SOURCE: “On the First Three Chapters of Genesis,” Daedalus, Vol. 87, Summer, 1958, pp. 37-64.

In the following essay, Burke offers an examination of the covenants depicted in Genesis, focusing primarily on the nature of disorder, temptation, and man's “fall.”

Introduction: on Covenant and Order

We want so to relate the ideas of Creation, Covenant, and Fall that they can be seen to implicate one another inextricably, along with ideas of Sacrifice and Redemption.

Creation implies authority in the sense of originator, the designer or author of the things created.

Covenant implies authority in the sense of power, sovereignty—the highest or more radical sovereignty in case the Covenant is made by God.

The possibility of a “Fall” is implied in the idea of a Covenant insofar as the idea of a Covenant implies the possibility of its being violated. One does not make a covenant with stones or trees...