If you’re struggling to verify the identities of multiple interactive ancestors – especially ancestors who went by the same name – here’s one low-tech, but highly effective way to do it:
This document, from our work at hisxmark.com, compares five men who went by the same name in two South Carolina counties in the late 1700s. It uses color coding to track the appearances of related family names throughout the period, enabling easy recognition of patterns.
If you’d like to use the same process, you’ll need more patience than book smarts. You can use Word – a program that almost everyone can access. Simply paraphrase all known records as a chronological list and include all names mentioned. Then assign a unique background color to individual or family names. As you assign the colors, you should start to see patterns in the data. Your ancestors should start to present themselves to you as unique individuals.
We just completed a family history investigation in Shropshire, England, and Powys, Wales, where we sought answers to difficult questions about ancestors’ emigration to America in the 1600s. Since documentation is limited for that time period, the family historian has to use some real creativity to piece together answers.
As we wrote in part 2 of this series, understanding the historical context of our ancestors’ lives is critically important to ferreting out new generational links and lateral inferences. Understanding the religious context of our ancestors’ lives is probably one of the most important aspects of this work. Religious trends – especially before the 19th century – had an enormous impact on Western Europeans, often guiding even their most pragmatic decisions.
In the case of our subject, Dr. Edward Maddox (d. 1694), religion was the paramount issue of his time and place. As a Protestant in rural England, he was directly affected by the Protestant Reformation, the English Civil War, and the Restoration – all of which were premised on a violent debate of the legitimacy of certain religious beliefs. Understanding his allegiances during those events could shed light on his family’s motivations to leave England – and would be interesting in itself.
Edward Maddox emigrated from England to the American Colonies sometime between 1656 and 1668. He was among the very first Englishmen to live in the area. Court records document Edward’s rough frontier medicine, land speculation, wolf hunts and conflict with the Native Americans.
In his early adulthood in England, Edward would have endured the 1642-1651 English Civil War, during which 6 percent – or 300,000 – of his countrymen died. It was a fight between “roundheads” and “cavaliers” – parliamentarians and royalists. The parliamentarians won in 1651. It was England’s experiment with republicanism, and for a decade it functioned roughly as intended, with Oliver Cromwell’s cronies keeping order over a rowdy parliament until 1659.
But beneath Cromwell’s anti-monarchism there was a darker religious fervor… against Catholics. The English establishment could not stand the implications of a Catholic king – the economic upheaval it would risk – and rumors of English kings’ Papal alliances were truly incendiary.
Everything in Edward’s records indicates he was a fervent anti-Catholic. We see him in Stafford County, Virginia, in the late 1680s befriending the notorious Parson Waugh, whose claim to infamy was his 1681 incitement of an anti-Catholic riot in Virginia. Waugh falsely claimed that Maryland Catholics were crossing the Potomac River with Seneca Indians to murder Virginians in their sleep. Waugh and Edward Maddox’s other friend George Mason (grandfather of the Founding Father) would be punished for the subterfuge.
But where Edward’s Colonial records reveal his strong anti-Catholic sentiments, the records do not reveal any strong favor for the king. In England, he was married by a Parliamentarian magistrate instead of a parish priest. His departure from England around 1660 – as the parliamentarians lost power and King Charles II restored the monarchy – could mean fear of royalist retribution. If Edward left England at the time of Charles’ crowning in 1660, it could mean he was fleeing the royalists’ wrath, or rejecting the king’s rumored Papism in favor of more puritanical Protestantism in America like many others did. He would have been among friends in Maryland, where he resided until 1684 – a year before King Charles II’s death.
Edward’s later life also raises some questions about his competing allegiances to God and King. Although Edward rose in social prominence in Maryland and Virginia through the 1680s by marrying into the prominent Stone and Mason families, he did not attain a public position as a Justice of the Peace in Stafford County, Virginia, until 1691. His very late Justice appointment – when he was probably 80, and just after the king’s death – may indicate that Edward had been a political outsider during the king’s reign, but that he was finally brought into the fold after allegiances changed. It’s fodder for deeper investigation.
Similar to Edward Maddox’s story, your ancestor almost certainly was affected by the religious trends of his or her time. But digging into the complexities of historical religious trends can be daunting. Not everyone is interested in reading multiple 800-page books on the arcane subject of the Reformation, for instance. And they shouldn’t be. Happily, the basics of religious trends can be accessed by simple wikipedia searches or through other online searches, and these searches will invariably lead to deeper resources. As you continue to build documentary evidence of an ancestor’s life, you can read those papers in the context of religious trends. This little exercise will open a very useful lens.
Genealogists often fixate on inducing certain results, such as establishing a family’s lineage back to European royalty or American Revolution participation. Finding links to historical events and famous individuals can change our perspectives on who we are. Along the way, though, most genealogists ignore the rich history of “ordinary” relatives’ lives. Ignoring these stories is tragic.
Among the most impressive genealogical findings are the obscure stories of relatives’ accomplishments, difficult decisions, near-death experiences, and triumphs over adversity. These stories don’t come easily. They’re often deeply hidden in the pages of a forgotten local history book, or they’re only obliquely discoverable by poring over multiple texts and connecting the dots. Sometimes these stories are never written down and we have to painstakingly coax them from a living generation’s memories. But they’re always worth the effort.
Among our favorite stories is the Maddox family‘s experience in the Civil War. A curious story has been passed down the generations – a story we originally thought was impossible. The legend was that three Maddox brothers – who had fought on both sides of the Civil War – gathered in an Illinois farmhouse some years after the war and talked of their experiences. One brother explained that his unit had been chasing a Confederate unit and finally caught up with them. In a pitched battle, he had taken aim at a cavalryman atop his horse and shot at him, but missed and instead killed the horse. Later in the battle he saw the same cavalryman who had found another horse. Determined, the brother took aim at the cavalryman again and fired his rifle, only to kill the cavalryman’s second horse. The cavalryman then disappeared in the confusion of the battle.
Hearing this story, one of the other Maddox brothers rose from his chair and exclaimed, “You son of a b****, that was me!”
The story demanded some research. We came to learn through muster rolls and pension records – easily available on ancestry.com and fold3.com – that Joseph Jefferson Maddox had enlisted as a cavalryman with the Union 3rd Kentucky Cavalry Regiment, and his brother Benjamin Wesley “Wes” Maddox had enlisted with the Confederate 10th Cavalry Regiment, of Morgan’s Raiders. Colby Stevenson Maddox enlisted with the Union in Illinois, and a fourth, William, enlisted in the Union and died in the war. If the storytelling actually occurred in that Illinois farmhouse, then Joseph, Wes and Colby were the men telling stories.
When we first heard the story, we knew little of Morgan’s Raiders – Wes’s unit – and not many Americans do. Their wartime operations, mostly in 1863, were largely an attempt to draw Union forces from their strategic objectives, and are obscured by the enormity of the war’s other events at the time. In the east, Union General Meade had defeated General Lee at Gettysburg on July 13, causing unrecoverable personnel losses. To the west, Major General Grant had defeated the Confederate garrison at Vicksburg by July 4, thus disrupting the Confederacy’s critical Mississippi passage. The Union then committed to eliminating General John Hunt Morgan’s cavalry, who was increasingly making a mockery of Union control of the Ohio region. A victory over the elusive Morgan’s Raiders – who had been showcased in popular Northern newspapers as marauding bandits – would demonstrate that the South had lost its freedom of movement. The North could claim some rule of law in the Ohio region.
Modern tacticians would call Morgan’s Raiders guerrillas. They moved swiftly, with little heavy equipment, and made no permanent gains. Their task was to harass local militias and civilians and to draw the greater Union force into the most difficult type of warfare. After previous successes in Kentucky, in June 1863 Morgan led his troops on a 1,000 mile offensive – called the “Great Raid” – from southern Kentucky through Indiana and into southern Ohio.
Morgan’s Raiders were emboldened by frequent small victories early in the Great Raid, but by July 9, the Raiders – including Wes’s unit – were being closely pursued by a strong Union force, including the cavalry unit that great-great Uncle Joseph belonged to, according to battlefield histories. Joseph certainly would have known that he was pursuing his own brother’s unit. There would have been ample opportunity for the kind of sniping described in the brothers’ war stories. So the fantastic family legend may have some truth to it. But it was at the Buffington Island Ford, near Portland, Ohio, that the brothers would have a run-in of Shakespearean proportions.
We do not know exactly what happened. We know from partial war journals that the Union pursuit of Morgan’s Raiders reached its peak on July 19. The men on both sides were ragged, stinking, overheated and exhausted after a week of sleepless horseback pursuit. The Raiders slowed as they attempted to cross at a ford over the Ohio River toward the relative safety of West Virginia, and the Union cavalry and a gunboat opened fire on them. Over 700 Raiders were captured by Joseph’s unit. Among those captured was Joseph’s own brother, Wes. As a result of his brother’s actions, Wes would spend the last two years of the war in one of the most atrocious prison camps of the war – Camp Douglas in Chicago, where one in five prisoners died of disease, famine, cold or abuse.
