Adam and Eve; Virtue and Vice; Genesis and Paradise Lost

By Spencer Scott, Frances Schaeffler, Jonah Valverde, and Jo Zeng Why exactly did Adam and Eve eat the fruit? The original Bible goes into a little detail, saying in Genesis 3:6-7, that the snake tempted them, they ate, and their eyes were opened. It’s a straightforward story. Now this being the Bible and all, there’s a long history of writers taking this and other stories in their own direction, but…

The Temporality of Witnessing

When the three youths are saved from the flames in the Old English verse-form of the Book of Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar can hardly believe his eyes. At the sight of this miracle, Nebuchadnezzar declares, “Now I truly see four people there – I do not deceive myself at all” (lines 412-413). At this moment of witnessing, Nebuchadnezzar appears to change his ways. He sees the youths’ bonds incinerated, their clothing intact,…

Witnessing Acts of God in Genesis, Daniel, and Margaret

  By Faryn Thomas, Jennifer Morse, Joseph Marques, and Robert Carhuayo How is witnessing acts of God treated across Genesis, Daniel, and Margaret? In Margaret, page 131,  a huge crowd of people witness Margaret pray to God for salvation at the end, before her feet and hands are to be burned. God hears her and there is an earthquake, after which God speaks directly to her from the heavens. As…

“What is the Role of Beauty in Genesis?

By Faryn Thomas, Jennifer Morse, Joseph Marques, and Robert Carhuayo           God’s divine goodness and beauty are often mentioned in the same breath. But there are other things that are somewhat surprisingly portrayed as beautiful, for example, Sodom. “The people’s settlements there were beautiful — the men without honor, hateful to their creator” (137) The Sodomites are obviously without any sort of goodness or grace, and…

Blood, Guts and Virtue: the Gory Details of the Psychomachia

Drenched in blood and covered in gore, there is no shortage of violence in Prudentius’ Psychomachia — a gruesome battle between Vices and Virtues for control of the human soul. However, despite all the blood in the poem, and the fact that the Virtues do not always clearly have the upper hand, it is striking that the Virtues only actually bleed once:  Discord had entered our ranks wearing the counterfeit…