Criação: o presente iluminado pelas origens

In exegesis and in theology, in the catechism and pastoral mission, the traditional interpretation of Gn 2,4b-3,24 parts from certain presuppositions: that this narrative speaks of Adam and Eve, of an original sin or guilty act committed by them, of a promise of salvation, of the devil in the form of a serpent, of paradise lost… And explicitly links sin to creation. Now, here and in another work quoted, using the exegetic methods recommended by the ecclesial magisterium, reading it within its own context, as offered by the Mesopotamian literatures discovered in archaeological excavations that took place there in the 19th century, a radically new interpretation is proposed. Through the discovery that this is an origin myth and functions like other origin myths, an intense exegesis of the text leads to the conclusion that it aims to give ultimate meaning to the beautiful and painful present – good and evil – of human life but is completely dissociated from the idea of sin.