In the beginning of the biblical narrative, a man named Adam was placed in a garden in the east of Eden. His work was to cultivate and keep it. God permitted Adam to eat from every tree in this paradise, including the Tree of Life. There was only a single prohibition. He was warned not to eat from one specific tree, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The consequence for breaking this one rule was made perfectly clear: eating the fruit would result in death. Adam, formed from the 'dust of the ground,' was tasked with upholding this command in a world that did not yet know mortality.
The Fall of Man
The biblical story of Adam, Eve, and a serpent in a garden, culminating in their exile and the birth of human mortality.
Chapter 1
The Garden and the Rule
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Frequently Asked Questions
What fruit did Adam and Eve eat?
The Book of Genesis never specifies the type of fruit. The popular association with an apple is a later Western European tradition, possibly originating from a Latin pun on the word 'malum', which can mean both 'evil' and 'apple'.
Was the serpent in Eden actually Satan?
The original text in Genesis describes the serpent only as a 'crafty' animal. The explicit identification of the serpent with Satan is a later theological development found in other works like the Book of Wisdom and the New Testament.
What is the difference between Original Sin and Ancestral Sin?
The doctrine of Original Sin, formulated by St. Augustine, holds that Adam's personal guilt is biologically inherited by all humanity. The Eastern Orthodox concept of Ancestral Sin states that humans inherit the consequences of the fall, like death and mortality, but not the guilt itself.
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