omphaloi - a photo on Flickriver

omphaloi

The ample fig leaf served our artistic forefathers well as a botanical shield against indecent exposure for Adam and Eve, our naked parents in the primeval bliss and innocence of Eden. Yet, in many ancient paintings, foliage hides more than Adam's genitalia; a wandering vine covers his navel as well. If modesty enjoined the genital shroud, a very different motive - mystery - placed a plant over his belly. In a theological debate more portentous than the old argument about angels on pinpoints, many earnest people of faith had wondered whether Adam had a navel.

Stephen Jay Gould, Adam's Navel

This is the argument alluded to by pomphorhynchus below. Adam and Eve had no reason for navels, the scar of an umbilical cord, and yet, if they were just like us, must they have had them?

Stephen Jay Gould's essay discusses the very odd theory put forward in 1857 by British naturalist Philip Henry Gosse in his book Omphalos (Greek for navel) to explain not only why Adam might have had a belly button, but much more tenuously, the entire fossil record. Gosse saw Creation proceeding as a form of irruption into a natural cycle, and creating as a by-product, an all-encompassing divine falsehood.

The untestable, counter-intuitive theory was never popular among the pragmatic British of the 19th century, but has gained currency among some on the more mentalist wing of current "creation science".

All the more curious, then, that the navel should be the only anatomical feature visible on this pairing.

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Taken in: United Kingdom / England / Gloucester / The Docks (show map)

Taken on: July 27, 2008

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Fujifilm FinePix S9600

elsewhere « less

Sets appears in: • 2008 • Around UK more » • Churches, Chapels and Cathedrals • elsewhere • Favorites • Fujifilm FinePix S9600 • geotagged • Gloucester Cathedral • The best of the rest • Yersinia pestis « less

Groups appears in: • Cathedrals UK (see new rules) • Almost Black and White more » • Tree of Life • Literary Britain and Ireland • Yersinia pestis « less

Camera: Fujifilm FinePix S9600, f/5.0, 1/6 sec, 11.7mm, ISO 100 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Fujifilm FinePix S9600
Aperture:	f/5.0
Exposure Time:	0.167 sec (1/6)
Focal Length:	11.7mm
ISO:	100
Exposure Bias:	-1 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Digital Camera FinePix S9600 Ver1.00
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