There are many stories of families splitting over the Civil War, but there are few of brother fighting brother in a battle. It’s the kind of historical narrative that should make us sit up in our chair, and it beats most claims of European royalty somewhere down the line. But too often, stories like this one are denied their place in our family histories because we don’t take the time to dig into the seemingly pedestrian lives of our quietest ancestors. They deserve better.
Hopefully you’ll agree genealogical research is about much more than describing a relative’s descent from royalty. The extraordinary effort that genealogists put into their family history should result in deep context of relatives’ lives. One of the best ways to build compelling context for your subjects (your relatives) is to find images from their lives – and to present them in a way that is accessible to current and future generations.
Imagery can supply a deeper understanding of our ancestors’ lifestyles than many other forms of documentation. A map of an ancestor’s hometown can help us understand the dimensions of his or her life, but a hand drawing or a painting of that town from the same time provides a cache of environmental information that might otherwise be unknowable.
A great example is a hand-drawing of the tiny 17th-century settlement of Moore’s Lodge, Maryland – a place that served as the first Charles County courthouse. We might conclude from our stereotype of Colonial life that Moore’s Lodge would somehow resemble a Colonial Williamsburg reenactment, but the map of Moore’s Lodge presents a much rougher lifestyle for the settlers. The illustrator made a point of depicting larger-than-life stockades, allowing the viewer to come to his or her own conclusions about their importance at the time. The tiny trails leading into town speak of the limitations on commerce at the time. An orchard implies the settlers’ efforts at permanence. These implications were a real eye-opener for one Narratio Vitae customer, whose family owned the courthouse in the early 1700s.
Another great example of an image supplying context to a relative’s life is the one we found of John S. Quinn, an early 20th-century track star in Boston. While the Quinn family knew their grandfather was a runner, they did not understand the extent of his fame. When Narratio Vitae discovered his image in the Boston Herald archives, the family was thrilled. Not only did they have documentation of John S. Quinn’s stardom, but the image provide something more tangible to hand down to generations.
A third example – and the kind of image that is becoming increasingly accessible to researchers on the open internet – is one we found of a customer’s ancestor’s World War II ship. Narratio Vitae not only discovered the ancestor’s military service information, but paired it with an image of the actual ship the ancestor served on. An image of the ship allowed the customer’s imagination to run wild. They could envision their ancestor’s life aboard the ship, and could begin to understand what he might have gone through.
It’s getting easier to find historical imagery, but it still takes a lot of time and effort to find specific subjects, since the subjects of photos and illustrations were not frequently listed by the original photographer/artist. With persistent, broad searches (instead of trying to find your relative alone, try to ind his or her military unit, for example), online search engines can return a trove of images if they’ve been appropriately curated. Beyond a broad online search, serious genealogists will pay for access to newspaper archives and other periodical archives, which retain well-tagged and well-dated images. The Library of Congress, and national and state archives have amassed collections of unique imagery, and new efforts like deadfred.com claim to be making headway with genealogical imagery curation.
Your family tree and the fact of your ancestors’ professions and places of residence are interesting enough… for starters. But your ancestors’ motivations are the more compelling story, with implications for your family’s current generation and many generations to come. Sleuthing your ancestors’ motivations can be one of the most rewarding genealogical efforts. Unfortunately, few genealogists take this extra “deductive” step.
One of our favorite examples of this deductive effort is our research into the Novom family. It has lessons for all family historians. When Narratio Vitae began its research into the Novoms, the current generation knew little about its past beyond a great-grandfather, and most of its historical information was based on family legacy. This isn’t unusual for the children and grandchildren of recent immigrants, who often seem to focus more on developing a new life than on re-adjudicating the past. But with time and establishment, families begin to wonder about their deeper history.
For the Novoms, as for so many other American Jewish families, there was an unspoken dread of digging too deeply into the harsh reality of their departure from Europe to America. But they wanted to know where they came from and why they left their original home. They knew their grandfather had arrived to New York in the early 1900s, but not much else. Family tradition held that their grandparents had fled the Russian pogroms – organized massacres of Jewish communities.
Narratio Vitae dug. And dug. And dug. By reverse-transcribing into English the transcribed and misspelled Russian place name of great-grandfather Joe Novom’s original home town as recorded on his naturalization petition, we found that he had lived in Panevezhys, Russia (now Lithuania). This gave us a starting point for homing in on the conditions of his departure.
By consulting numerous obscure historical records and narratives from the time, available on passionately committed genealogical sites like JewishGen and the National Archives, we were able to contextualize their departure. We found that Joe Novom’s motivations were probably similar to the motivations of the thousands of other Jews who fled Russia at the same time. Joe and his wife Bessie grew up under the tough conditions of pre-Revolution Russia, where as Jews they were singled out in a violent game of retribution between the Czarists and their detractors. Panevezhys in particular had a high population of Jews and was a center of discontent. Joe and his wife Bessie fled Russia shortly after the Revolution of 1905, along with about 80 percent of the Jewish youth of Panevezhys.
Beyond confirming the Novoms’ family legend of their grandparents’ distressed flight from Russia, Narratio Vitae was able to describe the specific conditions of their departure and to help the family understand the emotions behind the Novoms’ decision to leave Lithuania behind. It could not have been easy.
While each family is different, the basic process of deducing ancestors’ motivations takes a similar line. With the Novom case, Narratio Vitae established the fact of the Novoms’ geographic residence during a specific time period, and conducted a broad “lateral” investigation into the environmental conditions at that time. We spent a lot of time doing a literature review to find descriptive primary sources. The pressure of Czarists was the consistent topic of those sources, and that pressure was felt by all Jews in Panevezhys. The Novoms were no exception.
Revealing ancestors’ motivations may be beyond many amateur genealogists’ scope of effort because of the time and complex research required. But it’s probably the most important story a genealogist can hand down to later generations. As always, Narratio Vitae is standing by to help.
So you’ve done the detailed work of proving your ancestors’ names and birth dates, and you’ve linked back a few generations. And among the details you’ve discovered is the appealing idea that your family was not just a nebulous string of names on paper; instead, your family was part of a small town or a rural county or a thriving city – a place that had an important influence on your family’s fortunes. The space we live in can make or break us, and it’s important that we place families in their geographic context.
It can be difficult to envision the terrain of our ancestors’ lives. The terrain of 17th century mid-Atlantic America, for example, has been fundamentally changed by hundreds of years of political, commercial and natural modifications. To take a specific example, the Maddox family‘s 17th-century settlement of Port Tobacco, Maryland, was once a thriving port town that attracted leading politicians and businessmen during its heyday, but deforestation resulted in over-silting of the riverbed, making it too shallow for commercial vessels from England. The later establishment of the railway a few miles away meant Port Tobacco’s demise by the early 19th century. To look at Port Tobacco now, it’s nearly impossible for the Maddoxes to imagine the place’s former vitality. But explaining that vitality is crucial to developing an accurate narrative for posterity.
Researching geographic features can take a lot of time and patience. Starting with two maps is a good way to begin to understand where your family lived. First, find a map from the time of your family’s residence. Second, compare that historical map with a modern map of similar scale. Compare borders, transportation routes, place names and any landmarks. If you’ve spent a good amount of time researching your family line and their close associates, there’s a very good chance you’ll find many familiar names on the maps. The USGS provides a good guide to map use here. Using the Maddox family example again, a map of the area around Abbeville, South Carolina, would include hints of the Maddox family’s 18th- and 19th-century presence there – such as Maddox Shoals along the Saluda River, Maddox Mill, and Maddox Bridge. These landmarks tell a story of their own.
Plat maps, available in city and state archives, are the best resource for finding the precise location of your family’s former land or city property. Colonial plat maps include sometimes fanciful descriptions of the land, along with hand-drawn maps. More recent plat maps are much more precise, including clear perimeters and latitude/longitude details. Compare the plat map with both your old map and new map to geolocate your family’s site, and then use Google Maps to zoom in on the land. Record the Google Maps location in your records. It will be useful when you want to visit the location.
If you persevere, you’re likely to be surprised by existing research into the historical geography of your ancestral home. Most libraries’ local history sections include such studies. Another great place to look is in the digital library JSTOR, which houses an incredible array of studies. A great example of a “good find” is the research done by Smithsonian archeologist C. Malcolm Watkins into the Marlborough Town, Virginia, Colonial site. The archeologist definitively located Edward Maddox’s plot #15, which Edward bought in the 1690s, and it was easy to compare Watkins’ maps with Google Maps details despite the antiquity of the original maps.
