Eve
Adam and Eve by Lucas Cranach the Elder shows Eve giving Adam the fruit.
Spouse	Adam
Children	Cain Abel Seth Other unknown children

Eve (Hebrew: חַוָּה‎, Ḥawwāh in Classical Hebrew, Khavah in Modern Israeli Hebrew, Arabic: حواء‎, Syriac: ܚܘܐ ) was, according to the creation myth of Abrahamic religions, the first woman created by God, in the Genesis creation narrative.

Name and origin[link]

In the Bible, Eve (Hebrew: חַוָּה, Ḥawwāh; Arabic: حواء‎, Hawwa'; Ge'ez: ሕይዋን Hiywan; "living one" or "source of life", related to ḥāyâ, "to live"; ultimately from the Semitic root ḥyw^[1]; Greek: Εὕα^[2], heúā) is Adam's wife. Her name occurs only four times; the first being Genesis 3:20: "And Adam called his wife's name Ḥawwāh; because she was the mother of all living" (a title previously held by the Babylonian creatrix Tiamat). In Vulgate she appears as "Hava" in the Old Testament, but "Eva" in the New Testament. The name may actually be derived from that of the Hurrian Goddess Kheba, who was shown in the Amarna Letters to be worshipped in Jerusalem during the Late Bronze Age. It has been suggested that the name Kheba may derive from Kubau, a woman who reigned as the first king of the Third Dynasty of Kish^[3][4] Another name of Asherah in the first millennium BCE was Chawat, Hawwah in Aramaic, (Eve in English).^[5]

Creation of Eve
Marble relief by Lorenzo Maitani on the Orvieto Cathedral, Italy

The name Eve (חַוָּה) bears resemblance to an Aramaic word for "snake" (O.Arb. חוה; J.Arm. חִוְיָא). ^[6] In Genesis, Eve is associated with the snake.

Eve is the first woman mentioned in the Bible. Here it was Adam who gave her the name Eve. Eve lived with Adam in the Garden of Eden during the time which Adam was described as having walked with God. Eventually, however, with Fall of man, the pair were removed from the garden because she was encouraged by the serpent to eat the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and, with the temptation, led Adam to eat of the forbidden fruit.

In the Tyndale Bible Adam's wife is called "Heua" in accordance with the Greek form Ἕυα (although in Genesis 3:20 the Septuagint says that Adam called her Ζωή).

Though Eve is not a saint's name, the traditional name day of Adam and Eve has been celebrated on December 24 since the Middle Ages in many European countries, e.g. Germany, the Netherlands, Hungary, Scandinavia, Estonia.

The creation of Eve, from the Sistine Chapel ceiling by Michelangelo

Creation[link]

Eve was created in the Garden of Eden to be the wife of Adam. God decides that "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a companion fit for him." and in Genesis 2:21–22 it states

"And God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man"

After her creation, Adam names his companion Woman, "because she was taken out of Man."^[7] "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh."

Eve is also mentioned in the Book of Tobit (viii, 8; Sept., viii, 6) where it is simply affirmed that she was given to Adam for a helper.

An alternate tradition, originating in a Jewish book called The Alphabet of Ben-Sira which entered Europe from the East in the 6th century A.D suggests that Lilith, not Eve, was Adam's first wife, created at the same time and from the same dust. The tradition goes that Lilith, claiming to be created equal, refused to sleep or serve "under him" (Adam). When Adam tried to force her into the "inferior" position, she flew away from Eden into the air, where she copulated with demons, conceiving hundreds more each day. God sent three angels after her, who threatened to kill her brood if she refused to return to Adam. But she did refuse. So God made Eve from Adam's rib to be his "second wife."

Creation of Eve, sandstone from Montbenon (Lausanne), circa 1515. On display at Lausanne historical museum.

Controversy regarding the "rib" continues to the present day, regarding the Sumerian and the original Hebrew words for rib. The common translation, for example, that of the King James Version, is that אַחַת מִצַּלְעֹתָיו means "one of his ribs". The contrary position is that the term צלע ṣelaʿ, occurring forty-one times in the Tanakh, is most often translated as "side" in general.[7]. "Rib" is, however, the etymologically primary meaning of the term, which is from a root ṣ-l-ʿ, "bend", cognate to Assyrian ṣêlu "rib".[8] Also God took "one" ( ʾeḫad) of Adam's ṣelaʿ, suggesting an individual rib. The Septuagint has μίαν τῶν πλευρῶν αὐτοῦ, with ἡ πλευρά choosing a Greek term that like the Hebrew ṣelaʿ may mean either "rib", or, in the plural, "side [of a man or animal]" in general. The specification "one of the πλευρά" thus closely imitates the Hebrew text. The Aramaic form of the word is עלע ʿalaʿ, which appears, also in the meaning "rib", in Daniel 7:5.

An old story of the rib is told by Rabbi Joshua:

"God deliberated from what member He would create woman, and He reasoned with Himself thus: I must not create her from Adam's head, for she would be a proud person, and hold her head high. If I create her from the eye, then she will wish to pry into all things; if from the ear, she will wish to hear all things; if from the mouth, she will talk much; if from the heart, she will envy people; if from the hand, she will desire to take all things; if from the feet, she will be a gadabout. Therefore I will create her from the member which is hid, that is the rib, which is not even seen when man is naked."[9]^[8]

Biblia Pauperum illustration of Eve and the serpent

Anatomically, men and women have the same number of ribs - 24. When this fact was noted by the Flemish anatomist Vesalius in 1524 it touched off a wave of controversy, as it seemed to contradict Genesis 2:21.

Some, for instance Samuel Noah Kramer, hold ^[9] that the origin of this motif is the Sumerian myth in which the goddess Ninhursag created a beautiful garden full of lush vegetation and fruit trees, called Edinu, in Dilmun, the Sumerian earthly Paradise, a place which the Sumerians believed to exist to the east of their own land, beyond the sea. Ninhursag charged Enki, her lover and husband, with controlling the wild animals and tending the garden, but Enki became curious about the garden and his assistant, Adapa, selected seven plants (8 in some version) and offered them to Enki, who ate them. (In other versions of the story^{[citation needed]} he seduced in turn seven generations of the offspring of his divine marriage with Ninhursag). This enraged Ninhursag, and she caused Enki to fall ill. Enki felt pain in his rib, which is a pun in Sumerian, as the word "ti" means both "rib" and "life". The other gods persuaded Ninhursag to relent. Ninhursag then created a new goddess ( 7 or 8 to heal his 7 or 8 ailing organs including his rib) named Ninti, (a name made up of "Nin", or "lady", plus "ti", and which can be translated as both Lady of Living and Lady of the Rib), to cure Enki. Neither Ninhursag nor Ninti are exact parallels of Eve, since both differ from the character. However, given that the pun with rib is present only in Sumerian, linguistic criticism places the Sumerian account as the more ancient and therefore, a possible narrative influence on the Judeo-Christian story of creation.^[10]

Temptation, fall, and expulsion from the garden[link]

Adam, Eve, and the (female) serpent at the entrance to Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France. The portrayal of the image of the serpent as a mirror of Eve was common in earlier iconography as a result of the identification of women as the source of human original sin

The serpent tells the woman that she will not die if she eats the fruit of the tree: "For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and bad."^[11] So the woman eats, and gives to the man who also eats. "Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons." The man and woman hide themselves from God, the man blaming the woman for giving him the fruit, and the woman blaming the serpent. God curses the serpent, "upon your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life;" the woman he punishes with childbirth (and the pain therein), and with subordination to man: "your desire shall be for your husband and he shall rule over you;" and Adam^[12] he punishes with a life of toil: "In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground." The man names his wife Eve,^[13] "because she was the mother of all living."

"Behold," says God, "the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil." God expels the couple from Eden, "lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever;" the gate of Eden is sealed by cherubim and a flaming sword "to guard the way to the tree of life."

