Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
1.3
0.7
Journals
Religions
Special Issues
Eve’s Curse: Redemptive Readings of Genesis 3:16
share announcement

Eve’s Curse: Redemptive Readings of Genesis 3:16

A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444). This special issue belongs to the section "Religions and Theologies".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 September 2024) | Viewed by 16940

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Abi Doukhan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Queens College, City University of New York (CUNY), New York, NY 11367, USA
Interests: Emmanuel Levinas; 20th-century continental ethics; post-holocaust philosophy of religion and ethics, Jewish philosophy; Hebrew wisdom literature; womanist philosophy

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Genesis 3:16b has traditionally been interpreted as proof of woman’s inferiority, her nefarious powers of seduction, and as a license for men to rule and master her. Such an interpretation seems to have a much greater affinity with the Hellenistic context from which it arose than with its immediate Hebraic and Ancient Near Eastern context. If we are to remain faithful to this context—where woman was held in high esteem—we need more than ever to approach Genesis 3:16b with a lens that does not do violence to the woman. A new exegetical lens on Genesis 3:16b is needed, one that is redemptive rather than punitive. This will entail that the two key concepts “rule” (mashal) and “loving intention” (teshuqah) be re-interpreted from a Hebrew inter-textual perspective rather than through a Greek philosophical lens, as well as read in light of the immediate context of God’s words to the serpent and to the man, which frame the woman’s “curse.” This Special Issue is a compilation of audacious, imaginative, and courageous readings of this text by scholars coming from very different worlds. In this Special Issue, traditional approaches to the text coexist with critical ones, Jewish interpreters grapple alongside Christian ones, and male commentators are in dialogue with female ones, giving rise to a rich and complex tapestry of significations of the ancient “curse” of woman, and breaking new ground in the understanding of woman, of man, and of gender relations.

Dr. Abi Doukhan
Guest Editor

Keywords

  • curse
  • woman
  • messianic
  • redemptive
  • genesis 3:16
  • desire
  • rule
  • punitive

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (13 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Editorial

Jump to: Research

7 pages, 146 KiB  
Editorial
Introduction to “Eve’s Curse: Redemptive Readings of Genesis 3:16”
by Abi Doukhan
Religions 2025, 16(2), 176; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16020176 - 5 Feb 2025
Viewed by 602
Abstract
Genesis 3:16 has traditionally been interpreted as proof of woman’s inferiority, of her nefarious powers of seduction, and as a license for men to rule and master her [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Eve’s Curse: Redemptive Readings of Genesis 3:16)