As always, don’t expect immediate success with this genealogical research effort. It can take a good bit of luck to bump into the right information. But the more you know about your family, the more you can relate bits of seemingly disparate information to the geographic terrain of their lives.
We’re happy to offer our new 1-minute “explainer” video for your viewing pleasure, below. We see our ancestral narratives as the perfect opportunity for our customers to initiate positive discussions with their families, and we hope you will, too. Let us know what you think!
Are you interested in developing your family history, but the cost seems prohibitive?
At Narratio Vitae, we recognize the difficulty of balancing your interest in developing your history for posterity against your need to pay your bills. To make this balancing act easier, we recommend cost-splitting your family narrative. Cost-splitting minimizes the cost for individual family members and has the added benefit of attracting stronger family participation in family narrative development.
Two cost-splitting apps make it incredibly easy to collect funds from far-flung relatives and friends, and to send those funds to Narratio Vitae for payment:
PayPal: PayPal’s Send Money app allows users with accounts to send money directly and securely to email addresses and mobile phone numbers. Account holders can track each other’s payments and debts on the app. If you’re organizing a family narrative with Narratio Vitae, you would simply ask your relatives to set up PayPal accounts and send a certain amount to you, and then you would transfer the final sum to Narratio Vitae’s existing PayPal account.
Venmo: Similar to PayPal’s system, Venmo allows users with accounts to share costs on its app, but Venmo emphasizes the social aspect of purchases by allowing users to discuss the purchase in real time on the app. If you’re organizing a family narrative purchase, you would ask your relatives to set up Venmo accounts, and then you could converse with them in the app about the purchase. The app also allows the group to see each other’s obligations and payments – so you can easily goad parsimonious Aunt Penny into making her payment.
Of course Narratio Vitae also invites its clients to pay with traditional forms of payment, such as credit card and personal check, and will work with each client to make the process as easy as possible.
At Narratio Vitae (“life story” in Latin), we constantly encounter the undying reflections of our clients’ pasts, and we revel in the thrill of a good ghost story. This Halloween, three movies reign as genuinely creepy ghost stories. We highlighted Under the Shadowlast week, and here’s a third for your consideration…
OK, so it’s not a movie, but of the 2016 releases, it belongs in the top three with our other selections… American Horror Story seemed to have been going off the rails with seasons four and five, but the new season, American Horror Story: Roanoke, redeems the series, and particularly appeals to history buffs like us. It’s receiving great reviews.
Roanoke is a story within a story, documenting the haunted lives of a couple who fled their colonial-era home in North Carolina after being assaulted by a gang. Part of the intrigue is in unraveling a complex network of ghosts. While viewers’ attention seems to be focused on Lady Gaga’s central character Scathach, a witch, the show develops a host of ghouls based on an (apocryphal) story that the colonists in Roanoke all became ghosts after a “blood moon ritual.” Be ready for blood and guts.


When you read or hear about a condition such as Asperger’s Syndrome, it is common to come across technical and medical words that have little meaning to most people. Sometimes a common word is used in association with Asperger’s yet its relevance might not be known. A little while ago the Foundation commissioned a psychologist to do some research and as part of that process they produces a glossary of terms related to Asperger’s Syndrome. So if you are ever muddled or confused about a phrase someone has used, have a look in this glossary and hopefully we can help to straighten things out.
NOTE: Like all information on this website the following is copyright to the Cloud 9 Children’s Foundation and is not to be reproduced without permission.
Glossary of Terms and Information About Asperger’s Syndrome
AFFECT Fluctuations of mood are frequently observed in children and adults with Asperger’s syndrome. Changes in mood can be observed in several variations: giggling or weeping for no apparent reason, absence of emotional responses or reactions to danger, excessive fearfulness or generalized anxiety.
AGITATION See Psychomotor Agitation.
ANXIETY As with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and panic attacks, anxiety and anxiety attacks have been argued to be a natural outgrowth from the ritualistic, perfectionist characteristics of Asperger’s.
ASPERGER’S SYNDROME A condition at the more able end of the Autistic spectrum. Essential features of Asperger’s are severe and sustained impairment in social interaction and the development of restricted, repetitive patterns of behaviour, interests, and activities. There are no clinically significant delays in language, cognitive development or in the development of age-appropriate self-help skills, adaptive behaviour (other than in social interaction), and curiosity about the environment in childhood. Unlike people with ‘classic autism’ who often appear withdrawn and uninterested in the world around them, many people with Asperger’s syndrome try hard to be sociable and do not dislike human contact.
ATYPICAL AUTISM Presentations that do not meet the criteria for Autism because of the late age of onset, unusual symptoms, or symptoms that do not meet the diagnostic criteria (see below) for diagnosis.
AUDITORY INTEGRATION TRAINING (AIT) was developed in response to the theory that the sound sensitivity and consequent behavioural disturbance in autism could result from hearing disturbances. AIT involves the child/adult wearing earphones attached to a machine with a variety of auditory filters that allow the sound emitting from the machine to be modified for individuals. The machine filters and amplifies specially selected music as necessary and sends the music to each ear independently. Although not widely available, some research suggest that structure listening and AIT appears to help in reducing sound sensitivity in many, but not all, children who are sound sensitive. AIT is also called the “Tomatis Method” and “Auditory Stimulation”.
AUTISTIC SPECTRUM DISORDER A complex developmental disability that affects the way a person communicates and relates to people around them. The term autistic spectrum is often used because the condition varies from person to person; some people with the condition may also have accompanying learning disabilities, while others are much more able with average or above average intelligence. Despite the wide-ranging differences, everyone with a disorder on the spectrum has difficulty with interaction, social interaction and imagination.
AUTISM The essential feature of Autism or Autistic Disorder is the presence of markedly abnormal or impaired development in social interaction, social communication and imagination, together with a very restricted range of activity and interests.
BACKWARD CHAINING Many daily living skills involve children learning a sequence of actions, which are often broken down in small steps to help the child learn. Backward chaining is a process where the child is helped to complete the last step of a sequence only, at first. For example, in teaching a child how to put on a T-shirt, the T-shirt is put on, but the child is left to pull it down (initially with the physical prompt of an adult’s hand over theirs). Once the child can do this step unaided, they are gradually taught more steps until finally no help is needed.
BROAD AUTISM PHENOTYPE Characteristics that are qualitatively similar, but milder than those that define autism – social and communication deficits and stereotyped, repetitive behaviours are present, but have less detrimental impact. These characteristics show familial aggregation in families with a member or members with Autism.
CAUSES OF AUTISTIC SPECTRUM DISORDERS The exact causes of Autistic spectrum disorders are still not known, but research shows that genetic factors are important. Autism is not the result of emotional deprivation or emotional stress, or parenting style. In some cases, Autistic spectrum disorders may be associated with conditions affecting brain development, such as maternal rubella, tuberous sclerosis, epilepsy and encephalitis.
CHILDHOOD DISINTEGRATIVE DISORDER Also on the Autistic spectrum, this disorder is a marked regression in multiple areas of functioning following a period of at least two years of apparently normal development.
CLUMSINESS Clumsy body language is sometimes seen in Autism and Asperger’s, but motor clumsiness is not a necessary part of the picture in all cases of Autism.
COMMUNICATION Verbal : See Language Non-Verbal: Non-verbal communication problems you may see in Autism include: poor eye contact, posture, limited or inappropriate facial expression, clumsy body language, difficulty adjusting physical proximity and limited use of gestures. Nonverbal aspects of communication can be significantly different in Asperger’s syndrome. Non-verbal communication may be exaggerated, completely absent, or may appear to contradict verbal content. Children and adults also find it hard to understand non-verbal signals from others, including facial expressions.
CONCRETENESS See mental rigidity.
DAILY LIFE THERAPY (HIGASHI) Daily Life Therapy is a programme that aims to provide autistic children with a systematic education through group dynamics, modelling and physical activity. There are Higashi Schools in the UK and the USA.
DEPRESSION In adolescence or early adulthood, individuals with Autism who have the intellectual capacity for insight may become isolated and depressed in response to the realisation of their serious impairment. Symptoms or signs may include significant changes in appetite (decreased or increased appetite), behaviour or sleeping patterns. People with Asperger’s often want to be sociable and are upset by the fact that they find it difficult to make friends.
DESENSITISATION Some sensory integration therapists believe that it may be possible to reduce tactile defensiveness be gradually exposing the child with an Autistic disorder to touch in a way which is safe and enjoyable to them.