Mother of humanity[link]

According to the Bible, for her share in the transgression, Eve (and womankind after her) is sentenced to a life of sorrow and travail in childbirth, and to be under the power of her husband. While believers accept all subsequent humans have Eve as an ancestor, she is believed to be unique in that although all people after her were physically created from women, Eve herself was created from a man. Adam and Eve have two sons, Cain and Abel (or Habel), the first a tiller of the ground, the second a keeper of sheep.^[14] After the death of Abel, Eve gives birth to a third son, Seth (or Sheth), from whom Noah (and thus the whole of modern humanity) is descended. According to the Bible, Eve states "God hath given me [literally, "put" or "appointed", in Hebrew "shāth"] another seed, for Abel whom Cain slew" (Genesis 4:25).

In different religions[link]

Judaism[link]

Even in ancient times, the presence of two distinct accounts was noted, and regarded with some curiosity. The first account says male and female [God] created them (Genesis 1:27), which has been assumed by critical scholars to imply simultaneous creation, whereas the second account states that God created Eve from Adam's rib because Adam was lonely (Genesis 2:18 ff.). Thus to resolve this apparent discrepancy, mediaeval rabbis suggested that Eve and the woman of the first account were two separate individuals.

Lilith, by John Collier, 1887

Preserved in the Midrash, and the mediaeval Alphabet of Ben Sira, this rabbinic tradition held that the first woman refused to take the submissive position to Adam in copulation, and eventually fled from him, consequently leaving him lonely. This first woman was identified in the Midrash as Lilith, a figure elsewhere described as a night demon (the name Liyliyth being related to the Hebrew word for night, "layl").

The word liyliyth can also mean "screech owl", as it is translated in the King James Version of Isaiah 34:14, although some scholars take this to be a reference to the same demonic entity as mentioned in the Talmud.

In the Talmud, Adam is said to have separated from Eve for 130 years, during which time his ejaculations gave rise to "ghouls, and demons." Elsewhere in the Talmud, Lilith is identified as the mother of these creatures. The demons were said to prey on newborn males before they had been circumcised, and so a tradition arose in which a protective amulet was placed around the neck of newborns. Traditions in the Midrash concerning Lilith, and her sexual appetite, have been compared to Sumerian mythology concerning the demon ki-sikil-lil-la-ke, by scholars who postulate an intermediate Akkadian folk etymology interpreting the lil-la-ke portion of the name as a corruption of lîlîtu, literally meaning female night demon.

The Alphabet of Ben Sira Midrash goes even further and identifies a third wife, created after Lilith deserted Adam, but before Eve. This unnamed wife was purportedly made in the same way as Adam, from the "dust of the earth", but the sight of her being created proved too much for Adam to take and he refused to go near her. It is also said that she was created from nothing at all, and that God created into being a skeleton, then organs, and then flesh. The Midrash tells that Adam saw her as "full of blood and secretions," suggesting that he witnessed her creation and was horrified at seeing a body from the inside out. The Alphabet does not record this wife's fate. She was never named, and it assumed that she was allowed to leave the Garden a perpetual virgin, or was ultimately destroyed by God in favor of Eve, who was created when Adam was asleep and oblivious. It should be noted here, that both Lilith and the Second Wife are free from any curse of the Tree of Knowledge, as they left long before the event occurred.

Genesis does not tell for how long Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, but the Book of Jubilees states that they were removed from the garden on the new moon of the fourth month of the 8th year after creation (Jubilees 3:33); other Jewish sources assert that it was less than a day. Shortly after their expulsion, Eve brought forth her first-born child, and thereafter their second — Cain and Abel, respectively.

Another Jewish tradition---also used to explain the "male and female He created them" line, is that God originally created Adam as a hermaphrodite [Midrash Rabbah - Genesis VIII:1], and in this way was bodily and spiritually male and female. He later decided that "it is not good for [Adam] to be alone," and created the separate beings of Adam and Eve, thus creating the idea of two people joining together to achieve a union of the two separate spirits.

Only three of Adam's children (Cain, Abel, and Seth) are explicitly named in Genesis, although it does state that there were other sons and daughters as well (Genesis 5:4). In Jubilees, two daughters are named - Azûrâ being the first, and Awân, who was born after Seth, Cain, Abel, nine other sons, and Azûrâ. Jubilees goes on to state that Cain later married Awân and Seth married Azûrâ, thus, accounting for their descendants. However, according to Genesis Rabba and other later sources, either Cain had a twin sister, and Abel had two twin sisters, or Cain had a twin sister named Lebuda, and Abel a twin sister named Qelimath. In the Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan, Cain's twin sister is named Luluwa, and Abel's twin sister is named Aklia.

Other pseudepigrapha give further details of their life outside of Eden, in particular, the Life of Adam and Eve (also known as the Apocalypse of Moses) consists entirely of a description of their life outside Eden. Generally in Judaism Eve's sin was used as an example of what can happen to women who stray from their childbearing duties.

According to traditional Jewish belief, Eve is buried in the Cave of Machpelah, in Hebron.

Christianity[link]

Original sin, by Michiel Coxie

In Christian tradition Eve is often used as the exemplar of sexual temptation, a tendency not found in Judaism where Lilith plays that role. Furthermore, the serpent that tempted Eve was interpreted within most Christian traditions to have been Satan, although there is no mention of this identification in the Torah. In fact, Genesis does not even hint at any of these readings. While such ideas are found in some of the Jewish apocrypha, their adoption by many Christians but not by modern Judaism marked the radical split between the two religions. Writings dealing with this subject are extant in Greek, Latin, Slavonic, Syriac, Armenian and Arabic. They go back undoubtedly to a Jewish basis, but in some of the forms in which they appear at present they are Christianized throughout. The oldest and for the most part Jewish portion of this literature is called Primary Adam Literature (see Life of Adam and Eve). Before we discuss this Primary Adam Literature we shall mention other members of this literature, which, though derivable ultimately from Jewish sources, are Christian in their present form; The Book of Adam and Eve, also called the Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan^[15] and a Syriac work entitled Cave of Treasures.^[16] This work has close affinities to the Conflict, but is said by Dillmann to be more original.

Drawing upon the statement in II Cor., xi, 3, where reference is made to her deception by the serpent, and in I Tim., ii, 13-4, where the Apostle enjoins submission and silence upon women, arguing that "Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression", because Eve had tempted Adam to eat of the fatal fruit, some early Fathers of the Church held her and all subsequent women to be the first sinners, and especially responsible for the Fall because of the sin of Eve. She was also called "the lance of the demon", "the road of iniquity" "the sting of the scorpion", "a daughter of falsehood, the sentinel of Hell", "the enemy of peace" and "of the wild beast, the most dangerous." "You are the devil's gateway," Tertullian told his female listeners in the early 2nd century, and went on to explain that all women were responsible for the death of Christ: "On account of your desert – that is, death – even the Son of God had to die."^[17] In this way Eve is compared with the Greco-Roman myth of Pandora who was responsible for bringing evil into the world.

Saint Augustine, according to Elaine Pagels, used the sin of Eve to justify his idiosyncratic view of humanity as permanently scarred by the Fall, which led to the Catholic doctrine of Original sin.

In 1486 the Renaissance Dominicans Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger took this further as one of their justifications in the Malleus Maleficarum ("Hammer of the Witches"), a central text in three centuries of persecution of "witches". Such "Eve bashing" is much more common in Christianity than in Judaism or Islam, though major differences in the status of women does not seem to have been the result. This is often balanced by the typology of the Madonna, much as "Old Adam" is balanced by Christ - this is even the case in the Malleus whose authors were capable of writings things such as "Justly we may say with Cato of Utica: If the world could be rid of women, we should not be without God in our intercourse. For truly, without the wickedness of women, to say nothing of witchcraft, the world would still remain proof against innumerable dangers", but were aware that a large percentage of those accusing witches were female as well, and they perhaps feared losing their support: "There are also others who bring forward yet other reasons, of which preachers should be very careful how they make use. For it is true that in the Old Testament the Scriptures have much that is evil to say about women, and this because of the first temptress, Eve, and her imitators; yet afterwards in the New Testament we find a change of name, as from Eva to Ave (as S. Jerome says), and the whole sin of Eve taken away by the benediction of Mary. Therefore preachers should always say as much praise of them as possible."

