios Lukas, Distomo; Mosaic, Hagia Sophia, Istanbul;
Fresco, Monastery of the Savior, Chora, Istanbul; Mosaic,
main church, Nea Moni, Chios.
Bibliography: F. W. Deichmann et al. (eds.), Repertorium
der christlich-antiken Sarcophage, Register 1 (Wiesbaden 1976).
[Esp. 37] H. Maguire, Adam and the Animals, DOP
41 (1987) 36373. L. Rau, Iconographie de lart chrtien 2.1
(Paris 1988 [= 1956]) 65103. H. Schade, Adam und
Eva, LCI 1 (Freiburg 1994 [= 1968]) 4170. J. Seibert,
M.-T.
Adam und Eva, LCK (Freiburg 1980) 1115.
Canivet/P. Canivet, La mosaque dAdam, in CAr 24 (1975)
4969.
Lee M. Jefferson
IX. Music
Fig. 7
W. Blake, Elohim Creating Adam (1795)
Works: Creation of Adam: Fragment, Cemetery of Callistus,

Rome; Fresco, Monreale Cathedral, Sicily; Fresco, ChteauGontier; Sculpture, arch, Chartres Cathedral; Fresco,
Church of Chteau-Gontier; Jacopo della Quercia, faade, S.
Petronio, Bologna; Paolo Uccello, fresco, Santa Maria Novello, Florence; Ghiberti, Bronze doors of the Baptistery,
Florence; Master Bertram, Grabow Altar, Kunsthalle Hamburg; Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel, Rome; William Blake,
drawing, Tate Gallery, London. Adam in Paradise (Adam
Naming the Animals): Ivory, Carrand diptych, Florence; Mosaic, Huarte, Syria; Mosaic, National Museum, Copenhagen;
Mosaic, Hama Museum, Syria; Girona Tapestry of the Creation, Cathedral of Girona, Catalonia; Miniature in the Vatopedi Octateuch, Mt. Athos; Fresco of St. Peter, Abbey of St.
Peter, Ferentillo Valley; Mosaic, narthex, San Marco, Venice;
Stained glass, Sainte-Chapelle, Paris; Portal, Auxerre Cathe-
The musical reception of the biblical figure of

Adam mainly concerns the story of Adam and Eve.
However, Adam as a symbol of the general sinfulness of humanity is found in both Latin and vernacular hymns to be sung during religious services of
various denominations since the Middle Ages. A
further development of such a use of the figure is
based on the Pauline opposition between Adam
and Christ (1 Cor 15 : 2122, 45). This opposition is
rendered musically in Handels Messiah where 1 Cor
15 : 2122. is set in a chorus which musically
strongly emphasizes the parallel contrasts between
death and resurrection (1 Cor 15 : 21) on the one
hand and Adam and Christ (1 Cor 15 : 22) on the
other by way of modulation and radical changes of
tempo. Further, a metaphoric designation of Christ
as the new Adam is occasionally met with in
hymns.
In medieval vernacular (spoken) mystery plays,
Adam appears in representations not only of the
story of Adam and Eve but also of the Harrowing
of Hell, for instance in the Chester Mystery Cycle.
Here Adam expresses the gratefulness of con-
333
Adam, The Apocalypse of (NHC V,5)
demned humankind for the salvation through

Christ, a statement which leads into the singing of
Te Deum laudamus.
In some oratorios and related genres, the figures of Adam and Eve are represented quite freely,
although the Genesis account is presupposed as
background for the oratorio narrative. It is not possible to make a sharp distinction between free musico-literary treatments of the figures of Adam and
Eve and representations of the story of Adam and
Eve. Oratorio representations of the story of Cain
and Abel are borderline cases: in the oratorio Il
primo omicidio [The first murder] (Venice 1707), by
Alessandro Scarlatti (to a libretto by an unknown
author), as well as in Metastasios libretto Morte
dAbele (1732) which was set by many composers
during the 18th century, Adam and Eve appear to
some extent individually characterized as they
comment on the tragic action as well as refer to the
future salvation in Christ.
In a similar way, although in a completely different context and with no devotional purpose, the
opera Cain and Abel (2006) by the Danish composer
Bent Lorentzen (based on his own text) incorporates highly individual elaborations of the figures
of Adam and Eve in its version of the story of Cain
and Abel.
The oratorio Adams Tod [Adams death] (1778),
by Michael Haydn, based on the tragedy Der Tod
Adams (1757) by Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock
(translated and published in English as The Death of
Adam in 1763), stages Adam and Seth as the most
prominent biblical figures in an Enlightenment
drama concerned with death and the salvation of
humankind; it is freely composed but with many
references to Gen 34.
Bibliography: Analecta hymnica medii aevi, 55 vols. (Leipzig
18861922). R.-J. Hesbert (ed.), Corpus Antiphonalium Officii, 6 vols. (Rome 1963), vol. 4. D. Mills (ed.), The Chester
Mystery Cycle (East Lansings, Mich. 1992). H. E. Smither,
A History of the Oratorio, 4 vols. (Chapel Hill, N.C. 1977
2000).
Nils Holger Petersen

