The First Romance Story - The Garden of Eden

THE FIRST ROMANCE STORY…..The Garden of Eden                                                                                     Over the thousands of years that the Torah and Bible proclaimed the story of creation, the potential impact of all the story contained was greatly reduced. Religion depicted the Garden of Eden as a place of man’s “fall”  into  “sin”.  In reading the story over the years I was struck with one verse that didn’t seem to find its way into most discussions about the creation story. In Genesis Chapter 5 vs 1,2;  the story tells us, “In the beginning God created them. Male and female created He them and CALLED THEIR NAME ADAM.” To me, this was a key verse as it depicted the relationship of the species before the “fall “. The male and the female were both named “Adam” by God, a statement of unity rather than division. After the fall, when the species was now in a place of “knowing good and evil” the male was now Adam and the female was Eve.

In my book, I Am Adam,  (see www.JTTwerell.com) I have taken that verse and developed a different approach to the story of creation. It is now a love story, a true original Romance.      In “I am Adam” the male and female are found as equal s who share in the adventure of this new creation called earth. They learn to love each other, and the world around them without thought of self or possession.   To me this is the beginning of understanding the complexity of Relationship and Romance. To truly have relationship, we must have equality. I realize that the religious understanding of the Garden of Eden shows a duality with the dominance of patriarchal order, but that division came after the creation. In the original order there was not dominance and submission, there was equality. In contemporary relationships and romance, the foundation must begin with equality. What does that mean? We will follow that thought in the next blog, but if anyone has an insight, this is the time to share it.  Dr. T & Dr. J