Adam, the first man, the husband of Eve, and father of Cain, Abel, and Seth, and of unnamed "sons and daughters." Various meanings have been ascribed to the name; the most generally recognized is earth-born. The history of Adam, in common with that of the whole antediluvian world, as contained in Genesis, is by some treated as an allegory, intended to convey to an uncultured people an intelligible idea of the world's creation, and to explain some of the momentous questions involved in this earthly being. Others contend for a literal interpretation of the narrative. For Swedenborg's doctrine on the subject, see New Jerusalem Church.