One of the best known 19th century women's rights activists, Stanton along with Lucretia Mott, Matilda Joslyn Gage, and Susan B. Anthony were leaders of the 19th century women's rights movement. Since so much biographical information on Stanton is available on the net, I won't repeat the information here. If you don't know her story, go to any search engine and search on "Elizabeth Cady Stanton," and you should get lots of references.

      Stanton wrote about the creation story in Genesis at least twice in her life, once at the beginning of her career in her speech to the Woman's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, NY in 1848 and nearly fifty years later in her commentary on the Bible, The Woman's Bible. To see how her ideas changed over the course of her life, I will present both of her interpretations of the creation story.

      Long considered a lost work, Stanton's speech at the Seneca Falls Convention, 1848 was rediscovered in the 1980s and printed in Karlyn Kohrs Campbell, Man Cannot Speak for Her, vol II, Key Texts of the Early Feminists, Praeger Publishers, NY, 1989. Full of the revolutionary language of 1848 as well as her every-present humor, Stanton's Seneca Falls speech inspires the listener to feminist activism. Stanton considers the creation story only long enough to prove her assertion that men, not women, are the emotional creation and women, not men, are ruled by reason. In her interpretation of the creation story, wanting to destroy Adam and Eve's happiness in the Garden of Eden, the Evil One realized that man could only be appealed to through his love (possibly meaning lust) for woman and that woman could only be appealed to through her love of intellectual prowess. So Satan beguiles Eve into eating the forbidden fruit by promising her "intellectual improvement" if she does so eat. Eve then asks Adam to eat of the forbidden fruit for love of her. Here is the story in Stanton's works.

      "Men, bless their innocence, are fond of representing themselves as beings of reason, of intellect, while women are mere creatures of the affections. There is a self-conceit that makes the possessor infinitely happy, and we would dislike to dispel the illusion if it were possible to endure it. But so far as we can observe, it is pretty much now-a-days as it was with Adam of old. No doubt you all recollect the account we have given us. A man and a woman were placed in a beautiful garden, with everything about them that could contribute to their enjoyment. Trees and shrubs, fruits and flowers, and gently murmuring streams made glad their hearts. Zephyrs freighted with delicious odors fanned their brows, and the serene stars looked down upon them with eyes of love. The Evil One saw their happiness, and it troubled him, as he set his wits to work to know how he should destroy it. He though that man could be easily conquered through his affection for the woman, but the woman would require more management, she could be reached only through her intellectual nature. So he promised her the knowledge of good and evil. He told her the sphere of her reason should be enlarged. He promised to gratify the desires she felt for intellectual improvement. So he prevailed and she did eat. Did the Evil One judge rightly in regard to man? Eve took the apple, went to Adam, and said; "Dear Adam, taste this apple. If you love me, eat?" Adam stopped not so much as to ask if the apple were sweet or sour. He knew he was doing wrong, but his love for Eve prevailed, and he did eat. Which, I ask you, was the creature of the affections?"

      With The Woman's Bible, we move into an era when women began to make truly modern interpretations of the creation story. By the 1880s, Higher Biblical Criticism, where the Bible was regarded, not as the literal, inerrant word of God, but as a book written by man about God had become well established. Using Higher Criticism, Stanton blazes a trail for future feminist Christian theologians by critiquing the Bible for its literary, scientific, and historic merits and failings. Choosing to give prominence to obscure texts which present women in a favorable light, to denounce texts which present women in an unfavorable light, and to freely reinterpret Holy Writ in a woman friendly fashion not bound by a larger theological framework, Stanton's reinterpretation of the Bible challenges patriarchy at its roots.

      First, The Woman's Bible addresses Gen 1: 26 - 28, the first, egalitarian creation story where God creates man and woman in God's own image. Stanton replaces the orthodox Christian Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit with a new trinity, Father, Mother, and Son. After acknowledging that until mankind conceptualizes the Godhead in terms of female as well as man, womankind will be considered inferior to mankind, Stanton urges the reader to pray to God our Mother as well as God our Father. Stanton emphasizes the inherent equality of male and female by reinforcing her image of the female nature of God, the simultaneous creation of man and woman, and the inherent equality of the mandate for humankind to take dominion over the world.

      "Here is the sacred historian's first account of the advent of woman; a simultaneous creation of both sexes, in the image of God. It is evident from the language that there was consultation in the Godhead, and that the masculine and feminine elements were equally represented. Scott in his commentaries says, "this consultation of the Gods is the origin of the doctrine of the trinity." But instead of three male personages, as generally represented, a Heavenly Father, Mother, and Son would seem more rational.

      The first step in the elevation of woman to her true position, as an equal factor in human progress, is the cultivation of the religious sentiment in regard to her dignity and equality, the recognition by the rising generation of an ideal. Heavenly Mother, to whom their prayers should be addressed, as well as to a Father.

