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Extra Websites
Archaeological
finds relating to the story of Adam and Eve
Bible Archaeology:
Adam
Farming in
ancient times
Bible
Archaeology: Farming
Eve takes the
blame
Bible Top
Ten Bad Women
The story
of Eve in more detail
Women in the
Bible: Eve
The
first murder
Cain and Abel
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Activities
for
individuals or groups
Doodling
Print the words GOOD and EVIL. Cross
out one of the O's in GOOD. Put a D in front of EVIL. What do you have?
Films
about the lost Garden of Eden
(group or single activity)
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The Guardian of Paradise, Franz
Stück |
Stage 1: Make up a list
List
some films about the loss of an ideal place or state, and the search to
regain it (for some suggestions, see list at left). You can choose
recent films or classics. If this is a group activity, choose films most
people know.
Stage
2: Glance over your list
1.
Have you chosen films that are realistic, or do you prefer films that are
inspiring/uplifting, or show a world different from our own?
2.
What does this say about you and what you need in a story?
Stage
3: Choose your favourite
4.
What are the central ideas in this film?
5.
Do any of these ideas appeal to you, or remind you of your own life or experiences?
Stage
4: Think about your choices
Group
activity: discuss these questions, making sure everyone in the group has
a chance to talk about their ideas.
Single
activity: sit down for a few minutes and focus your mind; make a quick
list of your favorites; think
about them as you do other tasks in your day. What ideas in them appeal
to you? Why?
Discovering the characters
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Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel, the Temptation, the Expulsion |
The four characters in the Genesis story are God, Man, Woman, and Evil.
Working from the text, draw up a list of the characteristics of each of the
four. Give at least three words for each. Be careful that the words you think of
are related to the story as you read it in the Genesis text, and not to ideas
you have inherited from other people.
Compare your list with the list of a learning partner. Are there differences?
Discuss with your learning partner the qualities of each character. (Woody Allen
commented that the problem with the Bible is that it suffers from a totally
unbelievable main character!)
Think
about this
If you could go back and warn Adam against accepting the apple,
would you?
Think about it. The question is not as straightforward as you'd think.
Discussion
- Caring for the Environment
Topic 1: How might the creative potential we have, being made ‘in God’s
image’ (Genesis 1:26), be used to restore the Garden/Earth?
Topic 2: How does the story of Adam illustrate the connection between actions and
consequences?
Focus
Questions
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Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel, God Creates Man |
1.
What are the most interesting moments in the story of Adam?
2. In the story, who gets what they want?
If you were in the story, which person would you want to know? Which
person would you want to avoid?
3. What is God's interaction with the three characters? What does this tell you
about the narrator's image of God? Do you agree with this image?
4. What happens in the chapters after the initial story? Does this help you understand
the message?
5. The narrator/editor has chosen to tell some things and leave other things
out. What has been left out of the story that you would like to know?
6. How are the consequences of the story still present
in the world? How is the story relevant to modern life, especially your own?
Famous
Quotes
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'God created humankind in his
image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created
them.' Genesis 1:27
'God saw everything he had made, and it was good.' 1:31
'It is not good that a man should be alone.' 2:18
'I will put enmity between you and the woman...' 3:15
'...in pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for
your husband, and he shall rule over you.' 3:16
'you are dust and to dust you shall return' 3:19
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Take one of these quotes and spend
some time thinking about it. What does it mean to you? What is the main idea
it conveys? Does this have relevance to your own life?
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Roman-era mural showing an ideal garden,
with bird and water fountain |
Some
Extra Ideas...
ABOUT THE CREATION OF THE
COSMOS
'The style of the prologue (in Genesis 1) is amazing for its deliberate
simplicity, its ascetic style. It shows not the slightest trace of
rhetoric.... it manages to give the impression of restrained power. ....
Is it prose or poetry?'
'Theological thought in Genesis 1 moves not so much between the poles of
nothingness and creation as between the poles of chaos and cosmos.'
'In
the Beginning', Henri Blocher, p31,66.
ABOUT THE CREATION OF
WOMAN
'It is not good that the man should be alone' (Genesis 2:18). The remark
amazes us. It is the only negative assessment in the creation narrative,
and it is emphatically negative. By this divine reason of the creation of
the woman, Scripture could not underline better the degree to which
solitude contradicts the calling of humanity. From the very beginning, the
human being is a Mitsein, a being-with; human life attains its full
realization only in community. No man is an island, and everyone must
discover himself to be his neighbor's neighbor.'
'In the Beginning', Henri Blocher, p96.
Extra
Websites in the left column have background information
and ideas.
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