The Tree of Knowledge

The story of Creation in Genesis contains the item that represents mankind as having been condemned to eternal death as the consequence of our first parents' disobedience to God's command not to eat of the fruit of the tree of life and knowledge which is in the midst of the Garden of Eden. Here we are confronted with another of those features of the great allegorical drama of creation that has more than baffled the best efforts of theologians and scholars for two millennia. It provides another instance and example of the pitiful manner in which stupid attempt to interpret the Bible literally and factually has made of scholarship and Bible exegesis a laughing-stock and a mockery of sense and sanity for lo! these many centuries of Christian religionism. The story of how allegedly learned savants in the field of religious study have been misled and duped by the subterfuges of ancient methodology in the writing of sacred Scripture is one of the most astounding, indeed well-nigh incredible, narratives that, unfortunately, must now be told. - Alvin Boyd Kuhn