      If language has any meaning, we have in these texts a plain declaration of the existence of the feminine element in the godhead, equal in power and glory with the masculine. The Heavenly Mother and Father! "God created man in his own image, male and female." Thus Scripture, as well as science and philosophy, declares the eternity and equality of sex - the philosophical fact, without which there could have been no perpetuation of creation, no growth or development in the animal, vegetable, or mineral kingdoms, no awakening nor progressing in the world of thought. The masculine and feminine elements, exactly equal and balancing each other, are as essential to the maintenance of the equilibrium of the universe as positive and negative electricity, the centripetal and centrifugal forces, the laws of attraction which bind together all we know of this planer whereon we dwell and of the system in which we revolve.

      In the great work of creation the crowning glory was realized, when man and woman were evolved on the sixth day, the masculine and feminine forces in the image of God, that must have existed eternally, in all forms of matter and mind. All three persons in the Godhead are represented in the Elohim the divine plurality taking counsel in regard to this last and highest form of life. Who were the members of this high council, and were they a duality or a trinity? Verse 27 declares the image of God male and female. how then is it possible to make woman an afterthought? We find in verses 5 - 16 the pronoun "he" used. Should it not in harmony with verse 26 be "they," a dual pronoun? We may attribute this to the same cause as the use of "his" in verse 11 instead of "it." The fruit tree yielding fruit after "his" kind instead of after "its" kind. The paucity of a language may give rise to many misunderstandings.

      The above texts plainly show the simultaneous creation of man and woman, and their equal importance in the development of the race. All those theories based on the assumption that man was prior in the creation, have no foundation in Scripture.

      As to woman's subjection, on which both the canon and the civil law delight to dwell, it is important to note that equal dominion is given to woman over every living thing, but not one word is said giving man dominion over woman.

      Here is the first title deed to this green earth giving alike to the sons and daughters of God. No lesson of woman's subjection can be drawn from the first chapters of the Old Testament." pages 14 - 16

      "As the account of the creation in the first chapter is in harmony with science, common sense, and the experience of mankind in natural laws, the inquiry naturally arises, why should there be two contradictory accounts in the same book, of the same event? It is fair to infer that the second version, which is found in some form in the different religions of all nations, is a mere allegory, symbolizing some mysterious conception of a highly imaginative editor.

      The first account dignifies woman as an important factor in the creation, equal in power and glory with man. The second makes her a mere afterthought. The world in good running order without her. The only reason for her advent being the solitude of man.

      There is something sublime in bringing order out of chaos; light out of darkness; giving each planet its place in the solar system; oceans and lands their limits; wholly inconsistent with a petty surgical operation, to find material for the mother of the race. It is on this allegory that all the enemies of women rest their battering rams, to prove her inferiority. Accepting the view that man was prior in the creation, some Scriptural writers say that as the woman was of the man, therefore, her position should be one of subjection. Grant it, then as the historical fact is reversed in our day, and the man is now of the woman, shall his place be one of subjection?

      The equal position declared in the first account must prove more satisfactory to both sexes; created alike in the image of God - The Heavenly Mother and Father.

      Thus, the Old Testament, "in the beginning," proclaims the simultaneous creation of man and woman, the eternity and equality of sex; and the New Testament echoes back through the centuries the individual sovereignty of woman growing out of this natural fact. Paul, in speaking of equality as the very soul and essence of Christianity, said, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." With this recognition of the feminine element in the Godhead in the Old Testament, and this declaration of the equality of the sexes in the New, we may well wonder at the contemptible status woman occupies in the Christian church of to-day.

      All the commentators and publicists writing on woman's position, go through an immense amount of fine-spun metaphysical speculations, to prove her subordination in harmony with the Creator's original design.

      It is evident that some wily writer, seeing the perfect equality of man and woman in the first chapter, felt it important for the dignity and dominion of man to effect woman's subordination in some way. To do this a spirit of evil must be introduced, which at once proved itself stronger than the spirit of good, and man's supremacy was based on the downfall of all that had just been pronounced very good. This spirit of evil evidently existed before the supposed fall of man, hence woman was not the origin of sin as so often asserted." page 20 - 21

      "Adam Clarke, in his commentaries, asks the question, "is this an allegory?" He finds it beset with so many difficulties as an historical fact, that he inclines at first to regard it as a fable, a mere symbol, of some hidden truth. His mind seems more troubled about the serpent than any other personage in the drama. As snakes cannot walk upright, and have never been known to speak, he thinks this beguiling creature must have been an ourang-outang, or some species of ape. However, after expressing all his doubts, he rests in the assumption that it must be taken literally, and that with higher knowledge of the possibilities of all living things, many seeming improbabilities will be fully realized.

