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Looming Capital Contests in Paradise: No Land of Cockaigne

In: The Economics of Paradise

Author

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  • Sigmund A. Wagner-Tsukamoto

Abstract

Why did Adam and Eve challenge God through the theft, and in a sense revolt against God, if they were living in a supposed state of perfection in paradise? Classical definitions are exemplary: PARADISE. The word ‘paradise’ is probably of Persian origin. It occurs but three times in the Old Testament, namely, in Cant. iv. 13, Eccl. ii. 5, and Neh. ii. 8. In the first of these passages it means ‘garden’; in the second and third, ‘park’. In the apocalypses and in the Talmud the word is used of the Garden of Eden and its heavenly prototype (comp. references in Weber’s ‘Jüdische Theologie’, 2nd edn, 1897, pp. 344 et seq.) From this usage it came to denote, as in the New Testament, the abode of the blessed. (The Jewish Encyclopedia 1901–06, emphasis added) And: GARDEN OF EDEN. Name given to the ‘earthly paradise’ occupied by Adam and Eve before their fall through sin. (The Jewish Encyclopedia 1901–06) Why, then, did Adam and Eve turn towards anarchy, which collapsed the existing social order? There are intuitive, possibly widespread, perceptions that Adam and Eve lived in an ideal state of nature prior to their theft, that they lived in a Land of Cockaigne, with an unconstrained abundance of all types of goods and ‘capital’.

Suggested Citation

  • Sigmund A. Wagner-Tsukamoto, 2015. "Looming Capital Contests in Paradise: No Land of Cockaigne," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: The Economics of Paradise, chapter 2, pages 43-69, Palgrave Macmillan.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palchp:978-1-137-28770-0_4
    DOI: 10.1057/9781137287700_4
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