Is the Historicity of Adam the Main thing?

Did the biblical writer himself consider the story of Adam and Eve to be “factual”? He certainly considered it to be “true,” insofar as it speaks eloquently about God’s creative activity in bringing humankind into existence, man’s rebellion against God’s will, and the suffering of human persons in their estrangement from God, their life “outside of Paradise.” Militating against a purely literal reading of the passage, however, are elements of the story such as Adam molded by God’s hands “of dust from the ground,” the image of God as a gardener who “plants a garden in Eden,” the formation of woman from man’s rib, the “sound of the Lord God walking in the garden,” the clothing of Adam and Eve with “garments of skin,” and the simultaneous existence of other people “in the land of Nod, east of Eden.” This anthropomorphic image of God, together with logical inconsistencies in the narrative, require interpretation, as the Fathers of the Church well knew. As the Fathers also made clear, the entire narrative is to be understood in the technical sense as historical mythology: not a “fable,” a made-up folk-tale, but a narrative element of Israel’s sacred history that speaks of the ineffable interaction between God and His human creatures, a relationship that can best be described by symbolic language. (Consider, for example, the Hebrew terms ‘adam, ‘adama, which signify “man” / “earth”; and ‘eden, which means “bliss,” “delight,” a virtual synonym of “Paradise,” as in Isa 51:3; Ezek 28:13; 31:9,15-18, where the underlying mythological element is quite evident.)

The story of Adam and Eve is in fact the story of each one of us. Because of our own rebellion, we have been expelled from Paradise, and a flaming sword now bars us from the life of beauty, peace and joy for which God fashioned us. In our garments of skin, we wander the earth, longing to rediscover and reenter the Garden in which and for which we were created.

The true end and fulfillment of the Genesis story is articulated most eloquently by the paschal icon of Christ’s descent into Sheol. While His body reposes in another garden, the Son of God, the Second Adam, penetrates the realm of the dead, to liberate us from the power of death that holds us in bondage and exile. There He grasps the hands of Adam and Eve, and with them He embraces each of us, to raise us with Himself and restore us to full communion with the God of Life and Love. The final meaning of this story, then, is summed up in the simple yet profound words of St Ephrem the Syrian: “Adam’s Lord came out to seek him; / He entered Sheol and found him there, / then led and brought him out / to set him once more in Paradise” ^[1]

[1]  Hymns on Paradise 8:10 (tr. S. Brock; SVS Press, 1990, )

Excerpts from an article by the Orthodox Church in America

Is the Church different from the world?

"Abide in me as I abide in you" Jesus (John15:4)

People participate in faith communities for many different reasons. Some searching for a meaningful connection to God and others while some find a sense of belonging or deep satisfaction being part of something bigger than themselves or a group of like minded people with similar needs and concerns.  When Jesus talks about the vine and the branches in John 15, one would think he would be speaking about being connected into Israel. Paul takes this up in Romans but this is not Jesus point in this scriptural vision. Jesus is not talking about connecting everyone to a history or tradition or church group but our connection to Christ.

If God incarnated himself on earth in Christ, the church is to be the incarnation of Christ on earth as God brings heaven to our earthly existence. The church is where Christ resides among his people forming humility, radical dependence on God and one another, and compassionate life long friends.  All of us are human beings seeking a way of life. Jesus for the Christian is the way of life that happens in community (the church).  The church is often tempted to opt for power over love or a life of worldly pleasure and material wealth over a life of sacrificial giving and service to others.

Jesus is the "telos," the goal to which everything in this created world is moving towards. The tension will often not be threats from the outside but threats from within. Our own complicity towards idolatry, addictions, and focusing on satisfying the pleasures of the flash rather than walking in the power and life in the Spirit of God. The gospel of Jesus shapes our virtues that make society a more wholesome and healing place rather than its own propensity towards chaos and fragmentation.  The church is one of many living traditions with a story to tell. That story will only be believed if people see an embodied story lived out by those who represent it. It may take a lifetime of practice, discipline, and discernment but its the patterns and virtues of community that will stand out to people who will either be drawn towards this community of faith or repelled by it. It is only when Christ followers point beyond themselves to Christ that the world begins to see a vision of what life with God on earth can really look like.