I found a good side by side comparison of the conservative and liberal interpretations of Genesis.
Genesis 3: The rise (or fall) of humanity, and original sin
Here's an example:
quote:
6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
Conservative:
Eve ate the apple and gave an apple to Adam. Evil entered the world for the first time. 4 The world is changed forever. Successive generations down to the present time suffer from original sin derived from Adam and Eve's sinful disobedience, some six millennia ago. This transferal of sin from the first couple to us is called "imputation."
Liberal:
Eve and Adam eat the fruit. This was not a sinful act on their part anymore than if a lion or a infant human ate the fruit. Neither humans at this point, or animals had any knowledge of good and evil. This act marks a major symbolic step forward for humanity: they seek to improve themselves by acquiring additional knowledge; they desired to be wise. Evil in various forms: anger, viciousness, assault, death, etc had always been present in the world. However, for the first time, Adam and Eve become aware of it.
There are more comparisons if you follow that link.
I'm having trouble deciding which interpretation is correct. I'm not sure but it seems that the conservative position starts with the fundemental assumption that God is omnipotent, omniscient, loving, and just and you can't make sense of the text without accepting that first. It also reads so Christian theology back into the text (ie the serpant = satan.) I'm not sure what fundemental assumptions the liberal position makes yet.
™ Version 4.2