Eden, What HE Said, What We said

This paper first restores Eden to the wording and relations found in Scripture, then places later theological and historical interpretations on a separate level. After final verification, the biblical material can be grouped into three clusters: a place God prepared and where God placed the human; a place of life, water, abundance, and beauty; and a place marked by command,boundary, and loss of access. Many later interpretations appear to enlarge selected elements of these few textual clusters by connecting them with other texts, doctrines, or historical materials. Relations not directly stated in Scripture are therefore marked separately as interpretation, hypothesis, or open question.