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Fall, the
Fall, the. The first act of disobedience of Adam and Eve whereby humanity lost its primal innocence. According to Gen. 2 f., Eve, tempted by a serpent, ate the forbidden fruit of the ‘tree of the knowledge of good and evil’ and induced Adam to do likewise. The punishment was expulsion from the Garden of Eden, the imposition of toilsome work on Adam and the pains of childbirth on Eve, and the decree of perpetual enmity between the serpent and man. The biblical narrative teaches that sin arose by human choice and that all human life has thereby been radically changed for the worse, so that its actual state is different from that purposed for it by the Creator.
Until modern times the common Christian belief regarded the Fall of Adam and Eve as a historical event. The serpent was identified with the Devil, a spiritual being who must have been created good and himself previously fallen, and hence the original Fall was inferred to be that of Satan rather than of Adam and Eve. Since all subsequent humanity was believed to have descended from Adam and Eve, the consequences of the Fall were held to affect all mankind by inheritance. While the Greek Fathers tended to minimize the evil done to man by the sin of Adam and stress the responsibility of each individual, the Latins (especially St Augustine), emphasizing the enormity of Adam's transgression and its consequences for mankind, developed the doctrine of original sin (q.v.). Though in modern times the concept of the Fall has often been held to be inconsistent with the facts of man's development known to science, orthodox theologians still see in the story of Gen. 2 f. a fundamental truth about man in his relation to God, even if the truth is now held to be there conveyed in legendary form. |
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E. A. LIVINGSTONE. "Fall, the." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. 26 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. E. A. LIVINGSTONE. "Fall, the." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. (May 26, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O95-Fallthe.html E. A. LIVINGSTONE. "Fall, the." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 2000. Retrieved May 26, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O95-Fallthe.html |
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Fall, the
Fall, the A post-biblical expression for the doctrine of Adam's transgression and mankind's consequential inheritance of a sinful nature. The story of the disobedience of Adam and Eve is depicted in the J version of the creation (Gen. 2: 4b–3: 24); human sin is rooted in the desire to be like God and to live lives wholly centred on themselves and their own desires. According to the narrative, the result of this primal sin was expulsion from the garden. God was afraid that Adam, having disobediently eaten from one tree, might be tempted to become immortal by eating next from the tree of life. So the way back to the garden was barred. Paul appears to misunderstand the story as if Adam had the gift of immortality, but lost it by eating the forbidden fruit. He refers to the story in Rom. 5: 21, taking it up from Ecclus. [= Sir.] 25: 24. The doctrine of original sin was much developed by Christian theologians, especially Augustine in the 5th cent. CE and, later, by Protestant Reformers.
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W. R. F. BROWNING. "Fall, the." A Dictionary of the Bible. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. 26 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. W. R. F. BROWNING. "Fall, the." A Dictionary of the Bible. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. (May 26, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O94-Fallthe.html W. R. F. BROWNING. "Fall, the." A Dictionary of the Bible. 1997. Retrieved May 26, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O94-Fallthe.html |
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Fall, the
Fall, the the lapse of humankind into a state of sin, ascribed in traditional Jewish and Christian theology to the disobedience of Adam and Eve as described in Genesis; also called the Fall of Man.
In North America, the Fall means autumn; the expression derives from the earlier fall of the leaf. |
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ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Fall, the." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 26 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Fall, the." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. (May 26, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-Fallthe.html ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Fall, the." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Retrieved May 26, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-Fallthe.html |
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the fall
the fall i.e., the fall of man, in Christian thought: see original sin ; grace . |
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"the fall." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. 26 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "the fall." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. (May 26, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-X-fall.html "the fall." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Retrieved May 26, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-X-fall.html |
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