DIAGNOSTIC CRITERIA Diagnostic criteria are often used to help with diagnosing an individual within the Autistic spectrum and other conditions. All people with an Autistic spectrum condition have difficulties with social interaction, social communication and imagination. This is sometimes referred to as the triad of impairments, each of which must be present to meet the criteria for diagnosis: 1. Social interaction (difficulty with social relationships, e.g., appearing aloof and indifferent to other people). 2. Social communication (difficulty with verbal and non-verbal communication, e.g., not really understanding the meaning of gestures, facial expressions or tone of voice). 3. Imagination (difficulty in the development of play and imagination, e.g., having a limited range of imaginative activities, possibly copied and used repetitively). In addition to this triad, other diagnostic criteria include repetitive behaviour patterns and a resistance to change in routine.
DIAGNOSTIC INSTRUMENTS Several instruments exist which were designed to assist with detecting autism, with variable reliability and validity. The most popularly used and reliable of these is the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (Schopler, Reichler & Renner, 1988) which is a 15-item structured interview and observation instrument for use with children over 24 months of age. It indicates the degree to which a child’s behaviour deviates from the age-appropriate norm, and it distinguished the degree of autism. The Parent Interview for Autism (Stone & Hogan, 1993) is designed to obtain diagnostically relevant information from parents of young children suspected of having autism. Other examples are the Autism Behaviour Checklist and the Behavioural Rating Instrument for Autistic and Other Atypical Children.
DIETARY INTERVENTIONS Supporters of this type of intervention argue that certain foods or combinations of foods can have an aversive or beneficial effect on Autism. It now seems that some people with Autism may suffer a metabolic disorder causing them to be unable to completely digest certain foods. For some children, a special diet, such as eating no grain, wheat or diary products can help. Such children may be helped by going on what is known as a gluten (grain or wheat) and/or casein (diary) free diet. For others, taking vitamins, such as Vitamin B6 and magnesium is beneficial.
DRUGS There is no drug that can cure Autism. However, some drugs can be used to help associated problems such as sleeping difficulties, hyperactive behavior etc.
DYSPRAXIA Sometimes also called Developmental Co-ordination Disorder, Dyspraxia is often referred to as a disorder of gesture. Features of dyspraxia consist primarily of abnormal motor behavior such as difficulties with balance and co-ordination, limited gestural motor tasks, clumsiness, and difficulty with fine motor tasks. Developmental Verbal Dyspraxia refers to an intelligible or atypical speech production. Children and adults with an Autistic Spectrum Disorder often show several signs of both verbal and motor dyspraxia. Dyspraxia in children is often compared to and contrasted with adult acquired apraxia.
ECHOLIA A parrot-like repetition of a word or phrase just spoken by another person. This echoing is apparently senseless and without meaning.
EDUCATION This is thought to be one of the best ways of helping children with Autism and there are a number of methods of teaching that can help. Some children attend special schools where teachers are specially trained in teaching children with Autism, whereas other children attend mainstream schools.
EGOCENTRICITY Egocentrism is a bias toward interpreting events from your own (ego’s) point of view without taking into consideration alternative (other people’s) perspectives. Between the ages of about 5 and 12 years a child’s tendency to be egocentric usually declines which can increase the effectiveness of communication as children are able to consider the views of others, anticipate how others will behave and develop skills at negotiating social interactions with peers. Children with Autism however, often do not experience the normal developmental decline in egocentricity, which in turn limits the above communicative and imaginative abilities.
EMPATHY Empathy is the ability to understand how only people are feeling and to identify with the likely emotions. Developing empathy involves several processes: recognizing the emotional state of another person; perspective taking; having a similar emotional response; and acting on it (e.g., expressing sympathy). People with Asperger’s often have difficulty expressing or feeling empathy because of not being able to complete one or more of these processes involved in developing empathy.
FACILITATED COMMUNICATION At times controversial, FC is used as an alternative means of communication for people with no, or extremely dysfunctional speech. The FC facilitator normally supports a client’s hand, wrist or arm while that person uses a communicator to spell out words, phrases or sentences. Use of FC with people with autism is centred on the notion that many of the difficulties faced are due to a movement disorder, rather than social or communication deficits.
GENETICS Although the exact causes of Autistic spectrum disorders are still not known, research shows that genetic factors are important. Twin and family studies clearly support genetic factors as important in Autism, but linkage analysis studies indicate that many genes may be involved.
GRAPHOMOTOR DEVELOPMENT Those fine motor skills associated with handwriting and drawing.
HOLDING THERAPY An approach to behavior management which involves forcibly holding and hugging the autistic child until they stop resisting. Holding Therapy was primarily used in the 1980’s, but has since declined in popularity because of the large amount of evidence that it is extremely distressing, aversive and stressful for the child. It is now believed by a majority of people with, and working with an Autistic disorder, that the most effective management approach is a non-aversive one that does not use punishment or physical restraint, and reduces stress and anxiety.
HYPERACUSIS Excessive auditory sensitivity.
HYPERLEXIA A precocious ability to rote – read at an early age. Can be a common feature of the learning profile in Asperger’s syndrome.
IDIOPATHIC LEARNING DISABILITY Idiopathic means a disorder of unknown cause.
IMAGINATION While they often excel at learning facts and figures, people with Asperger’s find it hard to think in abstract ways. This can cause problems for children in school where they may have difficulty with certain subjects such as English or creative writing.
KANNER SYNDROME Also on the Autistic spectrum. Sometimes referred to as ‘classic autism’.
People with Asperger’s tend to have average or above average intelligence and so generally have fewer problems with language than classic autism. People with autism often speak fluently, although their words can sometimes sound formal or stilted. Vocal characteristics can be very different in children with Asperger’s syndrome, whose voices may sound rather flat, due to monotone, robotic phrasing and inflection patterns.
Figurative Language Despite having good language skills, people with Asperger’s syndrome may sound over precise or over-literal. Jokes can cause problems as can exaggerated language and metaphors, e.g., a person with Asperger’s may be confused or frightened by a statement like “she bit my head off”. Receptive Language Although people with Asperger’s may speak very fluently, but they may not take much notice of the reaction of people listening to them; e.g., they may talk on and on regardless of the listener’s interest and may appear insensitive to other people’s feelings. Typically language is understood and used very literally, and while they often excel at learning facts and figures, Asperger’s children and adults find it hard to think in abstract ways. Pragmatic Language Pragmatic or conversational language skills are often weak because of problems with turn-taking, unsociable comments, interrupting, a tendency to revert to areas of special interest, or difficulty sustaining the “give-and-take” of conversations. Communication is sometimes described as “talking at” others, e.g., monologue on a favorite subject that continues despite attempts at others to interject comments.
LOVAAS The LOVAAS method is an early intensive behaviour therapy approach for children with autism and other related disorders. It is both a clinic based and home-supported based programme, with (now) an emphasis on positively reinforcing learnt skills with food, a toy, and gradually moving through to more social and everyday reinforcers such as hugs and tickles. All skills are broken down into small tasks that are achievable and taught in a very structured manner, accompanied by lots of praise and reinforcement.
MANUAL DEXTERITY This area of movement skills involves the ability to use both hands, for example – learning to dress, eat with utensils, tie shoelaces. This may also extend to the co-ordination of feet and legs as in learning to ride a bicycle. Manual dexterity can be difficult, limited or absent in Autism.
MENTAL RETARDATION The relation between autism and intellectually handicap has been a source of confusion for a long time. Many have noted that the intellectual impairments in people with Autism resemble the limitations of intellectually handicapped people. Compared with intellectually handicapped people however, individuals with Autism have more intellectual strengths – which can be above average in some areas – and a wider spread between their skills and deficits. Gross motor skills of autistic children also tend to be stronger. Intellectually handicapped children however, generally have better social and communication skills in relation to their overall developmental levels. The relationship between autism and intellectual handicap has been clarified more recently with the acknowledgement that autism can and does co-exist with other disabilities – the most common of which is “mental retardation” (current estimates of co-morbidity are 70%).
MENTAL RIGIDITY Thinking patterns can be very rigid in Autism. Concepts are viewed as black or white, with subtle variations very difficult to understand. For example, a specific number can be “few” in some situations, but “many” in another situation, it is all relative. This way of interpreting information is extremely challenging to individuals with Asperger’s syndrome. The egocentric features of Asperger’s also contribute to mental rigidity, as situations tend to be seen from their perspective only.
MIND BLINDNESS An inability to pick up social cues and nuances (e.g., facial expressions).
MONOTROPIC INTEREST SYSTEMS People with “monotropic interest systems”, including individuals with autism, have their attention fixed on isolated objects which are viewed as though through a tunnel, separate from the surrounding context.
MOTOR SKILLS / MOVEMENT Motor skills can be divided into two broad categories. Fine motor skills consists of activities such as writing with a pen/pencil, doing up buttons and eating with utensils. Gross motor skills involve the coordination and development of larger activities such as kicking a ball, running, swimming and jumping. To varying degrees both fine and gross motor skill development can be impaired in children with Autism.
