Temple Church, London

The fourth Temple Studies Group Symposium will be on Saturday 6 November 2010, 10am-4pm at the Temple Church, London. Please note that Saturday access to the Temple Church is only via the Tudor Street entrance.

Confirmed speakers:

Professor Robert Hayward, Durham University; Dr Douglas Hedley, University of Cambridge; The Rev. Canon Dr Peter Doll, Norwich Cathedral; Professor John Welch, Brigham Young University, Utah; The Rev Dr Laurence Hemming, Lancaster University; Dr Margaret Barker.

Booking details:

Further details about the speakers will appear on this website. The cost for attending this Symposium is £35.00. The concession price for students with proof of status is £5.00. Booking a place in advance is essential, via templestudiesgroup@hotmail.co.uk. Payment may be made on the day in cash or by cheque payable to ‘Temple Studies Group’.

Earlier on this week in Dr. Orlov’s class we had an absolute smorgasbord of a discussion.  The subject was the text often called The Life of Adam and Eve, known from the many manuscripts extant in various languages, including Latin, Greek, Slavonic, Coptic (fragments), Georgian, and Armenian. This document is an apocryphal story of Adam and Eve which expands on the Genesis story. To see English translations of the various versions of the story, please go here.  Some versions are not complete and/or have additional narratives included, so it is helpful to compare the different versions.

It is hard to know when this document was written. It was very influential among Christians from early AD to the Middle Ages.  It has many features that appear to be very Christian, likely because it passed through the hands of so many Christian editors, but most of the traditions present are definitely Jewish (according to Orlov). There is a possibility that the bulk of the material could have originally come from Jewish sources/traditions. In Orlov’s view, it is important if this is based on Jewish traditions. He would actually be very disappointed if it were not. If it is Jewish, much of what is in Gospels can be traced back to this type of tradition–if it isn’t of Jewish origin, this tradition is based on Gospels (which Orlov said would “steal my soul”).

It is generally accepted by scholars that, of the versions we have, the earliest is the Greek version- which is sometimes referred to, interestingly (for LDS), as the Apoclypse of Moses.

Fall of Satan and His Angels and the Worship of Adam

The Life of Adam and Eve has many added details that would be of interest to latter-day saints. I would like to begin with its version of the fall of Satan and the related story about how God commanded the angels to worship Adam.  In this literature, we have a different version of the fall of Satan/rebellious angels than what we found in 1 Enoch. In this tradition, Satan falls before the fall of Adam–instead of later on in the time of Enoch.

We learn about all of this in the text under the section “Fall of Satan.” The text tells us of how Adam and Eve are feeling sorry for themselves and decide to repent and make penitence before the Lord by going and standing in the river (Adam goes to the river Jordan and Eve to the Tigris), with water up to their necks for 40 days (compare BAPTISM). While they are thus engaged, Satan comes to Eve to try to tempt her for a second time, disguising himself as a “cherub with splendid attire” or “a brilliant angel”. He persuades Eve to quit her penitence and go to Adam. When Adam sees that Eve has been deceived again, he is upset with her, but more so with Satan. Adam cannot understand this enmity and probes the Enemy for a reason:

What evil have we done to you? For it is because of your calumnies that we went out from paradise. Is it because we have caused you to be expelled that you are angry against us?
11.3 Or is it because of us that you were despoiled of your glory? Or is it, in some way, by our action that you are in such deficiency? Or are we the only creatures of God that you fight against us alone?

Satan reminds the human couple of events that transpired before, which they have no memory of (from the Armenian version):

12.1 Satan also wept loudly and said to Adam. “All my arrogance and sorrow came to pass because of you; for, because of you I went forth from my dwelling; and because of you I was alienated from the throne of the cherubs who, having spread out a shelter, used to enclose me; because of you my feet have trodden the earth.”
12.2 Adam replied and said to him,
12.3 “What are our sins against you, that you did all this to us?”
13.1 Satan replied and said, “You did nothing to me, but I came to this measure because of you, on the day on which you were created, for I went forth on that day.
13.2 When God breathed his spirit into you, you received the likeness of his image. Thereupon, Michael came and made you bow down before God. God said to Michael, ‘Behold I have made Adam in the likeness of my image.’
14.1 Then Michael summoned all the angels. and God said to them,’Come, bow down to god whom I made.’
14.2 Michael bowed first. He called me and said. ‘You too, bow down to Adam.’
14.3 I said, ‘Go away, Michael! I shall not bow down to him who is posterior to me, for I am former. Why is it proper for me to bow down to him?’
15.1 The other angels, too, who were with me, heard this, and my words seemed pleasing to them and they did not prostrate themselves to you, Adam.
16.1 Thereupon, God became angry with me and commanded to expel us from our dwelling and to cast me and my angels, who were in agreement with me, to the earth; and you were at the same time in the Garden.
16.2 When I realized that because of you I had gone forth from the dwelling of light and was in sorrows and pains,
16.3 then I prepared a trap for you, so that I might alienate you from your happiness just as I, too, had been alienated because of you.”
17.1 When Adam heard this, he said to the Lord, ‘Lord, my soul is in your hand. Make this enemy of mine distant from me, who desires to lead me astray, I who am searching for the light that I have lost.”
17.2 At that time Satan passed away from him.
17.3 Adam stood from then on in the waters of repentance, and Eve remained fallen upon the ground for three days, like one dead. Then, after three days, she arose from the earth,

