Writing on
the concept of the Fall as a “fall upward” (similar to the terminology used
by some LDS authors such as Joseph Fielding Smith), one recent volume on the
Eden narrative in Genesis reads as follows:
Cyrus Gordon observed that the Eden story “is
not so much an account of the ‘fall of man’ but rather of the rise of man
halfway to divinity,” (143) while David Wright concluded that “if there is a
vertical movement in the story, it is not a ‘Fall’ but an ‘Ascension,’ toward
the rank and species of deity.” (144) Similarly, Bruce Naidoff wrote that “Genesis
2-3 reflects a coming to a state of
awareness that, as it were, precedes sin.” (145)
Notes
for the Above:
143. Cyrus Gordon, The World of the Old Testament (1960), p. 37
144. David P. Wright, “Holiness, Sex, and Death
in the Garden of Eden,” Biblica
77:305-29, here, p. 320
145. Bruce Naidoff, “A Man to Work the Soil: A
New Interpretation of Genesis 2-3,” JSOT
5:2-14, here, p. 11
Source: Arthur
George and Elena George, The Mythology of
Eden (Lanham, Md.: Hamilton Books, 2014), 275
