A question about Adam and Eve's nakedness

[hilarycotter]

After the fall Adam and Eve were ashamed by their nakedness and covered themselves up. I take it that they suddenly felt a moral compulsion to modesty.

How does this fit with the fact that some indigenous tribes go around naked?

 

[davidv]

After the fall Adam and Eve were ashamed by their nakedness and covered themselves up. I take it that they suddenly felt a moral compulsion to modesty.

How does this fit with the fact that some indigenous tribes go around naked?

John Paul II goes into this in great detail in his Theology of the Body. Christofer West’s layman’s interpretation of this teaching can be found here.

 

[eric_sammons]

After the fall Adam and Eve were ashamed by their nakedness and covered themselves up. I take it that they suddenly felt a moral compulsion to modesty.

How does this fit with the fact that some indigenous tribes go around naked?

I think the deeper reality that Scripture is trying to convey here is that Adam and Eve were no longer open to God and each other in a complete way. With the entrance of sin into their lives, they become focused on self, and their shame at their nakedness is not modesty but vanity and self-centeredness.

 

[hilarycotter]

Wow, what great answers!

Thanks!