It is interesting to note that in pre-industrial times, misogynous authorities were often (such as in The Romance of the Rose feminist debate) just called "The Roman Books", due to the perceived paternalistic attitude of both Pagan & Christian Romans to gender problems.^{[citation needed]}

In another example of "Eve bashing", Gregory of Tours report that in the Council of Macon (585 CE), attended by 43 bishops, one bishop maintained that woman could not be included under the term "man", and as being responsible for Adam's sin, had a deficient soul. However, he accepted the reasoning of the other bishops and did not press his case, for the holy book of the Old Testament tells us that in the beginning, when God created man, "Male and female he created them" and the term used was Adam which means earthly man; he called the woman Eve, yet of both he used the word "man."

Eve in Christian Art is most usually portrayed as the temptress of Adam, and often during the Renaissance the serpent in the Garden is portrayed as having a woman's face identical to that of Eve.

Some Christians claim monogamy is implied in the story of Adam and Eve as one woman is created for one man. Eve's being taken from his side implies not only her secondary role in the conjugal state (1 Corinthians 11:9), but also emphasizes the intimate union between husband and wife, and the dependence of the latter on the former "Wherefore a man shall leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they shall be two in one flesh."

Eve is commemorated as a matriarch in the Calendar of Saints of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod with Adam on December 19.

Gnosticism[link]

Eve too has different roles within Gnosticism. For example she is often seen as the embodiment of the supreme feminine principle, called Barbelo (from Arb-Eloh), barbeloth, or barthenos. As such she is equated with the light-maiden of Sophia (Wisdom), creator of the word (Logos) of God, the "thygater tou photos" or simply the Virgin Maiden, "parthenos". In other texts she is equated with Zoe (Life).^[18] Again, in conventional Christianity, this is a prefigurement of Mary, also sometimes called "the Second Eve". In other Gnostic texts, such as The Hypostasis of the Archons (The Reality of the Rulers), the Pistis Sophia is equated with Eve's daughter, Norea, the wife of Seth.

As a result of such Gnostic beliefs, especially among Marcionites, women were considered equal to men, being revered as prophets, teachers, traveling evangelists, faith healers, priests and even bishops.

Islam[link]

Eve is not mentioned by name in the Qur'an, she is nevertheless referred to as Adam's spouse, and Islamic tradition refers to her as حواء (Hawwāʾ). Mention of Adam's spouse is found in verses 30-39 of Sura 2, verses 11-25 of Sura 7, verses 26-42 of Sura 15, verses 61-65 of Sura 17, verses 50-51 of Sura 18, verses 110-124 of Sura 20 and in verses 71-85 of Sura 38. Accounts of Adam and Eve in Islamic texts, which include the Quran and the books of Sunnah (Hadith), are similar but different to that of the Torah and Bible.

A similarity in particular, Sura 7:22-23 recounts:

However, the Quran does not suggest that God created Eve independently from Adam, as opposed to some beliefs that she was. It is generally believed by Muslims that Eve was created from Adam's rib to be his partner and companion. Surah Al-Nisa 4:1:

Another difference is that Eve is not blamed for enticing Adam to eat the forbidden fruit, and nor is there the concept of original sin. As a matter of fact, the Quran indicates that Adam initiated the eating of the fruit but God simply blames both of them for the transgression as they both ate the fruit.

"Then Satan whispered to him (Adam); he said, "O Adam, shall I direct you to the tree of eternity and possession that will not deteriorate? And Adam and his wife ate of it, and their private parts became apparent to them, and they began to fasten over themselves from the leaves of Paradise. And Adam disobeyed his Lord and erred." (Quran - 20:121-122)

However, there are hadiths– which are contested –, saying the Prophet Mohammed (narrated by Abu Hurrairah) designates Eve as the epitome of female betrayal. “Narrated Abu Hurrairah: The Prophet said, ‘Were it not for Bani Israel, meat would not decay; and were it not for Eve, no woman would ever betray her husband.’" (Sahih Bukhari, Hadith 611, Volume 55) An identical but more explicit version is found in the second most respected book of prophetic narrations, Sahih Muslim. “Abu Hurrairah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported Allah's Messenger (May peace be upon him) as saying: Had it not been for Eve, woman would have never acted unfaithfully towards her husband.” (Hadith 3471, Volume 8). The above verses from the Quran (20:121-122) are the reason these accounts are disputed and the authenticity of these hadiths is challenged. As the Quran never blamed Eve for the sin that they both (Adam and Eve) committed together and to condemn all the women in the world for a sin that Eve committed is against a basic Quranic teaching which states that no soul is accountable for the sins of another, Say, is it other than Allah I should desire as a lord while He is the Lord of all things? And every soul earns not [blame] except against itself, and no bearer of burdens will bear the burden of another. Then to your Lord is your return, and He will inform you concerning that over which you used to differ. (6:164)

Traditionally, the final resting place of Eve is said to be the "Tomb of Eve" in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

See also[link]

• Eve Grave
• Pre-Adamite
• Mitochondrial Eve
• Hebat

Footnotes[link]

References[link]

Primary sources[link]

• Genesis ii.7-iii.23
• Paulinus Minorita, Compendium

Secondary sources[link]

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Eve.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Eve

• Flood, John (2010) "Representations of Eve in Antiquity and the English Middle Ages" (Routledge)
• Pamela Norris (1998) "The Story of Eve" (MacMillan Books)
• Elaine Pagels (1989) "Adam, Eve and the Serpent" (Vintage Books)
• Vladimir Tumanov. “Mary versus Eve: Paternal Uncertainty and the Christian View of Women.” Neophilologus: International Journal of Modern and Mediaeval Language and Literature 95 (4) 2011: 507-521.

vep:Eva

Cain (right) and Abel (left), 19th century Bible illustration

In the Bible, Cain and Abel (Hebrew: הֶבֶל ,קַיִן‎‎ Qayin, Hevel)^[1] are two sons of Adam and Eve. The Qur'an mentions the story, calling them the two sons of Adam (Arabic: إبني آدم).

Cain is described as a crop farmer and his younger brother Abel as a shepherd. Genesis 4:2 Cain is portrayed as sinful, committing the first murder by killing his brother, after God rejected his offerings of produce but accepted Abel's sacrifice "from the firstborn of his flock and from their fats".Genesis 4:1,3 Thus, Cain was the first human born, and Abel the first to die.

The oldest known copy of the Biblical narration is from the 1st century Dead Sea Scrolls.^[2][3] Cain and Abel also appear in a number of other texts,^[4] and the story is the subject of various interpretations.^[5] Abel, the first murder victim, is sometimes seen as the first martyr;^[6] while Cain, the first murderer, is sometimes seen as an ancestor of evil.^[7] A few scholars suggest the pericope may have been based on a Sumerian story representing the conflict between nomadic shepherds and settled farmers.^[8] Others think that it may refer to the days in which agriculture began to replace the ways of the hunter-gatherer.^[9][10]

Allusions to Cain and Abel as an archetype of fratricide persist in numerous references and retellings, through medieval art and Shakespearean works up to present day fiction.