See also /Adam and Eve, Story of; /Eden,
Garden of; /Eve
Adam (Place)
The biblical town of Adam (MT Adam) is usually
identified with Tell ed-Damiyeh, located at the confluence of the Jabbok and Jordan rivers, on the
way of the plain (2 Sam 18 : 23) that ran along the
deep Jordan rift from Jericho to the Valley of BethShean (Aharoni: 58). It is mentioned in Josh 3 : 16
as the place where the water of Jordan stood still,
rising up in a single heap so that the Israelites
could cross over into Canaan. The high banks of
the Jordan run deep down between two walls of
very soft limestone rock in this region. The collapse
334
of the walls in 1267, 1906, and 1927, thus forming

a natural dam, may have been the natural phenomenon behind the biblical account (Soggin: 61). Since
the Ketib reads at Adam (be adam), while the Qere
reads, from Adam (me adam), the extent of the
damming is uncertain. The Septuagint reads, over
a very wide area as far as the edge of Kiriathjearim, indicating a wider affected area than that
described by the Ketib. Adam was either in District
V or VII of Solomons 12 districts (1 Kgs 4 : 719;
Ahlstrm: 511512). It was listed in the Bubastite
Portal at Karnak as one of the cities in the Jordan
Valley conquered by Pharaoh Shishak during his
campaign against Judah and Israel (1 Kgs 14 : 25;
Mazar 1986: 146). According to Mazar, the word
adam in Ps 68 : 19, 78 : 60 and Hos 6 : 78 should
be understood as the city of Adam, and these references give us glimpses of the early Settlement period (Mazar 1984: 1718).
Bibliography: Y. Aharoni, The Land of the Bible (Philadelphia, Penn. 21979 [London 11968]). G. Ahlstrm, The
B. Mazar,
History of Ancient Palestine (Sheffield 1993).
Biblical Archaeology Today, in Biblical Archaeology Today
B. Mazar, The
(ed. J. Amitai; Jerusalem 1984) 1620.
Early Biblical Period (Jerusalem 1986). N. Glueck, Explorations in Eastern Palestine, IV, Pt. 1 (New Haven, Conn. 1950).
A. Soggin, Joshua (OTL; London 1972).
Fook-Kong Wong
Adam, The Apocalypse of (NHC V,5)

The Apocalypse of Adam from the Nag Hammadi Library is a rewriting of biblical history in the form
of a revelatory instruction given by Adam to his son
Seth shortly before Adams death. Adam recounts
how, in the beginning, he and Eve lost their original glory and knowledge and served their creator in
fear. During Adams sleep, however, three superior
beings revealed themselves to him, and the knowledge they gave him Adam now transmits to his son.
Seth and his descendants will be the human repositories of knowledge about the transcendent realities. Adam prophesies that the creator, also called
Sakla, or simply God, will attempt to destroy the
descendants of Seth, first by sending a flood (the
story of Noah) and a second time by fire (the story
of Sodom and Gomorrah). On each occasion, heavenly beings will descend and rescue the seekers of
knowledge. In a third and last descent, the Illuminator of knowledge will appear to confront the
powers, perform miracles, and redeem elect souls.
He will be persecuted, and his flesh will be punished, but his glory will invisibly depart and dwell
in holy houses.
A peculiar feature of Apoc. Adam is the subsequent heresiological list of 13 kingdoms representing false theories about the Illuminators origin and his baptism. In contrast, only the kingless
generation possesses true knowledge. These elect
ones will be transfigured and obtain eternal life

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1 Chronicles 9 : 12 (= Neh 11 : 12) lists this person

Hebrew Bible/Old Testament

I. Hebrew Bible/Old Testament

A. Second Temple and Hellenistic Judaism

of the protoplast may be evident in the parallelism

the early rabbis and the writings of the Second

to another tradition, from the place of the Temple

Adam and Eve obstructed the proper flow of the

III. New Testament

referring to Enoch as the 7th generation from

d. 1 Tim 2 : 1314. Here again the direct use of or

of Adam theology and again the thought is of the

A. Greek Patristics and Orthodox Churches

dicates this to us; it was that we might learn of this

The value of this exegetical motif was enormous.

B. Latin Patristics and Early Medieval Times

salvation, as Paul says in 1 Cor 15 : 45: The first

selm (this concept was first elaborated by

first sin (WA 4 : 690). In the Lectures on the First Book

Hubert Philipp Weber

until the development of modern literary criticism

essence of the Christian teaching of the origin of

Dexter E. Callender, Jr.

E. New Christian Churches and Movements

obedience, listening to Eve rather than to God, and

cases Adam is singled out. Satan whispers to him,

creates the world for the sake of Muh ammad, that

VI. Other Religions

creation of a first human, similar to Adam. Because

characteristics of Elohim-Urizen, creating an Adam

mus, La Chute (The Fall), in which Jean-Baptiste

VIII. Visual Arts

labors that were now required for his survival. The

baptisteries, and on sarcophagi. Depicted with Eve

dral, Burgundy; Geneva Bible; Brussels Tapestry, Acad.,

W. Blake, Elohim Creating Adam (1795)

Works: Creation of Adam: Fragment, Cemetery of Callistus,

The musical reception of the biblical figure of

Adam, The Apocalypse of (NHC V,5)

demned humankind for the salvation through

Nils Holger Petersen

of the walls in 1267, 1906, and 1927, thus forming

Adam, The Apocalypse of (NHC V,5)

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creates the world for the sake of Muh ammad, that