      A learned professor in Yale College, before a large class of students, expressed serious doubts as to the forbidden fruit being an apple, as none grew in that latitude. He said it must have been a quince. If the serpent and the apple are to be withdrawn thus recklessly from the tableaus, it is feared that with advancing civilization the whole drama may fall into discredit. Scientists tells us that "the missing link" between the ape and man, has recently been discovered, so that we can now trace back an unbroken line of ancestors to the dawn of creation.

      As out of this allegory grows the doctrines of original sin, the fall of man, and woman the author of all our woes, and the curses on the serpent, the woman, and the man; the Darwinian theory of the gradual growth of the race from a lower to a higher type of animal life, is more hopeful and encouraging. However, as our chief interest is in woman's part in the drama, we are equally pleased with her attitude, whether as a myth in an allegory, or as the heroine of an historical occurrence.

      In this prolonged interview, the unprejudiced reader must be impressed with the courage, the dignity, and the lofty ambition of the woman. The tempter evidently had a profound knowledge of human nature, and saw at a glance the high character of the person he met by chance in his walks in the garden. He did not try to tempt her from the path of duty by brilliant jewels, rich dresses, worldly luxuries or pleasures, but with the promise of knowledge, with the wisdom of the Gods. Like Socrates or Plato, his powers of conversation and asking puzzling questions, were no doubt marvelous, and he roused in the woman that intense thirst for knowledge, that the simple pleasures of picking flowers and talking with Adam did not satisfy. Compared with Adam she appears to great advantage through the entire drama.

      The curse pronounced on woman is inserted in an unfriendly spirit to justify her degradation and subjection to man. With obedience to the laws of health, diet, dress, and exercise, the period of maternity should be one of added vigor in both body and mind, a perfectly natural operation should not be attended with suffering. By the observance of physical and psychical laws the supposed curse can be easily transformed into a blessing. Some churchmen speak of maternity as a disability, and then chant the Magnificat in all their cathedrals around the globe. Through all life's shifting scenes, the mother of the race has been the greatest factor in civilization.

      We hear the opinion often expressed, that woman always has, and always will be in subjection. Neither assertion is true. She enjoyed unlimited individual freedom for many centuries, and the events of the present day all point to her speedy emancipation. Scientists now give 85,000 years for the growth of the race. They assign 60,000 to savagism, 20,000 to barbarism, and 5,000 to civilization. Recent historians tell us that for centuries woman reigned supreme. That period was called the Matriarchate. Then man seized the reins of government, and we are now under the Patiarchate. But we see on all sides new forces gathering, and woman is already abreast with man in the art, science, literature, and government. The next dynasty, in which both will reign as equals, will be the Amphiarchate, which is close at hand.

      Psychologists tell us of a sixth sense now in process of development, by which we can read each other's mind and communicate without speech. The Tempter might have had that sense, as he evidently read the minds of both the creature and the Creator, if we are to take this account as literally true, as Adam Clarke advises." pages 23 - 26

      Fifth, Stanton's final reference to Eve and the creation story takes place in her discussion of Genesis 21. Regarding that text, Stanton writes, "The great event of Isaac's birth having taken place, Sarah is represented through several chapters as laughing, even in the presence of angels, not only in the anticipation of motherhood, but in its realization. She evidently forgot that maternity was intended as a curse on all Eve's daughters, for the sin of the first woman, and all merry-making on such occasions was unpardonable."

      As a final note, Ilana Pardes, Countertraditions in the Bible: A Feminist Approach [Cambridge, Mass.; Harvard University Press, 1992] discusses Stanton's writing on Christianity on pages 13-17. She quotes Stanton commenting on her own commentary, The Woman's Bible, in a letter to The Critic. Stanton notes that her book

      "comes to the ordinary reader like a real benediction. It tells her that the good Lord did not write the Book; that the garden scene is a fable: that she is in no way responsible for the laws of the universe. The Christian scholars and scientists will not tell her this, for they see she is the key to the situation. Take the snake, the fruit tree and the woman from the tableau, and we have no fall, no frowning Judge, no Inferno, no everlasting punishment - hence no need of a Savior. Thus the bottom falls out of the whole Christian theology. Here is the reason why in all the Biblical researches and higher criticisms, the scholars never touch the position of woman." page 14

      Karlyn Kohrs Campbell, Man Cannot Speak for Her, vol II, Key Texts of the Early Feminists, Praeger Publishers, NY, 1989

      Ilana Pardes, Countertraditions in the Bible: A Feminist Approach [Cambridge, Mass.; Harvard University Press, 1992]

      Elizabeth Cady Stanton (ed.), The Woman's Bible, 1895

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