Research

Jump to: Editorial

9 pages, 286 KiB  
Article
Death and Life in the Hands of the Translators
by Tamara Cohn Eskenazi
Religions 2024, 15(12), 1489; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15121489 - 6 Dec 2024
Viewed by 693
Abstract
Taking its cue from Proverbs 18:21, which places death and life in the hands or authority of the tongue, i.e., language, this paper explores how translators throughout the millennia recomposed, through their translation choices, the story of the first couple in the garden, [...] Read more.
Taking its cue from Proverbs 18:21, which places death and life in the hands or authority of the tongue, i.e., language, this paper explores how translators throughout the millennia recomposed, through their translation choices, the story of the first couple in the garden, introducing some deadly consequences with their choices. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Eve’s Curse: Redemptive Readings of Genesis 3:16)
14 pages, 650 KiB  
Article
Mosaic of Meaning: A Redemptive Reading of Genesis 3:16 in Light of Its Biblical Contexts and Inter-Texts
by Richard M. Davidson
Religions 2024, 15(10), 1252; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15101252 - 15 Oct 2024
Viewed by 1583
Abstract
This paper provides a fresh redemptive reading of Gen 3:16, viewed in light of a whole mosaic of canonical contexts and intertextual connections. These include, among others, the full equality without hierarchy of man and woman in Gen 1–2; the paradigmatic nature of [...] Read more.
This paper provides a fresh redemptive reading of Gen 3:16, viewed in light of a whole mosaic of canonical contexts and intertextual connections. These include, among others, the full equality without hierarchy of man and woman in Gen 1–2; the paradigmatic nature of egalitarian marriage with mutual submission between husband and wife in Gen 2:18–24; the rupture of husband–wife relationships in Gen 3:6–13; the covenant lawsuit of Gen 3:14–19; the meaning of mashal in Gen 1:16–18 and 4:7; the meaning of teshuqah and grammatical–syntactical parallels and contrasts in Gen 4:7 and Song 7:11 (Eng. v. 10); the redemptive aspects of the woman and her seed in Gen 3:15; and the intertextual connections with New Testament passages. Considering this mosaic of contexts and connections, it is suggested that Gen 3:16 must be viewed only in reference to marriage; it is never broadened to include man–woman gender relationships in general. In Gen 3:16, God provides a temporary, remedial measure to preserve harmony and unity in a ruptured marriage relationship, with an implicit call for husbands and wives to return as soon as possible from the mashal–teshuqah relationship to the paradigmatic egalitarian marriage set forth in Gen 2:24. This return to the divine creation ideal for marriage is empowered by the redemptive promises of Gen 3:15, confirmed in the reversal of the Gen 3:16 marital relationship articulated in the Song of Songs—the inspired commentary on Gen 1–3—particularly Song 7:11 [Eng. v. 10]), and reaffirmed in the consistent citations of Gen 2:24 (and not Gen 3:16) in the NT (Matt 19:5, 6; Eph 5:31). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Eve’s Curse: Redemptive Readings of Genesis 3:16)
20 pages, 716 KiB  
Article
Unbinding Genesis 3:16: A Theocentric Critique of Sex-Based Power
by Arlyn S. Drew
Religions 2024, 15(10), 1214; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15101214 - 7 Oct 2024
Viewed by 1866
Abstract
The judgment of Eve in Genesis 3:16 has traditionally been construed as an etiological curse on the relationship dynamics between genders, garnering scholarly scrutiny on the terms for desire and rule. Many exegetes regard this verse as the biblical rationale for patriarchal cultures [...] Read more.
The judgment of Eve in Genesis 3:16 has traditionally been construed as an etiological curse on the relationship dynamics between genders, garnering scholarly scrutiny on the terms for desire and rule. Many exegetes regard this verse as the biblical rationale for patriarchal cultures throughout history. Despite attempts to ameliorate the notion of husbandly rule to protectorship, guidance, and loving servant-leadership, the power asymmetry between genders hinges on the interpretation of a simple Hebrew preposition be, commonly translated as “over” at the end of Genesis 3:16 as “he shall rule over you”. This article re-examines the semantics of the linguistic pairing of the particular ruling verb māšal followed by the preposition be through three verses in close proximity: Genesis 1:18, Genesis 3:16, and Genesis 4:7. Given the contextual sensitivity inherent in flexible prepositions, a theocentric reinterpretation of the surrounding narrative opens the possibility for a new redemptive reading by rendering the preposition as “with,” a meaning well within its semantic spectrum. In that case, to a woman hurt by betrayals from the animal, botanical, and human realms of her new existence, God promises help in healing her damaged marriage by intensifying her emotional desire for her husband, then chiding Eve to include him in her future decisions: “and he must rule with you”. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Eve’s Curse: Redemptive Readings of Genesis 3:16)
