In this witty narrative Wilensky-Linford details the folly of literalism. In the beginning God created the Garden of Eden perhaps somewhere in the Persian Gulf, or maybe at the North Pole, or underneath Cincinnati. We meet a variety of characters, some sincere and theologically savvy, others less so, as they search for a literal Eden. Paradise Lust explores the irrational things educated intelligent people can literally choose to believe. A wider question is why the literal geography of Genesis 1-3 is so important to so many.
Wilensky-Linford, a freelance editor and essayist, artfully ties together disciplines as diverse as history, archaeology, religion, science, politics while exploring eccentric personalities.
The book's major contribution might be to provoke thought on how a few verses from Genesis can be used to support such disparate and sometimes absurd interpretations. Some exegetists wrote solely to promote their unique theological perspective while others wanted to promote their home locality. Some were out for fame, some more clearly for fortune.
My attention was caught at the outset by William Warren, first president of Boston University, professor of theology, and Methodist minister. Published in 1895 and enduring eleven printings. Paradise Found: The Cradle of the Race at the North Pole, rested on 500 scholarly sources. Warren recognized that Eden was destroyed by the deluge, and so placed it in a desolate region inaccessible due to changing climate. His theory at least furthered the cause of science by capturing public interest in funding Arctic exploration. He was not deterred by the resulting reports indicating the Arctic was devoid of Edenic qualities.
More conventional in approach were Assyriologists Friedrich Delitzsch and Archibald Sayce, long-time friends and amicable competitors. Delitzsch, who placed Eden near Babylon, was friend of the Kaiser and son of biblical scholar Franz Delitzsch. Sayce, an Oxford professor who resided for years on a house boat on the Nile, chose a more southerly spot near Eridu. They continued for decades to spar over the exact location until WWI truncated their friendship.
Wilensky-Linford's fascinating account follows the southern Iraqi region of Qurna from Ottoman rule to its present desolation. John Calvin also placed Eden in this region. Others chose California, Ohio, Berlin, Mongolia or Sri Lanka and Joseph Smith revealed that Eden had been in Independence, Missouri. Lena and William Sadler, an obstetrician and psychiatry professor respectively, who debunked all other forms of psychic phenomena, but relied on revelations from extraterrestrials to produce The Urantia Book placing Eden near Crete. Finally in 1956 Eden was discovered in Florida by a politically conservative lawyer convinced the serpent was, in his words, "a Communist or a welfare-statist" (171).
A few modern theories are also presented. Professor Juris Zarins conducted years of field research in Egypt and the Arabian Peninsula. In an aside to his scholarly work Zarins proposes that the garden story is based on the migrations around 5,000 B.C of foraging nomads to Mesopotamia where agriculture already flourished. As the Gulf continued to rise, the agriculturists were forced out of Eden. Using LANDSAT photos, archaeology, linguistics, and geology, he situates Eden underneath the present Persian Gulf. Wilensky-Linford considers this the most credible garden theory. Others such as film producer David Rohl and writer Michael Sanders, have presented popularized theories based on seemingly little evidence.
The author also devotes one chapter to American fundamentalism and contemporary evangelicalism unfortunately often conflating the two. For this chapter she visited the Creation Museum in Kentucky associated with Answers in Genesis. In spite of their "brazenness" she credits them for admitting the localization of Eden is incompatible with flood geology. Creationism is now a litmus test for evangelicals prompting her to state that "Either the brain secretes thought like bile, or God washes your mouth out with holy soap" (205).
Wilensky-Linford feels the essential interest in locating Eden lies in our longing to undo the exile from paradise. It therefore represents the existential human quest "located both in the original past and in the idealized future" (92). "That's the essential paradox of the search. Eden has to be erased in order for it to be Eden. A paradise isn't paradise until it's lost." (253). It is an illustration of the varieties of religious experience.
Historical research is a strong point in this book, which is otherwise short on Biblical, scientific and archaeological detail citing few sources in those areas. The author also fails to adequately evaluate the professional credentials of the modern theorists although she alludes to their "Indiana Jones" quotients. And unfortunately there is no index. For the most part exceptionally well-written, nevertheless the ample hyperbole and irony is occasionally overdone. All in all, however, I definitely recommend this book for some fun and instructive reading.