Some Jewish traditions hold Cain to have been fathered by the serpent (Hebrew nahash נחש) from the Garden of Eden.^[11]

Etymology[link]

Abel
A Christian icon of Abel
Righteous, First Martyr
Honored in	Judaism, Christianity, Islam
Major shrine	Nabi Habeel Mosque, Damascus

Cain and Abel are traditional English renderings of the Hebrew names Qayin (קין) and Havel (הבל). The original text did not provide vowels.^[12] Abel's name is composed in Hebrew of the same three consonants as a root speculated by people to have originally meant "breath", because Rabbis postulated one of its roots thus, also "waste", but is used in the Hebrew Bible primarily as a metaphor for what is "elusive", especially the "vanity" (another definition by the Rabbis of medieval France, Rashi in specific from his translation into Old French) of human beauty and work e.g. Hevel Hayophi (He-vel Ha-yo-fi) vanity is as beauty from the Song of Songs of Solomon.^[13] Julius Wellhausen, and many scholars following him, have proposed that the name is independent of the root.^[14] Eberhard Schrader had previously put forward the Akkadian (Old Assyrian dialect) ablu ("son") as a more likely etymology.^[15] In the Islamic tradition, Abel is named as Hābīl (هابيل), while Cain is named as Qābīl (قابيل). Although their story is cited in the Quran, neither of them is mentioned by name. Cain is called Qayen in the Ethiopian version of Genesis.^[16] The Koine Greek of the New Testament refers to Cain three times,^[17] using two syllables ka-in (Κάïν) for the name.^[18]

More recent scholarship has produced another theory, a more direct pun. Abel is here thought to derive from a reconstructed word meaning "herdsman", with the modern Arabic cognate ibil, now specifically referring only to "camels". Cain, on the other hand, is thought to be cognate to the mid-1st millennium BC South Arabian word qyn, meaning "metal smith".^[19] This theory would make the names merely descriptions of the roles they take in the story—Abel working with livestock, and Cain with agriculture—and would parallel the names Adam ("man") and Eve ("life", Chavah in Hebrew).^[20]

The name Abel has been used in many European languages as both surname and first name. In English, however, even Cain features in 17th century, Puritan-influenced families, who had a taste for biblical names, sometimes despite the reputation of the original character.^[21][22][23] Contrary to popular belief^{[citation needed]}, the surname McCain does not mean "Son of Cain" in Gaelic, rather it is a contraction (also McCann) of Mac Cathan. Gaelic cathan means "warrior", from cath "battle".^[24]

Murder and motive[link]

For convenience, the story can be considered in two sections — 1. murder and motive and 2. confrontation and consequences.

Religious sources of the Cain and Abel story can be found in Genesis (950 to 450 BC) in the Hebrew Bible, Sura 5 (Al-Ma'ida) of the Qur'an (early 7th century) and Pearl of Great Price (1851).^[25]

Biblical account[link]

Cain leads Abel to death, by James Tissot.

¹Adam knew his wife Eve intimately, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain. She said, "I have had a male child with the LORD's help."^{[26] 2}Then she also gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel became a shepherd of a flock, but Cain cultivated the land. ³In the course of time Cain presented some of the land's produce as an offering to the LORD. ⁴And Abel also presented [an offering]^[27] — some of the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions.^[28] The Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, ⁵but He did not have regard for Cain and his offering. Cain was furious, and he was downcast.^{[29] 6}Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you furious? And why are you downcast?^{[30] 7}If you do right, won't you be accepted? But if you do not do right, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must master it." ⁸Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field."^[31] And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

— Genesis 4:1-8 (HCSB)

The Septuagint has a different verse 7:

Hast thou not sinned if thou hast brought it rightly, but not rightly divided it? be still, to thee shall be his submission, and thou mayest rule over him.^[32]

Motives[link]

Though Genesis depicts Cain's motive in killing Abel as simply being one of jealousy concerning God's favour for Abel, this is not the view of many extra-biblical works. The Midrash and the Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan both record that the real motive involved the desire of women. According to Midrashic tradition, Cain and Abel each had twin sisters, whom they were to marry. The Midrash records that Abel's promised wife was the more beautiful. Cain would not consent to this arrangement. Adam proposed to refer the question to God by means of a sacrifice. God rejected Cain's sacrifice, signifying His disapproval of his marriage with Aclima, and Cain slew his brother in a fit of jealousy.^[33]

In Latter-day Saint extra-Biblical scripture, the Book of Moses contains an expanded account of the story of Cain and Abel. In this account, Cain murders Abel as a result of a covenant of murder with Satan. Following the murder, Cain exclaims, "I am free; surely the flocks of my brother falleth into my hands" (Pearl of Great Price, Moses 5:33) indicating that coveting Abel's possessions was another motive for Cain's action.

Abel's death[link]

Adam and Eve mourn the death of Abel, painting by William Bouguereau

In Christianity, comparisons are sometimes made between the death of Abel and that of Jesus, the former thus seen as being the first martyr: in Matthew 23:35, Jesus speaks of Abel as righteous; and the Epistle to the Hebrews states that The blood of sprinkling ... [speaks] better things than that of Abel (Hebrews 12:24). The blood of Jesus is interpreted as bringing mercy; but that of Abel as demanding vengeance (hence the curse and mark).^[34]

Abel is invoked in the litany for the dying in Roman Catholic Church, and his sacrifice is mentioned in the Canon of the Mass with those of Abraham and Melchizedek. The Coptic Church commemorates him with a feast day on December 28.^[35]

Burial[link]

According to Shi'a Muslim belief, Abel is buried in Nabi Habeel Mosque, located west of Damascus, in Syria.

Underworld[link]

In classical times, as well as more recently, Abel was regarded as the first innocent victim of the power of evil, and hence the first martyr. In the Book of Enoch (at 22:7), the soul of Abel is described as having been appointed as the chief of martyrs, crying for vengeance, for the destruction of the seed of Cain. This view is later repeated in the Testament of Abraham (at A:13 / B:11), where Abel has been raised to the position as the judge of the souls:

An awful man sitting upon the throne to judge all creatures, and examining the righteous and the sinners. He being the first to die as martyr, God brought him hither [to the place of judgment in the nether world] to give judgment, while Enoch, the heavenly scribe, stands at his side writing down the sin and the righteousness of each. For God said: I shall not judge you, but each man shall be judged by man. Being descendants of the first man, they shall be judged by his son until the great and glorious appearance of the Lord, when they will be judged by the twelve tribes of Israel, and then the last judgment by the Lord Himself shall be perfect and unchangeable.

According to the Coptic Book of Adam and Eve (at 2:1-15), and the Syriac Cave of Treasures, Abel's body, after many days of mourning, was placed in the Cave of Treasures, before which Adam and Eve, and descendants, offered their prayers. In addition, the Sethite line of the Generations of Adam swear by Abel's blood to segregate themselves from the unrighteous.

Confrontation and consequences[link]

Cain, by Henri Vidal, Jardin des Tuileries, Paris

Bible[link]

⁹Then the Lord said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?"
"I know not," he replied. "Am I my brother's keeper?"
¹⁰Then He said, "What have you done? Your brother's blood cries out to Me from the ground! ¹¹So now you are cursed [with alienation]^[36] from the ground that opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood you have shed. ¹²If you work the land, it will never again give you its yield. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth."
¹³But Cain answered the Lord, "My punishment^[37] is too great to bear! ¹⁴Since You are banishing me today from the soil, and I must hide myself from Your presence and become a restless wanderer on the earth, whoever finds me will kill me."
¹⁵Then the Lord replied to him, "Therefore,^[38] whosoever slayeth Cain vengeance will suffer vengeance seven times over. "^[39] And the Lord set a Mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him. ¹⁶Then Cain went out from the Lord's presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

Qur'an and Sunnah[link]

The story with the motives and the aftermath of the killing is mentioned in Surat Al-Ma'ida Verse 27 - 32^{[citation needed]}:

27. Recite to them the truth of the story of the two sons of Adam. Behold! they each presented a sacrifice (to Allah): It was accepted from one, but not from the other. Said the latter: "Be sure I will slay thee." "Surely," said the former, "(Allah) doth accept of the sacrifice of those who are righteous.
28. "If thou dost stretch thy hand against me, to slay me, it is not for me to stretch my hand against thee to slay thee: for I do fear Allah, the cherisher of the worlds.
29. "For me, I intend to let thee draw on thyself my sin as well as thine, for thou wilt be among the companions of the fire, and that is the reward of those who do wrong."
30. The (selfish) soul of the other led him to the murder of his brother: he murdered him, and became (himself) one of the lost ones.
31. Then Allah sent a raven, who scratched the ground, to show him how to hide the shame of his brother. "Woe is me!" said he; "Was I not even able to be as this raven, and to hide the shame of my brother?" then he became full of regrets.
32. On that account: We ordained for the nation of Israel that if anyone killed a person not in retaliation of murder, or (and) to spread mischief in the land - it would be as if he slew the whole people: and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people. Then although there came to them Our apostles with clear signs, yet, even after that, many of them continued to commit excesses in the land.