12 pages, 225 KiB  
Article
Reverse the Curse: Genesis, Defamiliarization, and the Song of Songs
by Carole R. Fontaine
Religions 2024, 15(9), 1121; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15091121 - 17 Sep 2024
Viewed by 978
Abstract
This paper assesses the relationship between the so-called “curses” on the Woman in Gen 3:16 in terms of themes (garden, tree, creation, marriage, procreation, and so on) and concludes that the late poetic text of the Song aims at a deliberate corrective to [...] Read more.
This paper assesses the relationship between the so-called “curses” on the Woman in Gen 3:16 in terms of themes (garden, tree, creation, marriage, procreation, and so on) and concludes that the late poetic text of the Song aims at a deliberate corrective to the negative view of gender relations in Genesis. The use of mashal, “to rule over” in Gen 3 is reassessed from the perspective of its use of the native genre designation of mashal in Wisdom Literature. There, it refers to similarities between two compared items. The direct reversal of God’s speech to the humans in Gen 3, where the woman will be ruled over by her man but still desire him, appears in the Song in the speeches of the Beloved: there she states categorically that the man is her beloved and belongs to her, while she belongs to him. The tactic of defamiliarization (a Russian literary concept) is used to juxtapose radically different views and destabilizes the notion of only one meaning for the words under consideration. In effect, reading two opposing themes together forges a new, more inclusive understanding of both. This paper concludes with a dramatic new rendering of the Song, “The Song I Sing Complete” with speech and motifs reassigned to the woman’s voice, foregrounding her remarks within the genre of love poetry, drawing on tropes found in lyrical poetry and the myth of Israel’s neighbors in Mesopotamia and Egypt. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Eve’s Curse: Redemptive Readings of Genesis 3:16)
9 pages, 178 KiB  
Article
Tragic Curse, or Messianic Hope? Reading Genesis 3:16 in Light of Genesis 3:15
by Jacques B. Doukhan
Religions 2024, 15(9), 1116; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15091116 - 15 Sep 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1095
Abstract
In this paper, it will be shown that Genesis 3:16 parallels the Messianic prophecy of Genesis 3:15 with which it also shares significant linguistic links and literary features. From this literary observation, it will be established that the two key words “desire” and [...] Read more.
In this paper, it will be shown that Genesis 3:16 parallels the Messianic prophecy of Genesis 3:15 with which it also shares significant linguistic links and literary features. From this literary observation, it will be established that the two key words “desire” and “rule” have a positive significance which is further supported by the literary and syntactical construction of the sentences. The positive understanding of Genesis 3:16 in the light of Genesis 3:15 will also be reinforced and illuminated by the comparative analysis with the parallel text of Genesis 4:7. Rather than proclaiming the tragic “curse” of the subordinated woman in her relationship with man, the connection of Genesis 3:16 with Genesis 3:15 brings a message of blessing in the perspective of redemption. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Eve’s Curse: Redemptive Readings of Genesis 3:16)
14 pages, 441 KiB  
Article
Reframing Genesis 3:16: Eve’s Creation Memoir
by Mathilde Frey
Religions 2024, 15(9), 1115; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15091115 - 14 Sep 2024
Viewed by 1434
Abstract
I will read Genesis 3:16 through the lens of Genesis 4. While Eve has become a fixed object in traditional interpretation as a dangerous temptress for man and the cause of humanity’s fall into sin, her story does not end in this chapter. [...] Read more.
I will read Genesis 3:16 through the lens of Genesis 4. While Eve has become a fixed object in traditional interpretation as a dangerous temptress for man and the cause of humanity’s fall into sin, her story does not end in this chapter. Eve’s creative agency as “mother of all living” becomes the framework for the drama that unfolds in Genesis 4. Her body and her voice carry the story of life into the future. This essay shows the connection between Genesis 3:16 and the story in Genesis 4 by moving beyond a linguistic analysis of the common verbs, mashal and teshuqah. I will read the two texts together with the ancient scribes who distinguished Genesis 3:16 by placing this one verse between two setumah markers. Likewise, the story of Eve in Genesis 4:1–5:2 is placed between two setumah markers, thereby showing that ancient Hebrew readings emphasized a close relationship between Genesis 3:16 and Genesis 4:1–5:2. This is opposed to the Christian chapter division, which separates Genesis 3 from the story in Genesis 4, and places Genesis 3 in an authoritative position for the sake of extrapolating the doctrine of the fall into sin with the woman playing the central role in the fall story. I will further engage in deep reading, literary analysis, and performance criticism, and argue that Eve tells her own creation story with masterful subversiveness and creative audacity. The attempt of the essay is to reorient the dominant negative view of Eve toward a more positive, complex, and nuanced reading of her character in the Genesis text. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Eve’s Curse: Redemptive Readings of Genesis 3:16)
