Blondel sees in the story of Adam and Eve a first historical instantiation of the drama provoked by a grace given to mankind from the beginning, obscurely to be sure, but nevertheless clearly enough to meet the original couple’s level of responsibility. The story does not presuppose, in these individuals, originally interpolated by God in their state of innocence, the high level of historical consciousness the modern critical thinker or the more articulate theologian might suspect. Nor is the gift