Convivial Gardens: Genesis 2–3 in Agrarian and Space-Critical Perspective

Abstract

Genesis 2–3 is among the most beloved yet misunderstood texts in the Hebrew Bible. Many biblical and post-biblical interpretations focus on themes of sin, death, and God’s banishment of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. These have fostered misapprehensions regarding the value of God’s creation and the dangerous image of an “Old Testament God of wrath.” This essay uses space-critical analysis to focus on the spaces of Eden—from ground to bodies to gardens—to show that Ivan Illich’s notion of “conviviality” best captures Eden’s true ethic of cooperation, environmental caretaking, and the positive portrait a gentle God who makes humans by hand.