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Sebastian Faulks's Genesis Obsession – and Related Issues

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

Joseph Fitzpatrick
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Abstract

In this article I discuss the surprising similarity between the interpretation of the story told in chapter 3 of Genesis put forward in several of his novels by Sebastian Faulks and my own interpretation set out in my book, The Fall and the Ascent of Man: How Genesis Supports Darwin. Faulks and I argue that Genesis 3 is about hominization, the achievement of human status by a proto-human couple by the acquisition of self-awareness. However, that is where the similarity ends. I consider Faulks's understanding of self-awareness to be seriously mistaken, reductive and incoherent, and I take issue with what I consider to be the consequences of this mistaken understanding.

Keywords

Genesis 3Sebastian Faulksself-awarenesshominizationfree will
Type
Original Article
Information
New Blackfriars , Volume 101 , Issue 1093 , May 2020 , pp. 331 - 340
Copyright
Copyright © 2018 Provincial Council of the English Province of the Order of Preachers

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References

1 Joseph Fitzpatrick, The Fall and the Ascent of Man: How Genesis Supports Darwin (University Press of America, 2012).

2 Sebastian Faulks, Engelby, p. 256.

3 Faulks's novels are published by Vintage in paperback one year after their original publication. All references to his books are to the Vintage editions.

4 Scripture scholars have detected different authorial styles behind different sections of Genesis. The reference to God in some stories, such as that about Adam and Eve, using the Hebrew word YHWH (which becomes ‘Yahweh’ when vowels are added) has caused scholars to attribute these sections to an authorial source or tradition known as ‘Yahwist’. The Yahwist writings are generally considered to be the oldest writings incorporated in the books of the bible.

5 Barr, James, The Garden of Eden and the Hope of Immortality (London: SCM Press, 1992) p. 63Google Scholar.

6 For a careful and thoughtful discussion of terms such as ‘soul’, ‘mind’ and ‘self’, see Kenny, Anthony, The Metaphysics of Mind (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989)Google Scholar.