There is Hadith in Al-Bukari that tells of the consequences Qabil shall take because of slaying his brother:^[40]

Narrated by Sufian Athaouri, from Al-A'amash, from Abdullah ibn Murrah, from Masrouq, from Abdullah ibn Mas'oud, that Muhammad said:

No human being is killed unjustly, but a part of responsibility for the crime is laid on the first son of Adam who invented the tradition of killing (murdering) on the earth.

Mark of Cain[link]

Much has been written about the curse of Cain, and associated mark. The word translated as mark ('Oth, אות) could mean a sign, omen, warning, or remembrance.^[41] In the Bible, the same word is used to describe the stars as signs or omens,^[42] circumcision as a token of God's covenant with Abraham,^[43] and the signs performed by Moses before Pharaoh.^[44]

The word Ot (hard t) in Hebrew also means "a letter" (of the alphabet). Jewish mysticism, among other ancient lores, assigns spiritual ideas or powers to written letters and verses. The Mark of Cain may be a letter, a verse, a message, or a talisman.

The Bible makes reference on several occasions to Kenites, who, in the Hebrew, are referred to as Qayin, i.e. in a highly cognate manner to Cain (Qayin). Some therefore believe that the Mark of Cain referred originally to some very identifying mark of the Kenite tribe, such as red hair, or a ritual tattoo of some kind, which was transferred to Cain as the tribe's eponym. The mark is said to afford Cain some form of protection, in that harming Cain involved the harm being returned sevenfold. This is hence seen as some sort of protection that membership of the tribe offered, in a form such as the entire tribe attacking an individual who harms just one of their number.

Baptist^{[citation needed]} and Catholic^{[citation needed]} groups both consider the idea of God cursing an individual to be out of character, and hence take a different stance. Catholics officially view the curse being brought through the ground itself refusing to yield to, not being in harmony with, Cain^{[citation needed]}, whereas some Baptists view the curse as Cain's own aggression, something already present that God merely pointed out rather than added. There are several theories; in the Catholic world one example has been put forth that rather this mark is one of grace, and that perhaps the mark is that of Abel's blood,^[45] by which God is saying, "This man is still mine. Vengeance is mine. I will repay. Hands off!" As the heart of God is always ready to show mercy. This view supports Abel as a Christ figure in paralleling Christ’s sacrifice; here a blood sacrifice which acknowledges guilt and counting himself as guilty seeks atonement (this is in contrast to Cain's sacrifice)^[46]

In Judaism, the mark is not a punishment but a sign of God's mercy. When Cain was sentenced to be a wanderer he did not dispute the punishment but only begged that the terms of his sentence be altered slightly^{[citation needed]}, protesting "Whoever meets me will kill me!" For unspecified reasons, God agrees to this request. He puts the mark on Cain as a sign to others that Cain should not be killed. Lamech, Cain's descendant, refers poetically to the "mark of Cain" in Genesis 4:19-24, in a passage which has been subject to several interpretations.

Wanderer[link]

As Abel's murderer, Cain was commanded to wander the earth in punishment, a tradition arose that this punishment was to be forever, in a similar manner to the (much later) legends of the Flying Dutchman or the Wandering Jew. According to some Islamic sources, such as al-Tabari, Ibn Kathir and al-Tha'labi, he migrated to Yemen.

Fernand-Anne Piestre Cormon's painting titled "Cain flying before Jehovah's Curse", c. 1880, Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

Though variations on these traditions were strong in medieval times, with several claims of sightings being reported, they have generally gone out of favour. Nevertheless, the Wandering Cain theme has appeared in Mormon folklore —a second-hand account relates that an early Mormon leader, David W. Patten, encountered a very tall, hairy, dark-skinned man in Tennessee who said that he was Cain. The account states that Cain had earnestly sought death but was denied it, and that his mission was to destroy the souls of men.^[47][48] The recollection of Patten's story is quoted in Spencer W. Kimball's The Miracle of Forgiveness, a popular book within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.^[49] This widespread Mormon belief is further emphasized by an account from Salt Lake City in 1963 which stated that "One superstition is based on the old Mormon belief that Cain is a black man who wanders the earth begging people to kill him and take his curse upon themselves (M, 24, SLC, 1963)."^[50]

Despite these later traditional beliefs of perpetual wandering, according to the earlier Book of Jubilees (chapter 4) Cain settled down, marrying his sister, Awan, resulting in his first son, Enoch (considered to be different from the more famous Enoch), approximately 196 years after the creation of Adam. Cain then established the first city, naming it after his son, built a house, and lived there until it collapsed on him, killing him in the same year that Adam died.

A medieval legend used to say that at the end, Cain arrived at the Moon, where he eternally settled with a bundle of twigs. This was originated by popular fantasy interpreting the shadows on the Moon face. An example of this belief can be found in Dante Alighieri's Inferno (XX, 126^[51]) where the expression "Cain and the twigs" is used as a kenning for "moon".

Legacy and symbolism[link]

In medieval Christian art, particularly in 16th century Germany, Cain is depicted as a stereotypical ringleted, bearded Jew, who killed Abel the blonde, European gentile symbolizing Christ.^[52] This traditional depiction has continued for centuries in some form, such as James Tissot's 19th century Cain leads Abel to Death.

Another view is taken in Latter-day Saint theology, where Cain is considered to be the quintessential Son of Perdition, the father of secret combinations (i.e. secret societies and organized crime), as well as the first to hold the title Master Mahan meaning master of [the] great secret, that [he] may murder and get gain.^[53]

The treatise on Christian Hermeticism, Meditations on the Tarot: A journey into Christian Hermeticism, describes the Biblical account of Cain and Abel as a myth, i.e. it expresses, in a form narrated for a particular case, an "eternal" idea. It shows us how brothers can become mortal enemies through the very fact that they worship the same God in the same way. According to the author, the source of religious wars is revealed. It is not the difference in dogma or ritual which is the cause, but the "pretention to equality" or "the negation of hierarchy".^[54]

Literature[link]

As the first murderer and first murder victim in the Bible, Cain and Abel have often formed the basis of tragic drama. Lord Byron rewrote and dramatized the story in the poem "Cain", viewing Cain as symbolic of a sanguinary temperament, provoked by Abel's hypocrisy and sanctimony.^[52] In Dante's Purgatory Cain is remembered by the souls in Purgatory in Canto XIV (14) on page 153, verse 133 saying "I shall be slain by all who find me!", Cain is facing the punishment that God has visited upon him for the sin of Envy, which is a similar play on the words in Genesis 4:13-14 where he says, "I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me." John Steinbeck's novel East of Eden retells the Cain and Abel story in the setting of the late 19th and early 20th century western migration towards California. Also, his novelette Of Mice and Men draws elements from the story. Baudelaire is more sympathetic to Cain in his poem "Abel et Caïn" in the collection Les Fleurs du mal, where he depicts Cain as representing all the downtrodden people of the world. The poem's last lines exhort, "Race de Caïn, au ciel monte/Et sur la terre jette Dieu!" (In English: "Race of Cain, storm up the sky / And cast God down to Earth!") Miguel de Unamuno's Abel Sánchez (1917) is a study on envy. Abel receives everything undeservingly, while his friend Joaquín is despised by God and society and envies him. In Thornton Wilder's play The Skin Of Our Teeth (1942), it is stated that Henry Antrobus' real name is Cain and he accidentally killed his brother Abel with a stone. Kane and Abel is a modern adaptation, a 1979 novel by British author Jeffrey Archer. In 1985, it was made into a CBS television miniseries titled Kane & Abel, starring Peter Strauss as Rosnovski and Sam Neill as Kane. In A Time for Everything (2004) by Karl Ove Knausgård, the story of Cain and Abel is retold with a focus on Cain - an introvert and troubled man who gets the reader's sympathy. In this version, God's favouring of Abel is simultaneously a curse for sneaking into Eden past the Cherubs guarding the gate. It is suggested that Abel in fact wants Cain to kill him, or at least this is what Cain believes - though he later regrets his act, and takes his punishment willingly.

