Date of Award

Spring 2007

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts (MFA)

Department

English

Program/Concentration

Creative Writing

Committee Director

J. Peter Meinke

Committee Member

Luisa A. Igloria

Committee Member

Sheri Reynolds

Call Number for Print

Special Collections; LD4331.E64 G53 2007

Abstract

Imagine that Eve came to earth one day to tell her side of the creation story. Perhaps she'd say that she came first, not Adam, or tell us that God is actually a matronly woman, with round hips and sagging breasts. Maybe she'd sing of sensuality, body, and female wisdom.

Unfortunately, most of us in Judeo-Christian theology have been privy to only one side—Adam'. By allowing Eve and her daughters to speak, I claim women's stories as essential to our overall understanding of the divine. In Eve 's Side, I allow women to see themselves in God and God in themselves.

My thesis is sectioned according to the days of Sophia-God's creation. The biblical translations in the section breaks are my own, derived from Elizabeth A, Johnson's feminist scholarship', and from my knowledge of Hebrew and Greek (the original languages for the Old and New Testaments, respectively).

The title, Eve's Side evokes a female-driven creation narrative, one evocative of Sophia-God—a female deity of paradox, Often, she appears as an unlikely savior, such as the mentally-challenged girl named Janet from my fifth grade gym class, the therapist in a white coat who teaches my autistic cousin to function in our day-to-day world, or my grandmother's missing arm. In this collection, I uncover Eve's side of the theological story and find my own, and other women', in the process.

Rights

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DOI

10.25777/gjxk-nq56

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