12 pages, 237 KiB  
Article
The Eden Complex: Transgression and Transformation in the Bible, Freud and Jung
by Sanford Drob
Religions 2024, 15(9), 1088; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15091088 - 6 Sep 2024
Viewed by 1328
Abstract
Freud chose the myth of Oedipus as the foundation for his understanding of human development, obedience to the law, and his theory of civilization, and he wrote that he saw no psychological value in analyzing the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the [...] Read more.
Freud chose the myth of Oedipus as the foundation for his understanding of human development, obedience to the law, and his theory of civilization, and he wrote that he saw no psychological value in analyzing the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. Drawing on biblical interpretation, the Kabbalah, and the work of C. G. Jung, it is argued that Adam and Eve’s transgression serves as an archetype for an “Eden Complex” that provides a broad and useful paradigm for understanding the dynamics of individual development, parent–child conflict, morals and values, and both psychotherapeutic and societal change. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Eve’s Curse: Redemptive Readings of Genesis 3:16)
12 pages, 220 KiB  
Article
Neither Cursed nor Punished: Natural Law in Genesis 2–3 and J
by Joseph Ryan Kelly
Religions 2024, 15(9), 1062; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15091062 - 1 Sep 2024
Viewed by 1086
Abstract
Gendered criticism of Eve and general criticism of Eve and Adam are rooted in the idea of their moral failing when they disobey Yahweh. Two lenses bring a more ancient understanding of the text into focus. The first lens is reading the story [...] Read more.
Gendered criticism of Eve and general criticism of Eve and Adam are rooted in the idea of their moral failing when they disobey Yahweh. Two lenses bring a more ancient understanding of the text into focus. The first lens is reading the story in the context of the J source of the Pentateuch. The second lens is that of natural law as understood by Greco-Roman philosophers. These lenses provide new clarity, showing how Eve and Adam’s decision to eat from the tree of knowledge violates a non-moral norm: they transgress the boundary between humanity and divinity. It is this ontological transgression to which Yahweh responds. Mortality, many labors, and many pregnancies reflect the natural consequences of this ontological violation, not an arbitrary punishment for a moral failing. This alternative understanding of Genesis 2–3 allows us to understand that Eve and Adam are neither cursed nor punished. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Eve’s Curse: Redemptive Readings of Genesis 3:16)
8 pages, 233 KiB  
Article
Blessing Precedes Cursing: Philosophical Reading of Genesis 3:16
by Catherine Chalier
Religions 2024, 15(9), 1028; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15091028 - 23 Aug 2024
Viewed by 703
Abstract
Additional interpretations of Genesis 3:16 have often translated God’s words to the woman as a punishment, even a curse, brought upon the woman as the result of her disobedience. Moreover, this so-called curse of the woman has been read by many interpreters as [...] Read more.
Additional interpretations of Genesis 3:16 have often translated God’s words to the woman as a punishment, even a curse, brought upon the woman as the result of her disobedience. Moreover, this so-called curse of the woman has been read by many interpreters as final and irreversible, given that God himself had decreed it. Interestingly, however, no curse is uttered at all in this passage. Moreover, Genesis 3:16 is itself preceded by a divine blessing, given in Genesis 1 to the human couple. As a blessing, it constitutes a divine decree that can neither be overturned nor challenged. The purpose of this essay will be to go back to this divine blessing in Genesis 1, knowing that such a decree will be irrevocable no matter what the future holds for the human couple. This will in turn shed a revealing light on how we are to read and interpret Genesis 3:16. Not only do the words of God to the woman in Genesis 3:16 not constitute a curse, but Genesis 3:16 must be read against the backdrop of the blessing given in Genesis 1. This of course radically alters how this passage has hereto been interpreted as well as profoundly nuances its teaching on gender relations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Eve’s Curse: Redemptive Readings of Genesis 3:16)
7 pages, 192 KiB  
Article
There Is Worse: The Serpent’s Curse Compared to That of Eve. For a New Order
by Orietta Ombrosi
Religions 2024, 15(8), 1021; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15081021 - 22 Aug 2024
