Is the story of Adam and Eve real or is it symbolic?

The position of the Catholic Church regarding the story of our first parents – Adam and Eve – is that, though the writer of the book is not using a literary style that pertains to modern day language used to record historical events, the story of creation and the fall of man is a true one. The Catechism of the Catholic Church declares:

“The account of the fall in Genesis 3 uses figurative language, but affirms a primeval event, a deed that took place at the beginning of the history of man. Revelation gives us the certainty of faith that the whole of human history is marked by the original fault freely committed by our first parents.” – CCC 390

Let’s now look at how the fall and its consequence is presented in the rest of the Scripture. The classical text presented while talking about Original Sin is Romans 5:12-19. Here, St. Paul talks about how through one man’s trespass sin and death entered the world. Since death is transmitted to the next generation when they are conceived as mortals, it is by generation also that Adam transmits sin to them. This transmission of sin can also be seen in Job 14:1-4 and Psalms 51:5. Both of these passages imply that our sinfulness is inherited from our parents.  

From the above verses we come to the conclusion that Original sin proceeds from a sin actually committed by an individual Adam and which, through generation, is passed on to all and is in everyone as his own. Pope Pius XII in his 1950 encyclical Humani Generis (Section 37) makes it clear how and why the story of Adam and Eve can never be taken as symbolic and how it is a real story.

This does not mean that the story has to be taken strictly in its literal sense (where words are taken to mean exactly what they conventionally mean). One example that can be used to understand this comes from Genesis 3:6&7. Here the writer tells how Eve seeing “that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise”, eats from its fruit and gives some to her husband who also eats it. Then their eyes were opened and seeing themselves naked, cover themselves up using fig leaves. Everyone understands that – “Then the eyes of both were opened” – is not to be taken in its literal sense. If done so, it would mean that both Adam and Eve were living till then with their eyelids closed. The correct interpretation is obtained when we understand that the writer is using a metaphor to portray how on committing the first sin, their mental perception about themselves changed. This interpretation gives much more meaning to the passage than a strictly literal one. So, yes, the story of Adam and Eve is real but not literal. Its truth is fuller than the literal.

I will also like to draw the reader’s attention to the possibility that we may never know what exactly happened during the dawn of mankind (neither theologically nor scientifically). Nonetheless, we can be sure that the Magisterium of the Catholic Church will never put forth a declaration while the understanding remains vague.