MUSIC THERAPY Supporters of music therapy argue that music can stimulate and develop more meaningful and playful communication in people with Autism. Music therapy is led by a trained musician, and most rely on spontaneous musical improvisation, where the therapist uses percussion or tuned instruments, or their own voice, to respond creatively to the sounds produced by the child/adult, and encourage the child to create his or her own musical language.
MUSICAL INTERACTION THERAPY (MIT) has been used with Autistic children at certain schools to reinforce speech-language therapy, rather than used on its own. MIT differs from music therapy in that the musical interaction therapy practitioner is not required to be a musician.
OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE DISORDER (OCD) Has been argued to sometimes be a natural outgrowth from the ritualistic, perfectionist characteristics of Asperger’s for some individuals.
OPTIONS SON-RISE PROGRAMMEME This programme uses an interactive approach to early intervention – emphasizing the importance of developing a relationship and communication between the child and parents. The programme is child-centered: the child is not judged and their behaviors are not seen as good or bad, rather the child is seen to be doing the best he/she can. The Son-Rise philosophy encourages the parent (or therapist, instructor of facilitator) to “become the student of the child’s world, observing, learning, assisting and supporting the child’s development in a loving and non-judgmental environment”. Parents are trained and then set up and manage the programme in their own home. Options Son-Rise programmes are especially popular in the UK and USA>
PANIC ATTACKS As with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and anxiety attacks, panic attacks have been argued to be a natural outgrowth from the ritualistic, perfectionist characteristics of Asperger’s.
PERSEVERATION The tendency to repeat a certain phrase or activity despite other’s attempts to interrupt, other’s disinterest or fatigue. Perseveration can be seen in Autistic people – particularly in the routines and ritualistic behaviour that often characterizes the Autistic Spectrum Disorders.
PERVASIVE DEVELOPMENTAL DISORDERS (PDD) Disorders characterized by severe and pervasive impairment in several areas of development: reciprocal social interaction skills, communication skills, communication skills, or the presence of stereotyped behaviour, interests and activities. Autism and Asperger’s both fall under the category of PDD as does Rett’s disorder, Childhood Disintegrative Disorder and PDD – not otherwise specified (NOS).
PERVASIVE DEVELOPMENTAL DISORDER NOT OTHERWISE SPECIFIED A diagnosis of PDD-NOS (also called atypical Autism) may be made when a child does not meet the criteria for a specific diagnosis, but there is a severe and pervasive impairment in specified behaviors.
PHYSIOTHERAPY Can be helpful to suggest strategies to improve gross-motor coordination.
PICTURE SYMBOLS Not all children with Autism learn to speak, or they can only speak one or two words. It is therefore important to teach alternative forms of communication. One method that is increasingly being used is the Picture Exchange Communication System or PECS for short. This involves the child showing or pointing to a card with a picture. For example, if the child is thirsty, they can point to a picture of a cup. Gradually, the child learns to build up a sentence from cards, e.g., I want a drink. Alongside this, some children also learn to ask for what they want verbally.
PRAGMATIC DEFICITS See Language: Pragmatic Language.
PREVALENCE The prevalence of Autism is approximately 1 per 2000 people, the prevalence of Autism and Asperger’s together is 1 per 1000 people. Although it is not known why, boys are affected more than girls. For Autism the sex ratio is four males to one female, for Asperger’s syndrome, the ratio is nine males to one female.
PROCESSING The ability to accurately attach meaning to stimuli. Can be impaired in some Autistic children and adults.
PROSODY Often a flat or unusual tone, that can present as a ‘foreign accent’. Prosody means that there is a lack of vocal inflection, and a lack of varying pitch and volume levels, rate, rhythm and inflection.
PROTO-DECLARATIVE POINTING This type of pointing is to declare an interest in something as opposed to proto-imperative pointing which is used for requesting something. Proto-declarative pointing is deficient in children with an autistic spectrum disorder.
PSYCHOLOGY Psychologists can be helpful in both assessment and therapy of the autistic spectrum disorders. A psychologist may need to monitor emotional stability and provide counselling and education (information) services as needed if the child or adult becomes overwhelmed or frustrated.
PSYCHOMOTOR AGITATION Excessive motor activity associated with a feeling of inner tension. The activity is usually non-productive, repetitious and consists of behaviour such as pacing, fidgeting, wringing hands, pulling of clothes and an inability to sit still.
PSYCHOMOTOR RETARDATION A visible generalised slowing of movements and speech.
REPETITIVE ACTIVITY / BEHAVIOUR Restricted, repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests and activities are one of the defining features of Asperger’s. These can be shown by at least one of the following: · An encompassing preoccupation with one or more stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest that is abnormal either in intensity or focus. · Apparently inflexible adherence to specific, non-functional routines or rituals. · Stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerisms (e.g., hand or finger flapping or twisting, or complex whole-body movements). · Persistent preoccupation with parts of objects.
RETT’S SYNDROME Also on the Autistic spectrum, Rett’s syndrome is the development of multiple, specific deficits (e.g., loss of purposeful hand movements replaced with repetitive hand movements) following a period of normal functioning after birth, usually beginning between the ages of 1 and 4 years. To date, only occurs in girls.
RITUALS People with Asperger’s often prefer to order their day according to a set pattern. Any enforced or perceived disruptions to their self-imposed rituals can cause anxiety or distress.
ROUTINES For people with Asperger’s syndrome, any unexpected change in routine can be upsetting. Examples of routines used by Asperger’s children include: an insistence on following an identical route to school each day; a lengthy bed-time ritual; or the repetition of a sequence of odd bodily movements. Also see Repetitive Activity / Behavior.
SELF INJURIOUS BEHAVIOUR Self-injurious behavior such as head banging and finger or hand biting are among the most extreme and frightening of the behaviors accompanying Autism. These occur in less than 10% of the Autistic population, but can be the most difficult to control or suggest a remedy for.
SEMANTIC PRAGMATIC DISORDER Semantic Pragmatic Disorder was originally used to describe a developmental language disorder, affecting two aspects of communication: “semantics” and “pragmatics”. It belongs within the autistic spectrum and has the same underlying triad of socio-cognitive deficits as high functioning autism or Asperger’s. Partly because of the argument that “semantic pragmatic disorder” is not an appropriate diagnosis, but merely a descriptive term for the nature of communication difficulty found in verbal people with autism, the term is no longer used.
SENSORY SENSITIVITIES Under- and over-responsitivity to sensory input are common in Autism; some children resist being touched while others ignore sensitivities like pain. Specific sounds or tastes fascinate many Autistic people.
SLEEP PROBLEMS Problems with sleeping behavior are frequently observed in individuals with Asperger’s. Sleep problems often resolve themselves by adolescence, but can be difficult prior to then. Staying up all night is among the most difficult of the ongoing problems that parents face with young Autistic children.
SOCIAL COMMUNICATION / INTERACTION Social characteristics you may see in a child with Autism include: · Communication concerns - doesn’t respond to his/her name - doesn’t point or wave goodbye - appears deaf at times - used to say a few words, now doesn’t - doesn’t follow directions - No babbling by 12 months - No gesturing by 12 months - No single words by 16 months · Social concerns - doesn’t smile socially - seems to prefer playing alone - has poor eye contact - is not interested in other children - tunes people out - is very independent - is in his/her own world - does things ‘early’ · Behavioral concerns - tantrums - hyperactive/oppositional/uncooperative - has unusual attachments to toys - is oversensitive to certain textures or sounds - has odd movement patterns
SPECIAL INTERESTS People with Asperger’s often develop an almost obsessive interest in a hobby or collection. Usually their interest involves arranging or memorizing facts about a specialist subject.
SPECTRUM DISORDERS Autism is a spectrum disorder which means that the symptoms and characteristics of Autism can present themselves in a wide variety of combinations from relatively mild to severe. Although Autism is defined by a certain set of behaviors, children and adults can exhibit any combination of the behaviors in any degree of severity.
SPEECH LANGUAGE THERAPY (SLT) can be very useful for Autistic children with a speech impediment, limited or no speech skills.
SPELL SPELL is an acronym for Structure, Positive, Empathy, Low Arousal, and Links. It is the method of intervention used by the National Autistic Society (NAS) in the United Kingdom. NAS say the SPELL approach has been refined to recognize the individuality of each child or adult with an Autistic spectrum disorder including Asperger’s. It is a holistic approach that sees every child/adult as a unique individual while acknowledging that they share similar experiences and difficulties. They say SPELL describes the necessary environment and support environment that enables the child to learn while minimizing stress. NAS’s description of the SPELL approach is as follows: · Structure: helps the child to make sense of a very confusing world. · Positive: attitudes and appropriately pitched expectations enhance the child’s self esteem and self-confidence. · Empathy: Empathy is crucial to see the world from the child’s unique viewpoint and to understand their perceptions. · Low Arousal: The child’s learning environment needs to be clear, calm and clutter free. · Links: With parents and mainstream education.