Interestingly, the text informs us that the reason for Satan’s fall was that he refused to worship Adam, whom God had created. Because Adam is in the image of God, God presents him as worthy of veneration by the angels. He even refers to Adam as “god”.  Satan, feeling that he is older and thus superior to Adam, rebels and convinces many of his followers to do likewise. For this disobedience, God expels Satan and his angels from their glorious status in heaven and confines them to Earth.  Satan then decides to cause trouble for Adam, so that Adam may also lose his glorious status and become miserable like himself.

Note the following images depicting the events of this story:

Reproduction made by the Comte Auguste de Bastard between 1832 and 1869. In R. Green, Herrad of Hohenbourg:Hortus Deliciarum, pl. I.

The above image depicts the moment when God pronounces “Let there be light,” which is understood here to mean the creation of the angels. God is enthroned and giving the sign of blessing to his creation, the angels who stand on either side of the throne.

The above depicts Lucifer arrayed in distinctive garb, and holding the tokens of authority: a staff and orb. His wings extend over his attending angels, who display a scroll with the text of Ezekiel 28:12 written on it.

Hortus Deliciarum, fol. 3v., ca. 1176-1196, Hohenbourg (Alsace), from R. Green, Herrad of Hohenbourg:Hortus Deliciarum, pl. 2. Original destroyed in fire in 1870; the image here reproduces a tracing of the miniature by Christian Moritz Engelhardt (1812-1818).

Panel 1 shows Lucifer plotting rebellion against God with his conspiring angels. He no longer holds the tokens of authority that distinguished him in Folio 3r. The conspiring angels hold an unfurled scroll with the text of Isaiah 14:13–14 written on it. Panel 2 shows the struggle of the loyal angels under the leadership of the archangel Michael agains the rebel angels. Michael strikes the fallen Lucifer with a trident, while other angels similarly cast down rebel angels from the heavenly sphere to the lower realms.

And one more, just for fun:

Here all three Members of the Trinity are depicted–note that they all look identical.

For more information on these images, see this page.

As far as the fall of Satan goes, this text a tradition in which there is a pre-mortal war/rebellion in heaven and Satan and company are expelled at that early point. This idea is not presented so clearly in the Bible nor in the Enochic literature. 

Further Evidence for the Worship of Adam 

Juliana Vazquez, a fellow classmate, did some great research on the legends and traditions behind this story. With her permission, I share some additional notes from her presentation on the topic:

Three Different Forms of the Theme of Angels Adoring Adam (from Various Rabbinic writings)

1. Angels mistake Adam for God and almost exclaim “Holy!”, but God makes Adam sleep, showing that he is just human.

2. All creatures were so in awe of Adam’s God-like qualities that they want to worship him as Lord, but Adam corrects them.

3. Angels notice how much Adam resembles God and ask, “Are there two powers in the world?” 

Legends and Traditions Behind Adam as Made in the Image of God

A. Drawing on a collection of Dead Sea Scrolls fragments known as Words of the Luminaries (4Q504), some scholars argue that passages in Gen. 1 & 3 which say that Adam was made in the image of God perhaps signify that Adam shared in God’s brightness¹

1. Some Jewish renderings of these parts in Genesis have God making garments of light for Adam and Eve instead of garments of skin, arguing for the pluperfect tense so that A. & E. were wearing this luminous attire before the fall, which would make the most sense

a) Later Rabbinic writings focus on the luminosity & glory of Adam’s face rather than on his garments

