January 16th, 2026

We continued the discussion on Genesis today but mostly with lecture. First we began with comparing the punishments given to Adam and Eve in chapter 3. The punishments are very gendered: manual labour vs reproductive labour. They also differ in duration where Adam has to till the earth and whatever all the time while Eve only has to suffer, greatly, only during childbirth. The rationale God gives is different as well when punishing Adam and Eve. Eve is condemned to being submissive to her husband, is this mandate from God part of his divine plan or is it a consequence of disobedience?

Remember how last time I mentioned that there were three readings to Genesis? We only got into the first two put this time we learned the third. This one is the Two-Women reading. It posits that there was two separate women, rather than the two references two women in genesis both being Eve. The Rabbinic interpretation of the woman referenced in chapter one is actually Lilith. She is sometimes seen as a feminist figure due to her refusal to being subservient to God and Ada, thus leaving the Garden herself. Thus Eve is the second woman made and she was created to be subordinate, she was the second try.

The traditional reading is that Lilith is the Cautionary tale about sexual equality and female renegade-ness. She is seen as demonic and a dangerous rebel, often portrayed as a Satanic snake in art. She apparently targets women in childbirth and children.

The feminist reading is that Lilith is the empowered woman that refused to be subjugated after equal creation and walked away from paradise to be independent. What good is paradise if you are not free?

This led into the part of the lecture about Renaissance Humanism, why? Because of the thinker Isotta Nogarola, who re-read Genesis and argued that Eve was not the one who condemned humanity to suffer. We were given background knowledge on renaissance humanism but I will not get into it as I believe I have talked about it before many semesters ago, regardless I am sure most of you are familiar with it. The main point of today’s lecture is about the Woman Quarrel: what is a woman’s nature and what is her role in society? This is the question that was being asked in this era.

The “Bad Eve” interpretation was reigning supreme: women were seen as being driven by bodily desires, they were more sensual and promiscuous. Eve is a deceptive temptress! Women must stay in the private sphere because of this, lest they lead society astray.

Isotta Nogarola was born into a large, wealthy and highly educated family. Although her mother was illiterate, she encouraged her daughters to be the opposite. As a teenager Nogarola attempted to engage with male authors in humanist debates (secular issues) but was met with great contempt. Instead of attacking her arguments, they attacked her character. They claimed she was committing incest, was a lesbian, and was promiscuous. Because a woman who engaged in public discourse was a loose woman. Women’s minds are reduced to their bodies. Is this logic not ass-backwards? Men claim they are all knowing and logical while women lead with their bodies, but when they discuss women all these men think about are the body and sexual urges.

Anyway, these accusations hurt teenage Nogarola greatly, her virtue was being questioned and attacked which was a big deal back then. She even decided to not get married due to her sister having to quit writing after getting married. Even when Nogarola was complimented a lot of the time it was backhanded: the scholar Lauro Quirini praised her for overcoming her feminine nature, basically she was becoming a man.

Because of the backlash she got for engaging in secular discussions, Nogarola decided to just stick to reading the bible and interpreting it as that was more acceptable to do, especially if it was about Genesis. The essay we had to read for class was the epistolary called On the Equal or Unequal Sin of Eve and Adam. This was between Nogarola and Ludovico Foscarini, who both drew on the scripture itself and classical authorities to re-interpret what the bible was saying.

Nogarola did not challenge scripture, she just asked new questions. She turned the tables on anti-Eve readings. If Eve was by nature less intelligent and less “constant” (unwavering, principled, strong, etc.) then she is less guilty of sin than Adam. She uses irony, accepting female inferiority to defend Eve. Whether she actually agrees with women being seen as less than men is unknown. Regardless, that is what she does and she displays great knowledge in the text as well as what other thinkers have said so she is treated as an equal by Foscarini.