From Eden to Exile by Eric Cline

From Eden to Exile by Eric Cline
Cline was the chief consultant to National Geographic's Science of the Bible series. This just released book, is in some ways a companion volume to that series, although not all the shows are covered. Instead, it provides a mainstream archaeological overview of several biblical issues and then introduces some of the more controversial views from other scholars. In that vein, his chapter on locating the Garden of Eden briefly discusses my own theory, that the Eden story derives from the Creation account associated with the Egyptian city of Heliopolis (Annu in Egyptian, On in the bible), one of the oldest and most influential religious centers in ancient Egypt. According to the bible, Joseph had married the daughter of the chief priest of Heliopolis (Gen. 41:45). Moses, as a member of the royal household, would almost certainly have been educated at Heliopolis.