From Eden to Eternity Creations of Paradise in the Later Middle Ages

Did Adam and Eve need to eat in Eden in order to live? If so, did human beings urinate and defecate in paradise? And since people had no need for clothing, transportation or food, what purpose did animals serve? Would carnivores have preyed on other creatures? These were but a few of the questions that plagued medieval scholars from whom the idea of Eden proved an endless source of contemplation. In 'From Eden to Eternity', Alastair Minnis examines the accounts of the origins of the human body and soul to illustrate the ways in which the schoolmen thogh their way back into Eden to discover fundamental truths about humanity.