B. In some of the 4th century writings of Pseudo-Macarius, the image and likeness of God in which Adam was created is closely conneced to his brightness and glory–Adam was created in “the luminous image of God’s glory”²

C. In early Rabbinic materials Adam acts as a Vice-Demiurge in creating the world

D. In an account of creation in 2 Enoch, God speaks of Adam thus: “And on the earth I assigned him to be a second angel, honored and great and glorious.  And I assigned him to be a king, to reign on the earth, and to have my wisdom.  And there was nothing comparable to him on earth, even among the creatures that exist” (30:11-12).³

E. TheTestament of Abraham identified Adam with the glorious man in heaven who sits upon a glorious throne at the gatges of pradise, looking at souls being judged and led either to heaven or hell: “And outside the two gates of that place, they saw a man seated on a golden throne.  And the appearance of that man was terrifying, like the Master’s” (11:4, rec. A)⁴

 My thanks to Juliana for her notes. There are many further items that I could, and would like to, bring out from The Life of Adam and Eve, but that will not all fit here at this time.

This page has further links that include more commentaries on these topics, including other Second Temple traditions, Patristic commentaries, and even material from the Koran on the veneration of Adam. 

Dr. Orlov had the following to say concerning the importance of this literature to Christians and the antiquity of the traditions (I am paraphrasing from my notes):

The New Testament is full of Adamic traditions–did the Christians suddenly make it all up? No, these traditions already existed when the Gospels were written. Matthew, Mark, etc., didn’t invent this material–they use many motifs that make sense only in context of Adamic traditions–(e.g.) Christ is presented as second Adam–These are traditions that far exceed the Old Testament material. The Enochic literature already has these traditions–the same set of motifs applied to Enoch. There are many mediatorial figures mentioned in Second Temple literature that pose as a Second Adam–how could this be a later development unique to Christians? It wasn’t. Son of Man is a Second Adam (Daniel 7)–Obviously this is pre-Christian–anointed Cherub is second Adam already in Ezekiel. Paul had access to these traditions in Jewish circles. This becomes standard Christian anthropology. Paul and Synoptics decided to use these traditions as vehicle for their theology–they claimed ownership. These traditions were not created from scratch by gospel writers and Paul. This all is present in Second Temple period. If there are Moses and Jacob traditions which are ancient, why not ancient Adamic traditions? A lot of these Adamic traditions are attested to in Josephus–he certainly wasn’t Christian.

I see these traditions as helpful to our understanding of what Israel believed about God, what the Jews were expecting in a Messiah, how Christians understood the figure of Jesus Christ, and the doctrines of the temple (both ancient and modern). Adam was believed to be the image of God, just as the pagans had images/idols of their gods.  Adam was the earthly representation of the Lord, made from the earth to resemble Him in every way. Before the Fall, Adam was even glorious and shining like God. Later prophets, priests, and kings were supposed to represent Adam, the first prophet, priest, and king. Individuals who entered the temple acted out a progressive return to heaven, reversing Adam’s departure. Those who returned to the presence of God were seen as regaining the luminous glory of the pre-lapsarian Adam (e.g. Moses’ glowing face after seeing YHWH on Mt. Sinai). Some believed that the figure who Ezekiel saw in his merkabah vision was Adam, the physical image of God. He is seen as the divine anthropomorphic figure sitting on the heavenly throne in many traditions. He is seen as having participated in the creation (some texts say that the Spirit hovering over the waters is the soul of Adam), and Adam is recognized as a god. Adam is seen as a mediatorial figure and is thus connected to the figure of the Messiah. In the NT, Jesus is called the second Adam. 

This is all very interesting to the LDS, because of the high status that Joseph Smith afforded Adam, calling him the archangel Michael (which I see as more of a position/title than a personal name), and placing him in the company of Jehovah in the creation of the earth, etc. Joseph Smith also connects Adam to the figure seated on the throne in Daniel 7, to whom the Son of Man will come. All these Adamic traditions may also give context to (you knew it was coming) some of Brigham Young’s ideas on Adam. Certainly, this topic deserves much more attention than what I have presented here, but hopefully these notes are useful as a starting point.

1. Andrei Orlov, “Vested with God’s Glory: Moses as the Luminous Counterpart of Adam in the Dead Sea Scrolls and in the Macarian Homilies” from “Memorial Annie Jaubert (1912-1980)” Xristianskij Vostok 4.10 (2002) 740-755.
2. Ibid.
3. J.H. Charlesworth, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. Vol. I. (New York: Doubleday, 1983), 152.
4. Ibid., 888