In August 2014, a conference was organized in Turku with the topic "Where are you, Adam? A New Understanding of Adam in Jewish-Christian-Muslim Context." The conference was a part of a research project that was funded by the Academy of Finland during the years 2013-2017. Almost 30 papers were presented in the conference and they, together with two other papers, are published in the volumes SRB 7 and 8. This volume, SRB 7--The Adam and Eve Story in the Hebrew Bible and in Ancient Jewish Writings Including the New Testament-- consists of the papers that are related to the interpretation of the Adam and Eve story in biblical texts, including its ancient Near Eastern background, as well as in early Jewish reception tradition during the Second Temple period including the New Testament.

The Greek Life of Adam and Eve is a brooding epic that explores experiences of disease, death, and hope through a riveting reinvention of the stories of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, and Seth. Now, for the first time, Jack Levison offers the English-speaking world its first comprehensive commentary on this saga. The introduction offers analyses, sweeping in scope and rich in detail, for which no comparable discussions exist in any language. Chapter one details literary character—narrative flow, characters, and reconstructions of literary growth. With consummate clarity, chapter two brings order to the scholarly chaos surrounding Greek manuscripts, Greek text forms, versions (Latin, Armenian, Georgian, Slavonic), and the history of research. Chapter three investigates provenance: external references to the Greek Life and evidence for either a Jewish or Christian origin; Levison demonstrates that arguments for either a Jewish or Christian provenance cannot bear the weight scholars have laid on them. The commentary is equally comprehensive, with far-reaching discussions of the Greek illuminated by the foreground of Jewish scripture and the milieu of ancient Greek and Hebrew literature. With a fresh translation and bibliography.

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The Jewish culture of the Hellenistic and early Roman periods established a basis for all monotheistic religions, but its main sources have been preserved to a great degree through Christian transmission. This Guide is devoted to problems of preservation, reception, and transformation of Jewish texts and traditions of the Second Temple period in the many Christian milieus from the ancient world to the late medieval era. It approaches this corpus not as an artificial collection of reconstructed texts--a body of hypothetical originals--but rather from the perspective of the preserved materials, examined in their religious, social, and political contexts. It also considers the other, non-Christian, channels of the survival of early Jewish materials, including Rabbinic, Gnostic, Manichaean, and Islamic. This unique project brings together scholars from many different fields in order to map the trajectories of early Jewish texts and traditions among diverse later cultures. It also provides a comprehensive and comparative introduction to this new field of study while bridging the gap between scholars of early Judaism and of medieval Christianity.

Contrary to popular opinion, the story of Adam and Eve is not confined to the book of Genesis. It has roots in prebiblical myth and continued to evolve long after the Bible was completed. Bernard F. Batto traces the development of the Adam and Eve story from its origins in Mesopotamian myth to its reformulation in Genesis and beyond--including its expansion in Jewish epigraphs such as 1 Enoch and the Life of Adam and Eve, and its place in Christian innovations such as the apostle Paul's thesis that Christ is a second Adam, and in the thinking of church fathers such as Irenaeus, who held that Christ recapitulates all humankind in himself, and Augustine, whose doctrine of original sin interprets the Adam and Eve story. Batto also examines gnostic teachings about a heavenly Adam and an earthly Adam, and surveys rabbinical attempts from the Talmudic period to find hidden meanings in the Genesis story. Islam's emphasis on Satan's role in seducing Adam and Eve is also discussed, and the book concludes with Milton's unforgettable retelling of the Adam and Eve story in Paradise Lost. Batto's goal is not only to reveal the many faces given Adam and Eve throughout history, but also to understand the divergent cultural and theological factors powering this long, evolving tradition.

This anthology surveys more than 2,000 years of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim commentary and debate on the biblical story that continues to raise questions about what it means to be a man or to be a woman.

A careful examination of the earliest biblical interpretations of Genesis considers such topics as human destiny, the Creation, sexuality, sin, and forgiveness, from the perspectives of both Judaism and Christianity.

"We need a real Adam and Eve if we are to make sense of the Bible and of life," argues C. John Collins. Examining the biblical storyline as the worldview story of the people of God, Collins shows how that story presupposes a real Adam and Eve and how the modern experience of life points to the same conclusion. Applying well-informed critical thinking to common theological and scientific questions, Collins asserts the importance of a real man at the beginning in God's plan for creation, a plan that includes "redemption" for all people since sin entered the world. Did Adam and Eve Really Exist? addresses both biblical and Jewish texts and contains extensive appendices to examine how the material in Genesis relates to similar material from Mesopotamian myths. Collins's detailed analysis of the relevant texts will instill confidence in readers that the traditional Christian story equips them better than any alternatives to engage the life that they actually encounter in the modern world.

In this examination of Zion theology and how it arises in the book of Psalms Antti Laato's starting-point is that the Hebrew Bible is the product of the exilic and postexilic times, which nonetheless contains older traditions that have played a significant role in the development of the text. Laato seeks out these older mythical traditions related to Zion using a comparative methodology and looking at Biblical traditions alongside Ugaritic texts and other ancient Near Eastern material. As such Laato provides a historical background for Zion theology which he can apply more broadly to the Psalms. In addition, Laato argues that Zion-related theology in the Psalms is closely related to two events recounted in the Hebrew Bible. First, the architectural details of the Temple of Solomon (1 Kings 6-7), which can be compared with older mythical Zion-related traditions. Second, the religious traditions related to the reigns of David and Solomon such as the Ark Narrative, which ends with David's transfer of the Ark to Jerusalem (2 Sam 6). From this Laato builds an argument for a possible setting in Jerusalem at the time of David and Solomon for the Zion theology that emerges in the Psalms.

What if reading Genesis 2–3 in its ancient Near Eastern context shows that the creation account makes no claims regarding Adam and Eve's material origins? John Walton's groundbreaking insights into this text create space for a faithful reading of Scripture along with full engagement with science, creating a new way forward in the human origins debate.