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Objection 1: It would seem that paradise is not a corporeal place.
For Bede [Strabus, Gloss on Gn. 2:8] says that "paradise
reaches to the lunar circle." But no earthly place answers that
description, both because it is contrary to the nature of the earth to
be raised up so high, and because beneath the moon is the region of
fire, which would consume the earth. Therefore paradise is not a
corporeal place.
Objection 2: Further, Scripture mentions four rivers as rising in
paradise (Gn. 2:10). But the rivers there mentioned have
visible sources elsewhere, as is clear from the Philosopher
(Meteor. i). Therefore paradise is not a corporeal place.
Objection 3: Further, although men have explored the entire
habitable world, yet none have made mention of the place of paradise.
Therefore apparently it is not a corporeal place.
Objection 4: Further, the tree of life is described as growing in
paradise. But the tree of life is a spiritual thing, for it is
written of Wisdom that "She is a tree of life to them that lay hold
on her" (Prov. 3:18). Therefore paradise also is not a
corporeal, but a spiritual place.
Objection 5: Further, if paradise be a corporeal place, the trees
also of paradise must be corporeal. But it seems they were not; for
corporeal trees were produced on the third day, while the planting of
the trees of paradise is recorded after the work of the six days.
Therefore paradise was not a corporeal place.
On the contrary, Augustine says (Gen. ad lit. viii, 1):
"Three general opinions prevail about paradise. Some understand a
place merely corporeal; others a place entirely spiritual; while
others, whose opinion, I confess, hold that paradise was both
corporeal and spiritual."
I answer that, As Augustine says (De Civ. Dei xiii, 21):
"Nothing prevents us from holding, within proper limits, a spiritual
paradise; so long as we believe in the truth of the events narrated as
having there occurred." For whatever Scripture tells us about
paradise is set down as matter of history; and wherever Scripture
makes use of this method, we must hold to the historical truth of the
narrative as a foundation of whatever spiritual explanation we may
offer. And so paradise, as Isidore says (Etym. xiv, 3), "is
a place situated in the east, its name being the Greek for garden."
It was fitting that it should be in the east; for it is to be believed
that it was situated in the most excellent part of the earth. Now the
east is the right hand on the heavens, as the Philosopher explains
(De Coel. ii, 2); and the right hand is nobler than the left:
hence it was fitting that God should place the earthly paradise in the
east.
Reply to Objection 1: Bede's assertion is untrue, if taken in its
obvious sense. It may, however, be explained to mean that paradise
reaches to the moon, not literally, but figuratively; because, as
Isidore says (Etym. xiv, 3), the atmosphere there is "a
continually even temperature"; and in this respect it is like the
heavenly bodies, which are devoid of opposing elements. Mention,
however, is made of the moon rather than of other bodies, because, of
all the heavenly bodies, the moon is nearest to us, and is,
moreover, the most akin to the earth; hence it is observed to be
overshadowed by clouds so as to be almost obscured. Others say that
paradise reached to the moon---that is, to the middle space of the
air, where rain, and wind, and the like arise; because the moon is
said to have influence on such changes. But in this sense it would not
be a fit place for human dwelling, through being uneven in
temperature, and not attuned to the human temperament, as is the lower
atmosphere in the neighborhood of the earth.
Reply to Objection 2: Augustine says (Gen. ad lit. viii,
7): "It is probable that man has no idea where paradise was, and
that the rivers, whose sources are said to be known, flowed for some
distance underground, and then sprang up elsewhere. For who is not
aware that such is the case with some other streams?"
Reply to Objection 3: The situation of paradise is shut off from
the habitable world by mountains, or seas, or some torrid region,
which cannot be crossed; and so people who have written about
topography make no mention of it.
Reply to Objection 4: The tree of life is a material tree, and so
called because its fruit was endowed with a life-preserving power as
above stated (Question 97, Article 4). Yet it had a spiritual
signification; as the rock in the desert was of a material nature, and
yet signified Christ. In like manner the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil was a material tree, so called in view of future events;
because, after eating of it, man was to learn, by experience of the
consequent punishment, the difference between the good of obedience and
the evil of rebellion. It may also be said to signify spiritually the
free-will as some say.
Reply to Objection 5: According to Augustine (Gen. ad lit. v,
5, viii, 3), the plants were not actually produced on the third
day, but in their seminal virtues; whereas, after the work of the six
days, the plants, both of paradise and others, were actually
produced. According to other holy writers, we ought to say that all
the plants were actually produced on the third day, including the trees
of paradise; and what is said of the trees of paradise being planted
after the work of the six days is to be understood, they say, by way
of recapitulation. Whence our text reads: "The Lord God had
planted a paradise of pleasure from the beginning" (Gn. 2:8).
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