Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 01.djvu/51

ADAM and EVE tablets. Eve is the Hebrew Havvah, which name, according to Gen. iii: 20, Adam gave her as the "mother of all living." Literally, the word means "life."

The early part of Genesis contains two somewhat different accounts of the creation of Adam. In the earlier account (i: 26-30), the creation of man and woman is given after the creation of the animals; in the second account (chapter ii), the creation of Adam is mentioned before that of the animals, and the forming of Eve afterward. The first narrator is commonly called the Elohistic, from his use of the name Elohim for God; the second, the Jehovistic, from his using the name Jehovah Elohim. The Elohistic narrator simply states that God created man in His own image. Man is created at the close of the six days' work as the lord of the whole lower world, for whom all things are made. The Jehovistic narrator gives a detailed account of Paradise, the original sin of Adam and Eve, their subjection to the curse, and expulsion from Eden. It is, in Ewald's phrase, the history proper of the creation of man. The first condition of Adam and Eve is one of innocent simplicity. They are placed in Eden, where they are allowed to taste freely of the fruit of every tree save one. Temptation comes from without, through the serpent's persuading Eve that the divine prohibition is really intended to keep human beings from becoming as wise as God. Eve yields to the temptation, and leads Adam also into her sin; and thus the moral consciousness of man awoke, and spiritual death passed upon mankind. Adam and Eve are then driven out of Paradise, and prevented, by the cherubim and a flaming sword which turned every way, from returning "to take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever." Adam lives 930 years; has three sons, Cain, Abel, and Seth, then sons and daughters.

Such is the form of the story which has usually been interpreted by orthodox Jews and Christians as a narrative of literal history, notwithstanding many difficulties about the anthropomorphic details, and the admitted uncertainty of the point where the literal ends and the figurative begins. Many of the later Jews explained the story as an allegory. Philo, the foremost writer of the Alexandrian school, explains Eve as the sensuous part, Adam as the rational part, of human nature. The serpent attacks the sensuous element, which yields to the temptation of pleasure, and next enslaves the reason. Clement and Origen adapted this interpretation somewhat awkwardly to Christian theology. Augustine explained the story as history, but admitted a spiritual meaning superinduced upon the literal; and his explanation was adopted by the reformers, and, indeed, generally, by the orthodox within the Romish and the various Protestant churches alike. More modern critics have sought to separate the kernel of history from the poetical accretions, and attribute the real value of the story, not to its form, but to the underlying thoughts. Martensen describes it as a combination of history and sacred symbolism, "figurative presentation of an actual event." The narrative may be regarded as embodying the philosophy of the Hebrew mind applied to the everlasting problem of the origin of sin and suffering; a question the solution of which is scarcely nearer us now than it was to the primitive Hebrews.

The story of Adam has been a rich subject both in literature and art. It was frequently treated by the medieval painters, and formed the material of many mysteries and other poems. Of more modern works, it is enough to mention the splendid epic of Milton, "Paradise Lost." Here Adam and Eve are the archetypal man and woman, sketched with outlines that can only be compared for grand simplicity with Michael Angelo's two frescoes in the Sistine Chapel, of Adam and Eve coming into life.

ADAM, PAUL, a French writer, born in 1862. He took part in politics and was defeated for election to the Chamber of Deputies. He began to write in 1885. His first work showed the influence of Zola; his later writings, however, turned to the romantic and symbolistic school. His work included "Red Robes" (1891); "Child of Austerlitz" (1902); "The Sun of July" (1903); "Stephanie" (1913). He also wrote and collaborated in the writing of several plays.

ADAM'S BRIDGE or RA-MA'S BRIDGE, a chain of shoals across the Gulf of Manaar, between Hindustan and the island of Ceylon.

ADAM'S PEAK, a mountain in the S. of the island of Ceylon. It is a resort of Moslem and Buddhist pilgrims. Height, 7,420 feet. The native name is Samanella. The cone forming the summit is a naked mass of granite, terminating in a narrow platform, in the middle of which is a hollow, 5 feet long, having a resemblance to a human footstep. Mohammedan tradition makes this the scene of Adam's penitence, after his expulsion from Paradise; he stood 1,000 years on one foot weeping for his sin; hence the mark. To the Buddhists, the