The title of Terrinae Watson’s presentation was “Eve and the Desire for Knowledge”. She began her presentation by instructing the audience to close their eyes. She proceeded to read a different interpretation of the story of Eve.
A popular phrase “To err is human” is one of the focal points of her presentation. She mentions that there are two creation stories. What the knowledge of good and evil could have been is the biggest question that Terrinae poses. She proposes that Eve may have not been responsible for the Fall. Eve’s purpose was to gain the knowledge of good and evill, and the serpent was her guide in the partaking of the knowledge. Her sharing the knowledge with Adam without being told to do so was where disobedience comes into play.
The serpent is the first being to speak to her, and it speaks with honesty. The serpent is said to be tempting her, but there is little persuasion according to Terrinae. The serpent is already in possession of this knowledge and is speaking from experience. Terrinae also brings up the point of the serpent being a feminine figure as opposed to satanic.
Terrinae’s interpretation of Eve is that the woman was not naive or timid. Eve was intrigued by the fact that there was curiosity and truth in the serpent’s words. After receiving, she shared with Adam.
Was the Knowledge sexual? This is one of Terrinae’s supporting questions. She argues the queer relationship of the serpent (Lilith) and Eve. Queer theology argues a queer relationship between Adam and God, while Gnostic/ Kabbalist tradition argues union between the androgynous couples.
Terrinae states that after realizing female nature of the serpent, one’s eyes are opened to other possibilities. The spirit of God as a feminine figure (ability to create life, for example) is one of many possibilities.
She ends her presentation with these three points, supporting the claim Eve’s gain of knowledge elevated her to a status above men and more like God:
- woman finding self and elevating intelligence
- becoming one with another being
- bringing another being into the world, ultimately becoming like God
She follows this up by saying that the purpose of the Bible is to be interpreted and that she pursued this topic out of curiosity as to what exactly gave Eve such a bad reputation.
SpARC 