STATISTICS See Prevalence.
STEREOTYPED MOVEMENTS Repetitive, seemingly driven, and non-functional motor behaviour. Examples include hand shaking or waving, body rocking, head banging, mouthing of objects, self-biting, picking at skin, hitting one’s own body. Also see repetitive activity / behaviour.
STIMMING Self stimulating behavior (e.g., repetitive patterns of behavior).
SQUEEZE MACHINE Invented by Temple Grandin who has autism, this is essentially as the name suggests. An individual puts themselves into the machine and is ‘squeezed’ to various degrees. The squeeze machine therefore allows a person with an autistic spectrum condition to explore touch and deep pressure in a way that is completely under their control.
TACTILE DEFENSIVENESS / HYPERSENSITIVITY The nervous system appears to overreact to touch, so that a ‘friendly’ touch is perceived as overwhelming and invasive. This is not true for everyone with an autistic spectrum condition, as some enjoy certain forms of active physical contact.
TEACCH Treatment and Education of Autistic and Related Communication Handicapped Children. TEACCH provides a wide range of services to children, adults and families, has a research programmeme and provides multidisciplinary training for professionals working with autism. Their stated aim is to help to prepare people with autism to live or work more effectively at home, at school and in the community.
THEORY OF MIND (ToM) Theory of Mind refers to the capacity to attribute mental states to oneself and others in an attempt to understand and explain, and to predict other’s behavior. ToM is not fully developed in children or adults with Autism.
TOMATIS METHOD See Auditory Integration Training.
TREATMENT An autistic spectrum disorder is a life-long disability and there is at present no one effective treatment that appears to work for everyone. However, given appropriate intervention early in life, specialized education and structured support can make a difference to a child’s life, helping to maximize their skills and achieve their full potential as adults. Although there is no documented “cure” for Autism, research suggests that it can be managed effectively using comprehensive behavioral and educational treatment programmes. Social pragmatic approaches, augmented by individualized strategies and social coaching, may be best for teaching social communication skills. Pharmacological interventions have a limited role in improving asocial communication, but may help ameliorate depression, hyperactivity and other secondary problems. For a definition and brief description of the various treatment approaches, refer to the appropriate place in this glossary.
TRIAD OF IMPAIRMENTS Autistic spectrum disorders are characterized by impairments in social interaction, social communication and imagination which can occur in varying degrees of severity. This triad is generally accompanied by a limited, narrow, repetitive pattern if activities. Also see Diagnostic Criteria


Genesis, the first book of the Old Testament, also serves as the first book of the Torah or Pentateuch, spoken of by Jesus as the Law,
the specific expression of God's will. The Torah or תּוֹרָﬣ comprises the first five books of Hebrew Scripture
(our Old Testament) - Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
The book was first called Genesis, ΓΕΝΕΣΙΣ, the word for "origin" in the Greek Septuagint translation, as it presented both the origin of the world and mankind, and in particular, the Hebrew people. The book in Hebrew was known by its first word בְּרֵאשִׁית - "in the beginning." 2 Genesis Chapters 1-11 trace the primeval story of creation, and Genesis Chapters 12-50 recount the patriarchal history of Israel. 3
This paper is written in the light of a hermeneutic of faith or through the eyes of faith, as described by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI).4 This paper reflects on the literal sense of Genesis 3, and how Genesis 3:15 fits within the context of the primeval story of creation.5 The New Testament writers and the Fathers of the Church provide the spiritual sense of the passage.6 Genesis 3:15 establishes the trajectory of salvation history and achieves fulfillment in Jesus Christ.
Hebrew tradition and the Mishnah name Moses - מֹשֶׁה the author of the Torah. This paper supports the belief that the Law (Torah or Pentateuch) was written in the context of one divinely inspired author, Moses, who served as the originator of the text and served as a collector of literary traditions. This belief is suggested here for 3 reasons. First, Moses is recorded in the Torah as writer (Exodus 24:4, 34:27-28, Deuteronomy 31:9) and was named the author of the Law by Jesus and the New Testament writers (John 5:46, Romans 10:5, Second Corinthians 3:15-16, and the following): 7
"When Moses had finished writing out on a scroll the words of the law in their entirety,
he gave the Levites who carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord this order:
Take this scroll of the law and put it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord, your God,
that there it may be a witness against you."
"We have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote,
Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."
Gospel of John 1:45
Second, Dr. Gary Rendsburg has done extensive research into ancient Hebrew morphology and proposes a unity to both Genesis and the Torah.8 For example, he writes that the presence of the epicene personal pronoun is significant in the dating of the Pentateuch. This use of an epicene personal pronoun - one pronoun for both "he" and "she" - signifies ancient Hebrew and was also seen in original Phoenician and Moabite manuscripts as well. The area of the earliest Israelites was also a time of Hittite and Hurrian penetration, neither language of which distinguished for gender. Rendsburg further concludes that the presence of הוא or Pentateuchal HW', since it appeared 120 times throughout the Pentateuch but not in the Prophets or Writings, indicates that the "Pentateuch is early and that the JEDP theory cannot be correct."
Third, there is evidence of ancient literary traditions, both biblical and non-biblical, that could serve as sources for the writings of Moses. For example, the Hebrew word for book - סֵפֶר - sefer - appears as early as Genesis 5:1, indicating a written tradition of the generations of Adam. As observed by Jean Astruc in 1753, Moses first appears in the Torah in the Book of Exodus and, while he was an eyewitness for events from Exodus to Deuteronomy, he probably relied on ancient traditions to write the Book of Genesis. It is certainly possible that one author could account for such an intertwining and variance of the naming of God, either as a literary device as seen in Genesis 3, or as seen in God's appearance to Moses in Exodus. 10
The first 11 Chapters of Genesis portray God retaining dominion and relationship with his creation, in spite of man's sin and disobedience. This is evident from the beginning of the creation narrative, when God creates the universe and mankind. In Chapter 1-2:4 God is called אֱלֹהִים or Elohim, and called
יהוה אֱלֹהִים or Yahweh Elohim - Lord God, beginning at verse 2:4 and throughout Chapters 2 and 3.
God placed our first parents, Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden, with trees of every kind of fruit that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the Garden were the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17). But Adam and Eve break their relationship with God by their sin - חַטָּאת - hattat of disobedience in Genesis 3. Their fall leads to punishment and eventual expulsion from the Garden.
Even so, God showed mercy in Genesis 3:15 when he speaks of someone in the future who will "crush the head of the serpent." This is a sign of God's love for his creation; in spite of man's disobedience, he gave mankind hope for the future.
God punished Cain after he killed Abel, and told him "the ground is cursed because of you." But then God mitigated his punishment and afforded Cain protection by placing a mark on him (Genesis 4:8-15). Sin continued to spread to such a point that even the heavenly ones breached the natural order by taking earthly wives (Genesis 6:1-4). God regretted he had made the human race and was going to "blot out" man, but then he found favor with Noah (Genesis 6:6-8). God delivered Noah from the Flood in the ark. Even though men created the Tower of Babel, God blessed the generations of Shem and gave Terah a son named Abram (Genesis 11:26).
Thus, in spite of man's continued sin and disobedience, God stayed true to mankind and continued to show love and mercy to humanity, a recurrent theme in salvation history that was first presented in Genesis 3:15. 11
"So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes,
and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate;
and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate."
The chapter begins with the serpent, who suggests to the woman to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (verses 1-5). The serpent cleverly tells the woman that if she eats the fruit of the forbidden tree, "you will be like God." There is a subtle but significant change in the naming of God by the serpent - he called God simply Elohim and not his proper name, Lord God (Yahweh Elohim). The woman then echoes the serpent by also calling God Elohim in 3:3.
The woman succumbed to the serpent's lie and ate of its fruit and gave the fruit to אָדָם - Adam, the word for both "Adam" and "man" - and he ate.
The narrative structure of Genesis 3 offers insight into the meaning of the text. In his investigation of what happened, the Lord God first questions Adam and then Eve (verses 8-13). God does not question the serpent. But he renders punishment in opposite order - first to the serpent, then to the woman, and then to the man. This sequence parallels the order of appearance in the narrative in Chapter 3. The serpent appears first in the chapter, and is named first in the series of punishments - he is the first to blame, as he was the instigator. The woman is the one who appears second, and the third in appearance is Adam, and he is the last to be punished.