Hermann Hesse briefly discussed the story of Cain and Abel from a non-orthodox point of view in his novel Demian where he also referred to the gnostic group called the Cainites. In Ishmael, Daniel Quinn puts forth the idea of the story of Cain and Abel being an allegory describing the conflict between agricultural and pastoral peoples in the Fertile Crescent.

The author of Dracula, Bram Stoker, revisits the biblical tragedy in his story "The return of Abel Behena" about a fraternal friendship gone awry.

Some form of legacy or curse of the name is often seen in literature: the monster Grendel in Beowulf is a descendant of Cain. In the epilogue to Agatha Christie's novel And Then There Were None, the author refers to the Mark of Cain in laying out the clues. There is a Stephen King short story titled Cain Rose Up, in which a college student goes on a killing spree while ruminating on the story of Cain and Abel. In the DC Comics (Vertigo division) universe, Cain and Abel are a pair of fictional characters based on the Biblical Cain and Abel. Cain is constantly killing off his brother, despite the fact they are both immortals.

In White Wolf's Vampire: The Masquerade RPG, an altered version of Cain's story, sees Cain(e) visited by three angels on separate occasions while wandering the earth, each of whom ask that he repent for his sins, and each of whom curses him (and all his Progeny) when he refuses. Those curses being: weakness to fire and sunlight, a need to drink of the blood of man, and an inner beast to forever torment him from within, thus making him the Progenitor of all Vampire kind, known among themselves as Cainites.^[55]

Cain was traditionally considered to have red hair; the expression "Cain-coloured beard" is used in Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor.^[52] In addition, Shakespeare also references Cain and Abel in Act III Scene iii of Hamlet when Claudius says, "It hath the primal eldest curse upon't/ A brother's murder!" (Lines 40-41).

Their names are often used in works of fiction simply as a reference, also. In Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett, the character of Estragon tries to guess the names of two other characters. He guesses Abel and Cain. One of Jason Bourne's many names in The Bourne Identity and its sequels was Cain, an operative name in the Treadstone 71 program.

In Masami Kurumada's comic book Saint Seiya Next Dimension, characters inspired in the biblical story have been recently introduced: The Gemini Gold Saints in the 18th century are named Cain and Abel, both representing good and evil, respectively.

In 2009, Portuguese writer José Saramago wrote a novel entitled Cain, which tells an alternative version of the murder of Abel and the life of Cain afterwards.

Echo, a self-published comic-book series by Terry Moore following the Phi-project, features as an early antagonist a character who claims to be the original, biblical Cain. He spends much of his time speaking to God and frequently screams biblical and religious-themed quotations in his interactions with other characters. After his death, the character Ivy Raven had one of his fingers sent to a laboratory for carbon dating which revealed that he was approximately 25,000 years old, offering the first substantive proof to support the character's claims. Ivy later performs further research on the history of the story of Cain and Abel, and at one point visits Wikipedia; this portion of the comic includes verbatim quotations from this page.

Fantasy author Karl Edward Wagner wrote a series of novels and stories about an immortal red-bearded warrior named Kane, who is clearly modeled on the biblical Cain. In Wagner's story there is a moral inversion where God is an evil ancient astronaut performing genetic experiments on early humans. Kane's brother accepts God's authority, but Kane rises up in heroic defiance, murders his brother, and rejects God. He is cursed with blue eyes that seem to literally glow with hatred and insanity. The Kane stories mostly take place in a fantasy age of Earth's past and are made distinctive by the presence of both magic and alien technology. Wagner wrote several stories that bring the immortal character into the 20th century and which imply that at some point he succeeded in his quest to kill God.

The character Kwai Chang Caine in the television series Kung Fu, is modeled after the character Cain. After killing, Caine is forced to wander the Earth, remorse torn but unrepentant because of his sense of social justice.

There is a song on Marilyn Manson's 2012 album Born Villain titled Children of Cain, which references the biblical character.

See also[link]

• Bible
• Torah
• Qur'an
• Sumer
• The First Mourning
• Balbira & Kalmana

References[link]

External links[link]

Look up fratricide in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Torah, Genesis, Chapters 1-6
• Texts on Wikisource:
  • Bible (Free) / Genesis 4
  • Book of Moses, Chapter 5
  • Cain
  • Abel
• King James Version
• Story of Cain and Abel in Sura The Table (Al Ma'ida)
• Qaheen / Cain and Hevel / Abel
• Parallel voweled Hebrew and King James Version
• Rashi on Genesis, Chapter 4, by Rashi
• Baudelaire's poem in French with English translations underneath

</ref>

The Rt Revd  Tom Wright  MA(Oxon) DD
Professor at St Andrews
Wright speaking at a conference in December 2007
In Office	1 September 2010–present
Other posts	Bishop of Durham (2003–10) Canon Theologian of Westminster Abbey (2000–03) Dean of Lichfield (1994–99)
Orders
Ordination	1975
Consecration	2003
Personal details
Birth name	Nicholas Thomas Wright
Born	(1948-12-01) 1 December 1948 (age 63) Morpeth, Northumberland
Nationality	British
Denomination	Anglican
Residence	Auckland Castle, County Durham (2003–2010)
Spouse	Maggie[1]
Children	Four children[1]
Alma mater	Exeter College, Oxford

Nicholas Thomas Wright (born 1 December 1948) is an Anglican bishop and a leading New Testament scholar. He is published as N. T. Wright when writing academic work, or Tom Wright when writing for a more popular readership. His books include What St Paul Really Said and Simply Christian. Wright was the Bishop of Durham in the Church of England from 2003 until his retirement in 2010.

Among modern New Testament scholars, Wright is an important representative of more conservative Christian views compared to more liberal Christians such as his friend Marcus Borg.^[2] In particular, he is associated with the Open Evangelical position, the New Perspective on Paul and the historical Jesus. He has promoted more traditional views about Jesus' bodily resurrection^{[2][page needed]} and second coming^[3] as well as on homosexuality.^[4]

Early life and credentials[link]

Wright was born in Morpeth, Northumberland. In a 2003 interview he said that he could never remember a time when he was not aware of the presence and love of God and recalled an occasion when he was four or five when "sitting by myself at Morpeth and being completely overcome, coming to tears, by the fact that God loved me so much he died for me. Everything that has happened to me since has produced wave upon wave of the same."^[5]

In addition to his Doctor of Divinity degree from Oxford University^[6] he also has been awarded several honorary doctoral degrees,^[7] including from Durham University in July 2007,^[8] the John Leland Center for Theological Studies in April 2008,^[9] the University of St Andrews in 2009^[10] and Heythrop College, University of London, in 2010.

Career[link]

Educated at Sedbergh School, then in Yorkshire, Wright specialised in classics.

