Location of Eden

[Roy]

I recently came across some clues as to the probable location of the Garden of Eden.

Genesis 2:10 A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin[d] and onyx are also there.) 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush.[e] 14 The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Ashur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

Underlining mine.

I suppose that individuals that take literally the claim that the Garden of Eden was located on the American continent have already overcome significant hurdles to that belief.

This is just another one that makes me scratch my head. I suppose making bold claims comes with the territory of being a prophet and setting up a new religion.

[Arrakeen]

As strange as it is, it doesn’t seem to be unique to our church either.

I was curious so I looked this up, and it seems several places have been claimed to be the location of the Garden of Eden including Bedford, England and Bristol, Florida.

I guess some people like to feel special about having the Garden of Eden in their backyard.

[Old-Timer]

I see the story as mythological and am fine with the concept of multiple Edens, especially since Adam can be interpreted as “man” and Eve as “mother” or “beginning”. In that light, any place that marks the beginning of something special that begins a legacy can be an Eden.

[latterdaytemplar]

It is possible that the Tigris and the Euphrates known today were named after the ones listed in Genesis.

On the other hand, the account of the Creation in Genesis reflects a flat-earth position, which most of us know is incorrect. Moses may well have written that account insofar as his understanding of it reached, and it may have been reliant on incorrect views of other Hebrews from whom he learned after his time as Egyptian royalty.

Given that Moses's understanding of world geography as reflected in the Creation account contradicts what we know now, I think that this also leaves room for his understanding of today's Tigris and Euphrates rivers correlating with Eden to be incorrect as well.

[Roy]

Thanks for chiming in and adding the link about the flat earth theory. Fascinating! This year's study of the old testament is providing new opportunities for my wife and I to re-examine what we thought we knew about these scriptures vs. what they actually say vs. how some other groups may read them.

[Watcher]

Anciently there was a group of people that went in search of Eden. Their understanding was that it was a land most in the "East". They traveled as far as they could then ran into a large body of water. According to tradition they prayed and not long after a civilization of boat builders and navigators of water arrived at their location. They merged and set out upon the waters and soon came to a group of islands that they thought was the land most eastward. They settled the islands and called it the “Land of the rising sun”.

While working in Japan, I met an LDS fellow that believed that Japan was settled by a people with Book of Mormon connections. That his ancient ancestors met a group associated with Hagar of the BofM that led them to the islands that is now known as Japan.

As for myself – I am of the opinion that the Garden of Eden was not on earth and that the reference to the garden epoch is symbolic – similar to the parables of Christ. It is interesting to note that the Ancient Greeks had a definite threshold defined between “prehistoric” and “historic”. They believe this threshold was the historian Homer and his works. Everything written before the works of Homer were “Prehistoric” and everything following Homer belongs to the historic age. Most of our modern age think only in terms of written language which changes per location and civilization.

[Old-Timer]

Just for clarity, I see the Eden story as symbolic/allegorical, not literal - so I see Earth, generally, as Eden, within the original construction, and the pre-existence as Eden, within Mormon theology.

I am fairly sure there is a post and thread in our archives about how we view the Eden narrative, so feel free to find it and comment - if anyone is interested in adding to that discussion and bringing it back to the active list.