Dr. Sofia Cavalletti comments that there are two interesting if not unique occurrences during the adjudication part of the narrative in Genesis 3:14-19. God directly curses the serpent only; this occurs nowhere else in the Bible. But God only punishes the man and woman. And the gift of mitigation by God for the man and woman occurs during the punishment of the serpent. There is a prophetic sense to the passage in Genesis 3:15, called the Protoevangelium, the first proclamation of the Good News: for, during the punishment of the serpent, God refers to the future, that there will be one "who will crush the head of the serpent." There is hope for the human race! 12
Following the act of disobedience, the Lord God places his punishment upon the serpent in verses 3:14 and 3:15. As the structure of the punishment is in the form of two pronouncements, which are relatively independent of each other, the two verses are considered individually. 13
Then the LORD God said to the serpent:
"Cursed are you above all the livestock,
and all the wild animals and from all the wild creatures;
You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life."
Genesis 3:14 NIV
One cannot help wonder at this point - who is the serpent?
The serpent speaks, the only animal that does so in the primeval story of creation.
The serpent tempts the woman to be disobedient to the Lord God.
The serpent "demotes" God by calling him Elohim and not Yahweh Elohim as the narrator.
The serpent actually infers that God is a liar - "No, you will not die..." (v 3:4).
Is the serpent just a clever animal?
The Hebrew scholar Umberto Cassuto makes the important point that not only is it a question of the serpent speaking, it is what the serpent is saying: "the serpent here speaks solely for the purpose of inciting against the will of the Lord God!" Cassuto notes the serpent in the tradition of Israel at the time was a symbol of evil. Since the serpent is opposed to God, and leads astray God's creation, one cannot help deduce that the serpent is or has become an evil force. 14
What is the perception of the serpent in subsequent Biblical writings? The Old Testament Book of Wisdom reads:
"For God formed man to be imperishable;
the image of his own nature he made him.
But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world,
and they who are in his possession experience it."
The Book of Revelation specifically names the ancient serpent the devil and Satan. 15
"And the great dragon was thrown down,
that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan,
the deceiver of the whole world -
he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him."
The Fathers of the Church further elaborate on this subject. St. Augustine, in his commentary on chapter 3 in The Literal Meaning of Genesis, states "This serpent, however, could be called the wisest of of the beasts not by reason of its irrational soul but rather because of another spirit - that of the Devil - dwelling in it." 16
"I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
He will crush your head,
while you strike at his heel."
This passage is striking! A message of hope is given humanity, for, even though God begins to punish the offenders, he speaks of mankind having offspring - so his blessing on future generations of mankind has not been removed. This is in itself a declaration of mercy.
God informs the serpent he will put enmity between the serpent and the woman. This is reinforced by the second part of the sentence, “between your offspring and hers.” The Hebrew word זֶרַע - zera - is the same for “offspring” and “seed”, accounting for the difference in English translations, but in both cases the word is masculine.
The second sentence begins with the personal pronoun הוא. The word may refer either to the “woman”, or to the "offspring" of the woman. This is often translated in two ways. Both the Latin Vulgate and the Douay-Rheims translations convey this passage as “she will crush your head, while you strike at his heel “... whereas the Revised Standard Version, New American Standard, and the NIV read “he will crush your head...” In view of the epicene personal pronoun (one form to indicate both male and female sex) as described above, both are correct! 17
In summary, Genesis 3:15 has a prophetic nature to it, for there is promise of a redeemer in the future, that one will crush the head of the serpent. God's judgement upon the serpent contains a promise of ultimate victory through the woman by her offspring. This spiritual sense will be revealed throughout Scripture and the Fathers of the Church.
God then sentences the woman (3:16): "I will greatly multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you." God continues with the punishment of Adam (3:17-19):
"Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth to you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return."
The first appearance of the word "bread" - לֶחֶם - lehem - in the Bible occurs here in Genesis 3:19 in the punishment of Adam.
Who is the woman? Adam calls her “woman” - אִשָּׁה - ishah - until he names her Eve - חַוָּה – hawwah - in Genesis 3:20, the "mother of all the living."
God then makes clothes for them, then says, "'Behold the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever,' he sent them forth from the Garden of Eden, to till the soil from which he was taken" (Genesis 3:22-23). Of interest, two of the words, "hand" יָד - yad, and "know" יָדַע - yadah, are closely related. 18
St. Matthew, in speaking of Mary being with child, sees fulfillment in Jesus Christ of two Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah, that of Isaiah 7:14, that the Messiah would be born of a virgin, and Micah 5:1-4, the Christ would be born in Bethlehem (Matthew 1:20-2:6).
St. John in his Gospel was the first to implicitly refer to Mary as Eve, the woman of Genesis 3:15. St. John refers to Mary, the mother of Jesus, as woman at the wedding feast at Cana (John 2:1-5). When Mary informs Jesus that they have no wine, he calls his mother woman, that his “hour has not yet come.”
On the third day there was a marriage at Cana in Galilee,
and the mother of Jesus was there;
Jesus also was invited to the marriage, with his disciples.
When the wine failed, the mother of Jesus said to him,
"They have no wine."
And Jesus said to her,
"O woman, what have you to do with me?
My hour has not yet come."
His mother said to the servants,
"Do whatever he tells you.
As Jesus was dying on the cross, he called out to his mother, "Woman, behold your son" (John 19:26) .
When Jesus saw his mother,
and the disciple whom he loved standing near,
he said to his mother,
"Woman, behold, your son!"
Then he said to the disciple,
"Behold, your mother!"
And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.
Father George Montague notes that woman was not the customary way for a semitic son to call his mother, so that together in these two scenes, woman suggests much deeper symbolism. Jesus is the offspring of the woman, and by naming Mary with this title, Jesus is suggesting that the earlier promise of salvation is being fulfilled. Montague sees this motif of the conquest of satan through the woman’s son in Revelation 12. St. John continues in Chapter 12 of the Book of Revelation to refer to the "woman clothed with the sun." One can trace development from the “seed of the woman” and painful birth in Genesis 3:15-16 to the concept of the “woman in travail” in Micah's prophecy of the Messiah coming from Bethlehem to the "woman in travail" in Revelation 12:2-5. He further notes that the word "offspring" in Revelation 12:17 is the same word used in Genesis 3:15 for the "seed" of the woman who would crush the head of the serpent.
St. Paul addressed original sin, and calls Adam "a type of the one to come," referring to Christ in his Letter to the Romans. The word for Adam and man is the same in Hebrew, and Jesus called himself the Son of Man.
Therefore as sin came into the world through one man
and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned -
sin indeed was in the world before the law was given,
but sin is not counted where there is no law.
Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses,
even over those whose sins were not like the transgression of Adam,
who was a type of the one who was to come.
St. Paul uses similar language to Genesis 3:15 to refer to Christ crushing Satan:
Then the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
St. Paul continues in First Corinthians to emphasize Christ as the New Adam who brings life:
For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead came also from a human being.
For just as in Adam all die, so too in Christ shall all be brought to life.
First Corinthians 15:21-22
Jesus Christ is the one who fulfills the prophecy of a Redeemer in Genesis 3:15, as aptly expressed in the Letter to the Hebrews: 20
Now since the children share in blood and flesh, he likewise shared in them,
that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,
and free those who through fear of death had been subject to slavery all their life.
Surely he did not help angels but rather the descendants of Abraham;
therefore, he had to become like his brothers in every way,
that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest before God to expiate the sins of the people.
The Tree of Life is present only in Genesis and Revelation. What awaits the faithful followers of Christ is the New Jerusalem in the Kingdom of God with the Tree of Life:
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb
down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life,
bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month.
And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
One may see in an overview that the Books of Genesis and Revelation, the first and last books of the Bible, serve as bookends to the whole of salvation history, the triumph of God through his Son Jesus Christ.
St. Justin Martyr (120-165 AD) was the first Church Father to draw an explicit comparison between Eve and Mary: "For Eve, being a virgin and undefiled, conceiving the word that was from the serpent, brought forth disobedience and death; but the Virgin Mary, taking faith and joy, when the Angel told her the good tidings, that the Spirit of the Lord should ... overshadow her, and therefore the Holy One that was born of her was Son of God, answered, "Be it done to me according to Thy word."
The concept of Genesis 3:15 being the Proto-evangelium or "First Gospel" is attributed to St. Irenaeus of Lyons (135-202) from his work Against Heresies: 22 "For this end did He put enmity between the serpent and the woman and her seed, they keeping it up mutually: He, the sole of whose foot should be bitten, having power also to tread upon the enemy's head; but the other biting, killing, and impeding the steps of man, until the seed did come appointed to tread down his head, - which was born of Mary, of whom the prophet speaks: 'Thou shalt tread upon the asp and the basilisk; thou shalt trample down the lion and the dragon (Psalm 91:13).'"
