The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (45 page)

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

(Heb., ‘man’), In W. tradition, the first human being. According to the first creation account in Genesis, Adam was created in the image of God (1. 27) on the final day of creation. In Genesis 2, he is said to have been made from the dust of the earth
(Heb.,
adamah
, ‘earth’) and to have become a living
soul
after God had breathed into him (2. 7) As a result of disobedience God punished them by evicting them from the Garden of
Eden
and condemning the man to toil for his living (Genesis 2. 5–3. 24). Despite the punishment, Judaism does not understand the
fall
of Adam as having created a radical fault, as does Christianity, requiring the second Adam (i.e.,
Christ
) to deal with the fault and its effects. The ‘fall’ is a fall upwards, into new opportunities of action and knowledge.
In Islam, Adam is not only the first human being but the first
prophet
, entrusted by
All
h
with a message for humankind. All
h is said to have made a
covenant
with Adam and with his descendants (7. 172), and he is thus in a special sense the father of all humankind.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Adam, Books of
.

Apocryphal books. They include the
Book of the Life of
Adam
and
Eve
(probably composed in Palestine between 100 BCE and 200 CE), the
Cave of Treasures
(a Syriac work), the Ethiopic
Book of Adam and Eve
, and various Armenian compositions dealing with the Adam and Eve legend.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

(Heb., primordial Man). A
kabbalistic
notion, summarizing, in mystical terms, the divine symbolism of the human body. Isaac
Luria
described Adam Kadmon as the most perfect manifestation of God that the human mind can contemplate, and his followers contrasted Adam Kadmon with
Satan
, ‘adam beliyya’al’ (the evil man). Later still Adam Kadmon was identified with the
messiah
, and
Shabbetai
Zevi was regarded as an incarnation of Adam Kadmon by his disciples.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Adam's Bridge
or R
ma's Bridge
.

The chain of small islands linking S. India to N.
ri Lank
, which could be crossed on foot until the 15th cent., when storms widened the gaps. According to
R
m
ya
a
,
Hanum
n
built the link to enable
R
ma
to cross and rescue
S
t
. According to Muslim tradition,
Adam
crossed here after his expulsion from the Garden of
Eden
.