Adam, Eve, and the Serpent (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: Elaine Pagels
- First Published: 1988
- Type of Work: History of religion
- Genres: Criticism, Nonfiction, History, Religion and spirituality
- Subjects: Creation myth, Sexism, Sex or sexuality, Gender roles, Sin or Original sin, Religion, Women’s issues, Christianity, Women, Bible, biblical imagery, or biblical symbolism, Greek or Roman times, Women’s rights, Theology
Elaine Pagels, professor of religion at Princeton University, asks, “When did key Christian concepts about gender, sex, and suffering take shape?” In Adam, Eve, and the Serpent, she points to the fourth century as the key period. Surveying three hundred years of theological controversy and polemic, Pagels concludes that Christian ideas about marriage, sex, virginity, divorce, sin, nature, and individual moral responsibility became rooted about the same time that Christianity replaced polytheism as the official religion of the Roman Empire. Pagels identifies Saint Augustine of...
[The entire page is 2324 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Navigate
See Also
