From Nowhere: Utopian and Dystopian Visions of our - Chris J. Young

Case Three: Paradise Lost and Regained
Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden
of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
Genesis 3:23
Alongside the myths of a Golden Age, the epic stories to the Underworld, ideal states, and the grand
voyages into unknown lands, were the Judeo-Christian visions of paradise, hell, and God’s final judgment,
the apocalypse. While visions of paradise and hell can be linked to the classical traditions of Elysium and
Tartarus respectively, the Judeo-Christian beliefs were powerful symbols throughout medieval European
history, and played an enormous role in the belief systems of the inhabitants of the utopias and dystopias
written after Thomas More’s Utopia. The idea that society could return to a prelapsarian time, when
humans lived without sin, was a prevailing theme throughout the medieval period. Prophecies of a return
to an earthly paradise were evident in the Old Testament Book of isaiah and in the New Testament Book
of Revelation, and were ultimately translated into the countless millenarian movements from the tenth
century onwards that awaited the second coming of Christ which would bring about a permanent heaven
on earth with the destruction of the Antichrist, Satan, and all evil. The final judgment, when time would
cease to exist and humanity would coexist in peace and harmony, was a dream sought after by many a
utopian writer in the centuries that followed. in the final part of this pre-utopian history, paradise, hell,
the apocalypse, and visions of earthly paradises are explored in order to understand their important role
in the framing of utopian and dystopian narratives.
13. The Holy Bible, with Illustrations. London: Cassell, Petter, Galphin & Co, [1860s].
The Garden of Eden was the Judeo-Christian earthly paradise where God provided everything
necessary for human life to flourish without knowledge of good and evil. in this nineteenth-century
edition of the Bible, illustrated by Gustave Doré (1832–1883), the image displayed shows the Fall
when Adam and Eve succumbed to temptation and as a result were cast out of the Garden. Yet the
belief in a return to Eden was a powerful message for many Christians across Europe and became
the foundation stone of the utopian tradition.
From Nowhere: Utopian and Dystopian Visions of our Past, Present, and Future 29