- St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book III, Chapter 23, Number 7 23
"Christ has therefore, in His work of recapitulation, summed up all things, both waging war against our enemy, and crushing him who had at the beginning led us away captives in Adam, and trampled upon his head, as thou can perceive in Genesis that God said to the serpent, 'And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; He shall be on the watch for thy head, and thou on the watch for his heel.' For from that time, He who should be born of a woman, namely from the Virgin, after the likeness of Adam, was preached as keeping watch for the head of the serpent. This is the seed of which the apostle says in the Letter to the Galatians, 'that the law of works was established until the seed should come to whom the promise was made (Galatians 3:19).' This fact is exhibited in a still clearer light in the same Epistle where he thus speaks: 'But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman (Galatians 4:4).' For indeed the enemy would not have been fairly vanquished, unless it had been a man born of a woman who conquered him. For it was by means of a woman that he got the advantage over man at first, setting himself up as man's opponent. And therefore does the Lord profess Himself to be the Son of man, comprising in Himself that original man out of whom the woman was fashioned, in order that, as our species went down to death through a vanqushed man, so we may ascend to life again through a victorious one; and as through a man death received the palm of victory against us, so again by a man we may receive the palm against death."
- St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book V, 21, 1
St. Jerome (347-420) translated the Hebrew texts while living an ascetic life in Bethlehem and completed his work in 405. St. Jerome's Latin Vulgate Bible was the standard Bible in Western civilization for over 1000 years! He employed the word she for the epicene form in Genesis 3:15. This of course had a profound effect on Marian devotion. St. Jerome captured the meaning at the time through an expression: "Death through Eve, life through Mary." One still sees images today of Mary trampling the head of the serpent. 24
In his Decree on the Immaculate Conception, Ineffabilis Deus, published December 8, 1854, Pope Pius IX declared: "These ecclesiastical writers in quoting (Genesis 3:15), by which at the beginning of the world God announced his merciful remedies prepared for the regeneration of mankind - words by which he crushed the audacity of the deceitful serpent and wondrously raised up the hope of our race - taught that by this divine prophecy the merciful Redeemer of mankind, Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, was clearly foretold: That his most Blessed Mother, the Virgin Mary, was prophetically indicated; and, at the same time, the very enmity
of both against the evil one was significantly expressed."
In his solemn declaration on the Assumption of Mary, Munificentissimus Deus, published November 1, 1950, Pope Pius XII refers Mary the new Eve, and the Proto-evangelium: "We must remember especially that, since the second century, the Virgin Mary has been designated by the holy Fathers as the new Eve, who, although subject to the new Adam, is intimately associated with him in that struggle against the infernal foe which, as foretold in the Protoevangelium (Genesis 3:15), would finally result in complete victory over the sin and death which are always mentioned together in the writings of the Apostle of the Gentiles (Romans 5:12-6:11; I Corinthians 15:21-26, 15:45-57)." 26
The Pontifical Biblical Commission defined the sensus plenior or "fuller sense as a deeper meaning of the text, intended by God but not clearly expressed by the human author.” This fuller sense is to be found when an earlier text is given a new meaning by a later biblical author, such as Isaiah 7:14 is given a fuller sense by Matthew 1:23 when referring to the virginal conception of Jesus.27 Gordon Wenham considers Genesis 3:15 a subject for the fuller sense: "While a messianic interpretation may be justified in the light of subsequent revelation, it would perhaps be wrong to suggest that this was the narrator's own understanding." 28
Pope John Paul II, in his 1987 encyclical Redemptoris Mater, reminds us that Mary is the "woman" foreshadowed in that promise made to our first parents after their fall into sin, according to the Book of Genesis (Genesis 3:15) ... The fullness of grace indicates all the supernatural munificence from which Mary benefits by being chosen and destined to being the Mother of Christ." 29
The Catechism of the Catholic Church instructs that "Genesis 3:15 is called the Protoevangelium or First Gospel: the first announcement of the Messiah and Redeemer, of a battle between the serpent and the Woman, and of the final victory of a descendant of hers." 30
Genesis 3:15 is a promise, a message of hope for mankind. God created this world and retains dominion over the world. God will not let the force of evil prevail, but will deliver mankind from its grip.
God punished our first parents for their disobedience, but as a sign of his mercy, preserved his blessing of future generations. The expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden is mitigated by hope of an offspring of the woman.
The primeval story of creation presents God retaining dominion and relationship with his creation in spite of man's disobedience and fall. Ever since Adam and Eve, there has been a struggle between good and evil. Adam and Eve were led to the sin of disobedience, when the serpent achieved victory by leading our first parents astray. But after pronouncing punishment, the Lord God mitigated the sentence by promising an offspring of the woman, a son of man to crush the head of the serpent in Genesis 3:15. God does not give up on his creation!
New Testament Scripture and the Church Fathers saw Jesus Christ as the New Adam, the Son of Man, the offspring of Mary the New Eve. Jesus died on the Cross to fulfill his Father's will, triumph over death, and redeem mankind.
Genesis 3:15 sets the course of salvation history throughout the Bible and finds fulfillment in Jesus Christ.
1 Andrew Minto. Genesis 1-11: Exegesis and Patristics. Class Lectures and Notes, Franciscan University, Steubenville, Ohio, 2004.
2 The Hebrew Bible. Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia. Masoretic Text, Fifth Edition. Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2006.
3 JPS Hebrew-English Tanakh. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2000.
4 Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger. "Foundations and Approaches of Biblical Exegesis." Origins 17 (35): 593-602, February 11, 1988.
5 The Second Vatican Council. "Lumen Gentium" and "Dei Verbum," in Vatican Council II, Austin Flannery (ed): (New York: Dominican Publications, Costello Publishing Company, 1996), 416, 750-765.
6 Pontifical Biblical Commission. The Interpretation of the Bible in The Church. (Boston: Pauline Books & Media, 1993), 82-88.
7 Navarre Revised Standard Version of the The Holy Bible. Dublin, Ireland: Four Courts Press, 1999-2005.
8 Gary A Rendsburg. "Ancient Hebrew Morphology," in Kaye AS (ed), Morphologies of Asia and Africa (Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns, 2007), 85-105.
9 Gary A Rendsburg. "A New Look at Pentateuchal HW'." Biblica 63 (1982): 351-369.
10 Gary A Rendsburg. The Redaction of Genesis. Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns, 1986.
11 Pope John Paul II. "Original Unity of Man and Woman," in Theology of the Body - Human Love in the Divine Plan, (Boston: Pauline Books & Media, 1997), 32-93.
12 Sofia Cavalletti. The History of the Kingdom of God, Part I: From Creation to Parousia. (Chicago: Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, Liturgy Training Publications, 2012), 42-60.
13 Allen P. Ross. Introducing Biblical Hebrew. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2001.
14 Umberto Cassuto. A Commentary on the Book of Genesis. (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, Hebrew University, 1978), 138-162.
15 Allen P. Ross. Creation and Blessing: Guide to the Study and Exposition of Genesis. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 1996), 130-151.
16 St. Augustine. The Literal Meaning of Genesis. Book XI, Chapter II. (New York: Ancient Christian Writers, 1982), Vol 42:135-136.
17 Andrew Minto. Genesis 1-11: Exegesis and Patristics, 2005.
18 Menahem Mansoor. Biblical Hebrew - Step by Step, Volume One. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1980, 24th Printing, 2007. Volume Two, Third Edition, 1984, 13th printing, 2002.
19 Father George T. Montague. The Apocalypse. (Ann Arbor, Michigan: Servant Publications, 1992), 141-150.
20 Nancy Guthrie. The Promised One: Seeing Jesus in Genesis. (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2011), 61-85.
21 St. Justin Martyr. "Dialogue with Trypho", Chapter 100, in Fathers of the Church. New York: Christian Heritage, 1948.
22 Pope John Paul II. Theology of the Body - Human Love in the Divine Plan, (1997), 93, 458-460.
23 Irenaeus of Lyons. Against Heresies - Book III, Chapter 23, 7, in The Apostolic Fathers, Coxe AC (ed). Edinburgh: American Edition of the Ante-Nicene Fathers, 1885; and Book V, Chapter 21, 1, in Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: Genesis 1-11, Andrew Louth (ed). (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2001), 90-91.
24 Andrew Minto. Genesis 1-11: Exegesis and Patristics, 2005.
25 Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus, December 8, 1854, on Welcome to the Catholic Church on CD-ROM, Gervais, Oregon: Harmony Media, 2005.
26 Pope Pius XII, Munificentissimus Deus, November 1, 1950, on Welcome to the Catholic Church on CD-ROM, Gervais, Oregon: Harmony Media, 2005.
27 Pontifical Biblical Commission, The Interpretation of the Bible in The Church, 82-88.
28 Gordon J. Wenham. World Biblical Commentary: Genesis 1-15. (Waco, Texas: Word Books, 1987), 80-91.
29 Pope John Paul II. God's Yes to Man - The Encyclical Redemptoris Mater. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1988.
30 Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition. Libreria Editrice Vaticana, (Washington, DC: US Catholic Conference, 2000), Paragraphs 115-119, 410.