Biblical Fantasies

"Eden" in Paradise Lost by John Milton

In Paradise Lost, rather than attempting to explain the merely human aspects of hubris or conversion, Milton addresses the chief source of our fallen nature and seeks to justify the ways of God to man. In terms of man in relation to animals, animals were described in some of the stories to be complete herbivores. "In those days there was no drought, and leaves and flowers and fruit grew on the same tree, and we ate nothing at all except leaves and flowers and grass and fruit and bark." (Kipling, 264). I thought that was interesting, and don't ever remember that in the story The Jungle Book. I guess I really just remember the Disneyfied cartoo version.

Michaelangelo's Creation of Adam

 It is common knowledge that the story of creation is highly discussed and debated. We are influenced by our religion, society, and other people to believe one way or the other. The readings for today explore different angles of the story of creation. These popular readings are well engrained in our society, and reading them again brought up some new thoughts I didn’t have before my awareness was heightened due to this class. The common element throughout the stories is that there was a sort of creator or being that created the universe, and that man rules over other beings. Even though animals were created first, according to such stories, man consistently ruled superior. It may be argued otherwise because animals were created before man, but it was more like a trial and error until the creator created human beings. "I read that G-d made man, and he made horses and all the other beasts, and as soon as He had made them he made a day of rest...He must have known what was good for them, and I am sure it is good for me (Sewell, 149)." Still, man is dominant as "G-d created man is his own image" (Genesis, 224).