From 1968 to 1971, he studied literae humaniores (or "classics", i.e. classical literature, philosophy and history) at Exeter College, Oxford, receiving his BA with first class honours in 1971. During that time he was president of the undergraduate Oxford Inter-Collegiate Christian Union. In 1973 he received a BA in theology with first class honours from Exeter.

From 1971 to 1975 he studied for the Anglican ministry at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, receiving his (Oxford) MA at the end of this period.

In 1975 he became a junior research fellow at Merton College, Oxford and later also junior chaplain. From 1978 to 1981 he was a fellow and chaplain at Downing College, Cambridge. In 1981 he received his DPhil from Merton College, Oxford, his thesis topic being "The Messiah and the People of God: A Study in Pauline Theology with Particular Reference to the Argument of the Epistle to the Romans".

After this, he served as assistant professor of New Testament studies at McGill University, Montreal (1981–86), then as chaplain, fellow and tutor at Worcester College and lecturer in New Testament in the University of Oxford (1986–93).

He moved from Oxford to be Dean of Lichfield Cathedral (1994–99) and then returned briefly to Oxford as Visiting Fellow of Merton College, before taking up his appointment as Canon Theologian of Westminster Abbey in 2000.

In 2003, he became the Bishop of Durham.

On 4 August 2006 he was appointed to the Court of Ecclesiastical Causes Reserved for a period of five years.^[11]

On 27 April 2010 it was announced that he would retire from the See of Durham on 31 August 2010 to take up a new appointment as Research Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at St Mary's College, University of St Andrews in Scotland, which will enable him to concentrate on his academic and broadcasting work.^[12][13]

Views[link]

New Testament doctrine[link]

Wright's doctrinal perspectives, with reference to the New Testament, are expressed throughout his writings. In his popular-level book, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church, he teaches a position referred to as "Christian mortalism". He also advocates a reunion of soteriology and ecclesiology, commenting that such a connection is often neglected in Protestantism. In addition, he is critical of various popular theological ideas, such as the dispensationalist doctrine of the rapture.^[14]

Scholarly work[link]

Wright is considered an important representative of the open evangelical perspective^{[citation needed]} and is associated with the Third Quest for the Historical Jesus and the New Perspective on Paul, a complex movement with many unique^{[citation needed]} positions (originating from the works of James Dunn and E.P. Sanders). He argues that the current understanding of Jesus must be connected with what is known to be true about him from the historical perspective of first-century Judaism and Christianity.

Wright's work has been praised by many scholars of varying views, including James D.G. Dunn, Gordon Fee, Richard B. Hays and Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Critics of his work are also found across the broad range of theological camps. Some Reformed theologians such as John Piper have sought to question Wright's theology, particularly over whether or not he denies the Protestant doctrine of justification by faith alone. Although Piper considers Wright's presentation confusing, he does not dismiss Wright's view as false. In response, Wright has stated he wishes Piper would "exegete Paul differently" and that his book "isn’t always a critique of what I’m actually saying." However, Wright did express how he has warmed to Piper and considers him a "good, beloved brother in Christ, doing a good job, building people up in the faith, teaching them how to live."^[15] In 2009, Wright has since addressed the issue in his book Justification: God's Plan and Paul's Vision (Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2009). He has sought to clarify his position further in an interview with InterVarsity Press.^[15] Many conservative evangelicals have also questioned whether Wright denies penal substitution, but Wright has stated that he denies only its caricature but affirms this doctrine, especially within the overall framework of the Christus Victor model of atonement.^[16] Despite criticism of some of his work by Reformed theologians, other Reformed leaders have embraced his contribution in other areas, such as Tim Keller who praised Wright's work on the resurrection.^[17]

Secular utopianism[link]

In 2008, Wright criticized "…secular utopianism," accusing it of advocating "the right to kill unborn children and surplus old people..."^[18] Times columnist David Aaronovitch challenged Wright specifically to substantiate his claim that any secular group does indeed advocate the killing of elderly people, leading to an ongoing exchange in which Wright held to his main point.^{[19][20][21][22]}

Historical Jesus[link]

Regarding the Historical Jesus, Wright stands broadly in the tradition of Albert Schweitzer (thoroughgoing eschatology), against what he sees as the thoroughgoing skepticism of William Wrede (famous for his thesis on the Messianic Secret in the Gospel of Mark as an apologetic and ahistorical device) and the Jesus Seminar, Wrede's modern-day counterparts.^{[23][page needed]} He tends to agree with and laud such scholars as E.P. Sanders and the lesser-known Ben F. Meyer (whom Wright calls "the unsung hero" of New Testament studies),^[24] although he thinks Sanders and others go too far in their use of form criticism. He also thinks it is a mistake to say that Jesus expected the imminence of the end of history, as Schweitzer thought,^{[23][page needed]} but rather thinks that Jesus spoke of the Kingdom of God as something both present and future. He has also defended a literal belief in the Second Coming and the resurrection of the dead as central to Christianity.^[3]

Wright has also received heavy criticism in some decidedly more liberal theological circles, e.g. by Robert J. Miller. In contrast, the Jesus Seminar's Marcus Borg, with whom Wright shares mutual admiration and respect, has co-authored with Wright the book The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions.^[2] In 2005, at the Greer-Heard Point-Counterpoint Forum, Wright also conversed with Jesus Seminar co-founder John Dominic Crossan as to the historicity of Jesus' resurrection. Wright and Crossan, who also hold mutual admiration for one another, hold very different opinions on this foundational Christian doctrine. For Crossan, the resurrection of Jesus is a theological interpretation of events by the writers of the New Testament. For Wright, however, the resurrection is a historical event—coherent with the worldview of Second Temple Judaism—fundamental to the New Testament.^[25]

Homosexuality in the Anglican Communion[link]

Wright was the senior member from the Church of England of the Lambeth Commission set up to deal with controversies that emerged following Episcopal Church in the United States of America's ordination of a practising homosexual as bishop.^[26] In 2009 the Episcopal Church authorized consecration to the clergy of individuals in committed same-sex relationships. Wright described the action as a "clear break with the rest of the Anglican Communion" in a Times opinion piece.^[4]

Wright attracted media attention in December 2005 when he announced to the press, on the day that the first civil partnership ceremonies took place in England, that he would likely take disciplinary action against any clergy registering as civil partners or any clergy blessing such partnerships.^[27]

He has argued that "Justice never means 'treating everybody the same way', but 'treating people appropriately'".^[4] In August 2009, he issued a statement saying:

...someone, sooner or later, needs to spell out further (wearisome though it will be) the difference between (a) the "human dignity and civil liberty" of those with homosexual and similar instincts and (b) their "rights", as practising let alone ordained Christians, to give physical expression to those instincts. As the Pope has pointed out, the language of "human rights" has now been downgraded in public discourse to the special pleading of every interest-group.^[28]

Selected works[link]

• The Climax of the Covenant: Christ and the Law in Pauline Theology. Fortress Press, 1991.
• Following Jesus: Biblical Reflections on Discipleship. Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1997 / SPCK (Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge), 1994
• What Saint Paul Really Said: Was Paul of Tarsus the Real Founder of Christianity?. Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1997.
• The Challenge of Jesus: Rediscovering Who Jesus Was and Is. Downers Grove, Illinois, 2000.
• The Resurrection of Jesus: John Dominic Crossan and N.T. Wright in Dialogue. Ed. Robert B. Stewart. Paperback ed. Augsburg Fortress, Pub., 2005 / SPCK 2006 (co-authored with John D. Crossan).
• Paul: Fresh Perspective. Fortress Press, 2005 co-edition SPCK, 2005.
• The Last Word: Beyond the Bible Wars to a New Understanding of the Authority of Scripture. Harper SanFrancisco, 2005.
• Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense. Hardcover ed. SPCK, 2006 co-edition HarperCollins Pub., 2006.
• Judas and the Gospel of Jesus: Have We Missed the Truth about Christianity?. SPCK 2006 / Baker Books, 2006.
• Evil and the Justice of God. SPCK, 2006 / Intervarsity Press, 2006.
• "The Reasons for Christ's Crucifixion," Stricken by God? Nonviolent Identification and the Victory of Christ (ed. by Brad Jersak and Michael Hardin), 2007.
• Wright, Marcus J (2007), The Meaning of Jesus: Two visions, New York: HarperCollins .
• Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church. SPCK, HarperOne, 2008.
• Jesus, the Final Days: What Really Happened. SPCK, 2008 / Westminster John Knox, 2009. (co-authored with Craig A. Evans) Ed. Troy A. Miller.
• Justification: God's Plan and Paul's Vision. SPCK, 2009.
• Virtue Reborn. SPCK, 2010. Published as After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters through HarperOne in North America, 2010.
• Simply Jesus: A New Vision of Who He Was, What He Did, and Why He Matters. HarperOne, 2011.
• How God Became King: The Forgotten Story of the Gospels. HarperOne, 2012.

