The Eden Story: A History of Paradise, From its Demise to its New Rise

by Willem J. Ouweneel

Publisher:

Paideia Press

, 2020

Overview

This book wishes to tell the story of Eden, from the beginning--even before Genesis 2!--until the very end of the new heavens and the new earth. It will be a sad story with a happy ending. It is a drama, but not a tragedy, because tragedies always end in a tragical way. It is not a comedy, either, because en route there will be little reason to laugh, except in this sense:

Heaven-throned God breaks out laughing. At first he’s amused at their [i.e., the God-deniers’ and Messiah-defiers’] presumption; then he gets good and angry. Furiously, he shuts them up: “Don’t you know there’s a King in Zion? A coronation banquet is spread for him on the holy summit” (Ps. 2:4-6 MSG).

To be sure, this “banquet” is not literally in the original text--but what a beautiful way of describing the ultimate Eden! “Eat!” said the serpent in the first earthly Eden to Eve, and Eve said it to Adam (Gen. 3:1-6). “Take, eat!” said Jesus the last night of his earthly life (Matt. 26:26). “Come, buy and eat!” the Lord will say in the end, followed by this Edenic promise:

For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off (Isa. 55:1, 12-13 ESV).

- From the author’s Foreword

Key Features

• Tells the story of Eden, from the beginning--even before Genesis 2!
• Tells the story until the very end of the new heavens and the new earth.
• Presents it as a sad story with a happy ending.

Contents

• Chapter 1 From Garden to Garden
• Chapter 2 The First Three Edens
• Chapter 3 The Tabernacle
• Chapter 4 The Promised Land
• Chapter 5 The Garden of Joseph
• Chapter 6 Church Life
• Chapter 7 The Hereafter
• Chapter 8 The Ultimate Eden

Product Details

• Title: The Eden Story: A History of Paradise, From Its Demise to Its New Rise
• Author: Willem J. Ouweneel
• Publisher: Paideia Press
• Print Publication Date: 2020
• Pages: 217
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• ISBNs: 9780888152527, 0888152523
• Resource ID: LLS:DNSTRYHSTTSNWRS
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-10-02T19:04:17Z

About Willem J. Ouweneel

Willem J. Ouweneel is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and Systematic Theology at the Evangelical Theological Faculty, Leuven, Belgium. He holds PhD degrees in Biology (University of Utrecht, 1970), Philosophy (Free University in Amsterdam, 1986) and Theology (University of the Orange Free State in Bloemfontein, 1993). A well-known evangelical speaker and debater, Dr. Ouweneel’s many books include The World is Christ’s: A Critique of Two Kingdoms Theology and The Heidelberg Diary: Daily Devotions on the Heidelberg Catechism. He resides in the Netherlands.