Bemerkungen über das zweite Capitel der Genesis (1829)

In his Remarks on the Second Chapter of Genesis (1829), Franz von Baader offers a speculative-theological and anthropological interpretation of Genesis 2, addressing the apparent contradiction between the first and second creation accounts. Against both rationalist exegesis and pietistic literalism, Baader reads the creation of woman and the fall as symbolic expressions of humanity’s inner division and its descent into animal nature. The text develops a theosophical anthropology in which the loss of the original androgynous unity of humankind marks the beginning of sexual differentiation, corporeality, and estrangement from divine life. Through this fall, the human being forfeits spiritual sovereignty over nature, yet retains the possibility of restoration through love and marriage as redemptive unions that prefigure reconciliation in Christ. Baader thus integrates biblical exegesis, natural philosophy, and Christian mysticism into a unified doctrine of gender, temptation, and cosmic restoration.