History of Paradise: The Garden of Eden in Myth and Tradition. Volume 2

Explores the conviction that paradise existed in a precise although unreachable earthly location. Delving into the writings of dozens of medieval and Renaissance thinkers, from Augustine to Dante, this title presents a study of the meaning of Original Sin and the human yearning for paradise.

The exploration of conceptualizations of the Garden of Eden begins with patristic conflations of the Genesis myth with those of the pagan golden age and Happy Isles. Throughout the medieval period Europeans believed the earthly Paradise, although closed to mortals, still existed; patristic and medieval theologians, and travel literature all demonstrate the persistence and importance of ideas of Paradise. Delumeau even connects the legend of Préster John to longing for earthly Paradise, and shows that fifteenth- and sixteenthcentury voyages to Asia and America were partly stimulated by hope of finding Eden's garden.