Viewed by 1075
Abstract
By interpreting both the account of Creation found in Genesis 3 and the related exegetical interpretations of the text, this article aims to focus on the figure of the serpent, which has always been laden with a negative, even ruthless, symbolic meaning traditionally [...] Read more.
By interpreting both the account of Creation found in Genesis 3 and the related exegetical interpretations of the text, this article aims to focus on the figure of the serpent, which has always been laden with a negative, even ruthless, symbolic meaning traditionally approached as almost entirely irrevocable. Taking ‘original nakedness’ as the key perspective, this brief study seeks to bring out and highlight the moment or condition preceding the curse, in which the serpent is revealed to be at once extremely similar to and radically different from humans, an animal as well but profoundly different from other animals: ill-placed. Sharing its solitude and alienation in this slippery and uncomfortable boundary position, participating in its desire, its temptation to encounter the other and to change places, to blur the boundaries of creation, this article listens to the serpent’s call to another story and follows it/him in an attempt to reimagine and rewrite another genesis, this time from its/his point of view, to displace and mix-up the established order and to find, in the end, a new dignity for itself/himself and for other animals. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Eve’s Curse: Redemptive Readings of Genesis 3:16)
9 pages, 289 KiB  
Article
Genesis 3:16—Text and Context
by Carol Meyers
Religions 2024, 15(8), 948; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15080948 - 6 Aug 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1360
Abstract
Genesis 3:16 is arguably the most troubling biblical verse for issues of gender relations and women’s roles. It figures prominently in later Jewish and especially Christian sources, and discussions in those texts have influenced subsequent understandings of the verse and of the Eden [...] Read more.
Genesis 3:16 is arguably the most troubling biblical verse for issues of gender relations and women’s roles. It figures prominently in later Jewish and especially Christian sources, and discussions in those texts have influenced subsequent understandings of the verse and of the Eden narrative in which it is embedded. This article engages in a careful reading of the biblical text in order to elucidate its meaning apart from later traditions. Recognizing the poetic character of the four lines of this verse is an important part of the analytical process, as is situating it within the Eden tale. Also, because no text arises in a vacuum, considering the Iron Age context—the world of the Israelite populace, that is, the world behind the text, a world vastly different from our own—provides the requisite socio-historical sensitivity. An awareness of that ancient context means openness to a suggestion about what Gen 3:16 may have meant to its ancient audience. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Eve’s Curse: Redemptive Readings of Genesis 3:16)
13 pages, 253 KiB  
Article
Eve and the Goddess Innana: Reading Genesis 3:16b in Light of Sacred Marriage Cultic Literature
by Abi Doukhan
Religions 2024, 15(8), 917; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15080917 - 29 Jul 2024
Viewed by 1579
Abstract
Genesis 3:16b has traditionally been interpreted as proof of woman’s inferiority, her nefarious powers of seduction, and as a license for men to rule and master her. Such an interpretation seems to have a much greater affinity with the Hellenistic context from which [...] Read more.
Genesis 3:16b has traditionally been interpreted as proof of woman’s inferiority, her nefarious powers of seduction, and as a license for men to rule and master her. Such an interpretation seems to have a much greater affinity with the Hellenistic context from which it arose than with its immediate Hebraic and Ancient Near Eastern context. If we are to remain faithful to this context—where woman was held in high esteem—we need more than ever to approach Genesis 3:16b with a lens that does not do violence to the woman. This article seeks to offer a new exegetical lens on Genesis 3:16b, as a redemptive rather than a punitive moment. This will entail that the two key concepts “rule” (mashal) and “loving intention” (teshuqah) be re-interpreted, in the light of its Ancient Near Eastern context, as containing vestiges of the sacred marriage trope figuring in Sumerian cultic texts, notably the Courtship of Inanna and Dumuzi. The parallels between our story and the Courtship will reveal some stunning parallels, enabling us to illuminate a radically new understanding of Genesis 3:16b as a sacred marriage scene, with the woman enabling the uplifting of man, inaugurating his reign as the king of the land, rather than finding herself dominated by him and a victim of his power over her. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Eve’s Curse: Redemptive Readings of Genesis 3:16)
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-13
Back to TopTop