Maps of paradise
By: Alessandro Scafi
Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
Published: 2013
Place of publication: Chicago; London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 176
ISBN-13: 9780226082615; 9780226106083
Copyright date: 2013
Subjects: Paradise; Maps; Geographical myths; Comparative studies
Description: "For two millennia, learned Christians have wondered where on earth the primal paradise could have been located. Where was the idyllic Garden of Eden that is described in the Bible? ... Maps of Paradise charts the diverse ways in which scholars and mapmakers from the eighth to the twenty-first century rose to the challenge of identifying the location of paradise on a map"--Jacket flap.

"Scafi guides readers from late antiquity to the present, describing each society's vision of paradise and revealing how each struggled to translate these visions into map form. He pays particular attention to maps from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, a period that witnessed a remarkable evolution of paradise from a remote place impossible to detect with any precision, to a locale that could be depicted in recognizable maps. In addition, Scafi traces the changing perception of paradise over time, drawing heavily on historical debates about faith versus reason and theology versus philosophy, and demonstrates how these impacted the choices mapmakers made when constructing their maps."--Publisher's website.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.
Table of contents: title: Paradise nowhere and elsewhere; title: Mapping the territory; title: Mapping the Bible; title: Mapping time; title: Where is nowhere?; title: Pinning down paradise; title: Everything changes, nothing changes; title: New life into an old debate; title: Paradise and utopia.