Includes bibliographical references (p. 201-222) and indexes.

And there was evening : a preface -- The authors under review -- The questions we pose -- A word about language -- Acknowledgments -- And there was morning : an introduction -- The text and its journey -- Silence and irruption : first references to Genesis 1-3 -- Summary -- Philo : a coda -- At the birth of Christian reflection : Paul and the New Testament -- Paul in context -- Paul and Scripture -- Paul and the paradise narrative : sin and death -- Paul and the paradise narrative : gender and marriage -- Paul and the evangelists -- Postscript : the Pastoral Epistles -- Conclusions -- Recapitulation : the second-century apologists -- The Scriptures of the people -- Justin Martyr -- Melito of Sardis -- Theophilus of Antioch -- Irenaeus of Lyons -- Conclusions -- Senses of Scripture : the world of Origen and the origin of the world -- Tertullian -- Origen -- Conclusions -- Paradise, whatever that may mean : the Cappadocians and their Origen -- Cyril of Jerusalem -- Athanasius of Alexandria -- Enshrining Origen : the Philocalia -- Basil of Caesarea -- Gregory of Nazianzus -- Gregory of Nyssa -- Conclusions -- These are the generations : concluding observations -- Scripture and exegesis -- The Hexaemeron -- Paradise -- Allegory, type, myth, and history -- The one thing needful.