Hiding from God : theological perspectives of the Adam and Eve account

Abstract

In the beginning God created Adam and Eve in his own Image and he blessed them and gave them dominion over the earth. They lived in the Garden of Eden in the presence of God knowing no fear or evil. However, they disobeyed God and immediately they became aware of their nakedness, and went into hiding, seeking to escape from His presence out of fear and anxiety. Yet God seeks them out and refuses to give up on them. This Scripture narrative sets the context wherein I shall try to map out what today still characterizes man's relationship to God: the fear and the anxiety, the feeling of 'nakedness', as well as the hiding and the seeking. In the light of texts like Psalm 139, and through an in-depth understanding of the Genesis question 'Where are you?' I shall try also to show how God seeks constantly to draw man out of hiding into the light of His enfolding love.