Christian Origins and the Question of God series[link]

Six volumes expected:

• The New Testament and the People of God: Christian Origins and the Question of God, Volume 1. Augsburg Fortress, 1992.
• Jesus and the Victory of God: Christian Origins and the Question of God, Volume 2. Augsburg Fortress, 1996.
• The Resurrection of the Son of God: Christian Origins and the Question of God, Volume 3. Augsburg Fortress, 2003.
• Paul and the Faithfulness of God. A full-dress study of Paul, currently in progress; forthcoming in 2013.
• The Gospels and the Story of God. The four gospel writers as theologians in their own right.
• The Early Christians and the Purpose of God. The practical, hermeneutical and theological implications of all of the above.

For Everyone series[link]

The For Everyone series, a commentary on the New Testament, was completed in 2011:

• Matthew for Everyone, Part 1: Chapters 1-15. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. SPCK and Westminster John Knox Press, 2004. ISBN 978-0-281-05301-8
• Matthew for Everyone, Part 2: Chapters 16-28. 2nd ed. Vol. 2. SPCK and Westminster John Knox Press, 2004. ISBN 978-0-281-05487-9
• Mark for Everyone. 2nd ed. SPCK and Westminster John Knox Press, 2004. ISBN 978-0-281-05299-9
• Luke for Everyone. 2nd ed. SPCK and Westminster John Knox Press, 2004. ISBN 978-0-281-05300-1
• John for Everyone, Part 1: Chapters 1-10. Paperback ed. SPCK and Westminster John Knox Press, 2004. ISBN 978-0-281-05302-2
• John for Everyone, Part 2: Chapters 11-21. 2nd ed. SPCK and Westminster John Knox Press, 2004. ISBN 978-0-281-05520-3
• Acts for Everyone, Part 1: Chapters 1-12. SPCK, 2008. ISBN 978-0-281-05308-7
• Acts for Everyone, Part 2: Chapters 13-28. SPCK, 2008. ISBN 978-0-281-05546-3
• Paul for Everyone: Romans, Part 1: Chapters 1-8. 2nd ed. SPCK, 2004. ISBN 978-0-281-05736-8
• Paul for Everyone: Romans, Part 2: Chapters 9-16. 2nd ed. SPCK, 2004. ISBN 978-0-281-05737-5
• Paul for Everyone: 1 Corinthians. 2nd ed. SPCK, 2004. ISBN 978-0-281-05305-6
• Paul for Everyone: 2 Corinthians. 2nd ed. SPCK, 2004. ISBN 978-0-281-05306-3
• Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians. 2nd ed. SPCK, 2004. ISBN 978-0-281-05304-9
• Paul for Everyone, the Prison Letters: Ephesians, Philipians, Colossians and Philemon. 2nd ed. SPCK and Westminster John Knox Press, 2004. ISBN 978-0-281-05303-0
• Paul for Everyone: the Pastoral Letters. 2nd ed. SPCK, 2004. ISBN 978-0-281-05310-3
• Hebrews for Everyone. 2nd ed. SPCK, 2004. ISBN 978-0-281-05307-3
• Early Christian Letters for Everyone: James, Peter, John and Judah. SPCK, 2011. ISBN 978-0-281-06465-6
• Revelation for Everyone. SPCK, 2011. ISBN 978-0-281-06463-2

See also[link]

	Christianity portal
	Anglicanism portal
	Biography portal

• Critical realism

References[link]

External links[link]

• N. T. Wright Page, a collection writings
• N.T. Wright In-depth Interview on "Beyond Evangelical"

Yu Dafu
Born	(1896-12-07)December 7, 1896 Fuyang, Zhejiang, China
Died	September 17, 1945(1945-09-17) (aged 48)
Occupation	Short Story writer and Poet

Yu Dafu (simplified Chinese: 郁达夫; traditional Chinese: 郁達夫; pinyin: Yù Dáfū; Wade–Giles: Yu Ta-fu) (December 7, 1896—September 17, 1945). Born in Fuyang, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, was a modern Chinese short story writer and poet.

Early years[link]

Yu Dafu's father died when he was three, leaving the family poverty-stricken and destitute. He received a number of scholarships through the Chinese government and went on to receive a traditional Chinese education in Hangzhou. Chronologically he studied in Jiangxing-Fu Middle School (before he came to Hangzhou), Hangzhou-Fu Middle School, Yuying Academy^[1] (育英学堂, formerly of Zhejiang University).

In 1912, he entered Hangchow University (later its major part merged into Zhejiang University) preparatory through examination. He was there only for a short period before he was expelled for participation in a student strike.^[2]

He then moved to Japan, where he studied economics at the Tokyo Imperial University between 1913 and 1922, where he met other Chinese intellectuals (namely, Guo Moruo, Zhang Ziping and Tian Han). Together, in 1921 they founded the Chuangzao she 創造社 ("Creation Society"), which promoted vernacular and modern literature. One of his earlier works Chenlun 沉淪, also his most famous, published in Japan in 1921. The work had gained immense popularity in China, shocking the world of Chinese literature with its frank dealing with sex, as well as grievances directed at the incompetence of Chinese government at the time.

In 1922, he returned to China as a literary celebrity and worked as the editor of Creation Quarterly, editing journals and writing short stories. In 1923, after an attack of tuberculosis, Yu Dafu directed his attention to the welfare of the masses.

In 1927, he worked as an editor of the Hongshui literary magazine. He later came in conflict with the Communist Party of China and fled back to Japan.

Second Sino-Japanese war[link]

After the start of the Second Sino-Japanese war, he returned to China and worked as a writer of anti-Japanese propaganda in Hangzhou, and later in Zhejiang. From 1938 to 1942, he worked as a literary editor for the newspaper Sin Chew Jit Poh in Singapore.

In 1942 when the Imperial Japanese Army invaded Singapore, he was forced to flee to Sumatra. Known under a different identity, he settled there among other overseas Chinese and began a brewery business with the help of the locals. Later he was forced to help the Japanese military police as an interpreter when it was discovered that he was one of the few "locals" in the area who could speak Japanese.

In 1945, he was arrested by the Kempeitai when his true identity was finally discovered. It is believed that he was executed by the Japanese shortly after the surrender of Japan.

Works[link]

• Chenlun 沉淪 "Sinking" (1921)
• Riji jiuzhong 日記九種 “Nine Diaries” (1927)
• Guoqu 過去 “The Past" (1927)
• his first novel?? (1928) (moderately successful)
• his second novel?? (1932)
• Chuben 出奔 "Flight" (1935)

His most popular work, breaking all Chinese sales records, was Jih-chi chiu-chung "Nine Diaries", which detailed his affair with the writer Wang Ying-hsin. The most critically acclaimed work is Kuo-ch'u or "The Past", written in 1927.^{[citation needed]}

References[link]

• Encyclopædia Britannica 2005 Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, article- "Yü Ta-fu"

External links[link]

• Works by Yu Dafu at Project Gutenberg