Brennan McPherson

Venture with Adam and Eve in the Garden, as Brennan S. McPherson explores their story in Eden.

Framed as Adam sharing his story with Enoch, Eden delves into the experience of the beginning of the world. Emotion and imagination blend with the biblical narrative of the fall of humanity, and through it all, the story pays particular to Adam’s failure. It offers a fresh perspective for the classic origin story.

Once again, I found myself intrigued by McPherson’s interpretation, but also disconnected—for whatever reason. Since I had the same problem with Babel, that feeling must be rooted in the style of writing… I guess it does not work for me. Still, other readers of biblical fiction have enjoyed the storytelling of this creation retelling, so it could be worth you checking out.

I received a complimentary copy of this book and the opportunity to provide an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review, and all the opinions I have expressed are my own.… (més)

Eden is a fictional retelling of the Bible story of the Garden of Eden, the creation of man, the addition of his helpmate and their fall from grace. Mr. McPherson tells his reader from the start that his tale is not all sweetness and light. He presents Adam and Eve in the Garden as students as Father teaches them all they need to know. There is only only one rule they need to remember – do not eat from one tree. But as we all know, from the tree they eat. This action finds Adam and Eve evicted from Eden and sent out into a world where they will have to fend for themselves. It does not prove easy.

As they find a place to settle down and use the skills they were taught in Eden we soon find that Adam and Eve had a relationship much like any; it was not all sunshine and roses. Adam could be a little obtuse and Eve was less than pleasant at times. Soon those darling boys, Cain and Able arrive and their two divergent personalities lead to parenting challenges.

One thing remains stable though, Adam’s annual visit to visit God back at the entrance to Eden. Each year hoping to find himself back in God’s grace but each year returning to try again. The story is told to the prophet Enoch in Adam’s voice.

Eden is a story of relationships; man and woman, parent and child, disciple and God. Each seperate and all together as they they are all interwoven in this origin tale. It brings Adam and Eve to very real, very human life with all of the foibles that humans are known for. Eden does bring alive the somewhat stilted Biblical version of the expulsion story. I did go back and reread it and again. Mr. McPherson makes the tale more real.

This was a really interesting book and the story was a good one. Even for a skeptic like me.… (més)

Over the past couple of years, Biblical fiction has become one of my favorite genres—but only when it’s done well. And that is where it becomes thorny, and where it sinks or swims. The key to writing Biblical fiction is twofold: illuminating the Word without adding anything to it or contradicting it, and causing readers to think more about the Bible and to want to study it more deeply. This is especially important when writing about Biblical accounts themselves, as opposed to fictional characters who lived during Biblical times. Suffice it to say, succeeding is very difficult. In spite of this, however, Brennan McPherson excels at crafting Biblical novels that stem from the original Bible stories and that take readers on thought-provoking journeys into the heart of God’s Word.

“Eden,” Brennan McPherson’s latest Biblical fiction novel, approaches the story of the first couple in a unique manner. Told from Adam’s point of view, McPherson employs the mise-en-abyme technique. Thus, instead of a detached third-person account, the story is related by Adam himself to Enoch. This infuses untold emotion and empathy into what is for many a very familiar story. Adam relates, “I was Adam. Man fully formed. Reflection of perfection,” a description that stood out to me because it reminds me that we are all created in God’s image. In the novel, God appears in human form in the Garden, and this is one aspect that I’m not entirely comfortable with; I’m not sure if I can accurately articulate what bothers me about it, but I have issues with how God’s character is portrayed in these passages. I think that what I struggle with is not so much how God appears, because of course He later in history comes to earth as a man to ultimately die for our sins, but some of His actions. Adam notes His reticence as the event of the fall approaches, and how at various times He has expressions of regret or unhappiness on His face. While I agree that He would of course have known that the fall was going to happen, I personally do not think that He would have allowed this foreknowledge to taint the time He spent with Adam and Eve.

While reading, many things caused me to stop and ponder, which is, again, a mark of well-written Biblical fiction. Adam observes in hindsight that God taught him and Eve everything they would need to know in order to survive after being cast out of Eden. There are also some beautiful descriptions of life with God in Eden before the fall, which in my mind prefigure the face-to-face relationship that we will have one day in God’s Kingdom. On the other hand, from the time of her creation, there seems to be tension between Eve and Adam, and this intensifies after they leave Eden. Adam describes fallen human nature by relating that “Everyone strives to blame another for sin, but sin is inside us. Sin is the purposeful twisting of our hearts to anything other than our original Father.” Indeed, this brought up another point; in this novel, Adam is hated and heavily criticized in the story for “breaking the world.” For some reason, this surprised me; I never considered that he would be treated almost as an outcast among his own family, because today I think that most of us acknowledge the fact that we all sin and fall short of God’s glory, but to bear the blame for all of humanity’s fallen-ness would be tortuous. It is another example of God’s great love for us, that Jesus took our blame, our sin upon Himself.

McPherson has added some commentary at the end of the book; it takes readers through Genesis 1-4, upon which “Eden” is based, and explains some of the choices that the author made in writing this story. The note about Cain and Abel is one that I also found interesting, but I will leave that to readers to discover on their own. I will say that I am intrigued by the author’s view that some level of pain may have existed in Eden based on the phrasing of some of the Biblical text. While much of the story itself is somber and forlorn, there is a thread of hope, just as God has placed in the very first chapters of the Bible. Throughout the heartaches and strife that comprise his life after Eden, Adam eventually comes to a peaceful conclusion: “He realized then that the Father’s will had not been broken by his evil, yet was still coming to be.” Because God had a plan from the very beginning and nothing ever takes Him by surprise, we can always rest confidently in Him, knowing that He holds all our yesterdays, todays, and tomorrows, and that when we accept Jesus as our Savior, we have the promise of an eternity with Him, free of pain and suffering, to look forward to, a glorious promise that shines brightly in the darkness.

I received a complimentary copy of this book through Celebrate Lit and was not required to post a favorable review. All opinions are my own.… (més)

He will never leave us

What a fascinating book! The author has taken the well known story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and brought it alive. The relationship shown with the Father warmed my heart and I loved how they learned many lessons directly from the Master. Years later, Enoch is the only other man alive to have heard the voice of Adam’s father, Almighty Creator God. As scribe, he needs Adam to tell him how it all began so that it may be passed down to future generations and what a story it is!

From the beauty of the Garden of Eden to the hard ground of life, the choices made affect everything around them. There are many dichotomies or opposites in this accounting. Good and evil, mercy and violence, holiness and sin all are seen in the lives of that first family, in their relationships with each other and the Father. Some might struggle with the idea of taking a Bible story and bringing it down to our level, so to speak. However, I found that it brought the story to life and made it much more understandable. The Father will never leave or forsake us - we can hold on to that promise.

I received an ARC through CelebrateLit. The impressions and comments are my own, and have in no way been solicited.… (més)