I happen to have a NAB bible back home and when I can get to it I will check out the commentary for myself.If either of you (or anyone else following this thread) should run across anything in a Catholic Bible commentary or in the CCC that affirmatively answers the question posed by the title of this thread (i.e., "Does the Catholic Church Teach that Adam and Eve Are Myths"), please ping me back to this thread. Thanks.
Using OCR software, here is the first find of the online NAB. p. 10, eph. mine, referred to in my last post:
In the Mesopotamian creation- flood stories, the gods created the human race as slaves whose task it was to manage the universe for them —giving them food. clothing. and honor in temple ceremonies. In an unforeseen develop- ment, however, the human race grew so numer- ous and noisy that the gods could not sleep. Deeply angered. the gods decided to destroy the race by a universal flood. One man and his fam- ily, however, secretly warned of the flood by his patron god. built a boat and survived. Soon re- gretting their irnpetuous decision, the gods cre- ated a revised version of humankind. The new race was created mortal so they would never again grow numerous and bother the gods. The authors of Genesis adapted the creation-flood story in accord with their views of God and hu- manity. For example. they attributed the fault to human sin rather than to divine miscalculation (6:5-7) and had God reaffirm without change the original creation (9: l-7). I
[See here and here on who copied who, etc. in such things.]
In the biblical version God is just, powerful, and not needy. I-low should modern readers interpret the ere- ation-flood story in Gn 2-I I. The stories are nei- ther history nor myth. “Myth” is an unsuitable term, for it has several different meanings and connotes untruth in popular English. “History” is equally misleading, for it suggests that the events actually took place. The best term is creation- flood story. Ancient Near Eastern thinkers did not have our methods of exploring serious questions. Instead. they used narratives for issues that we would call philosophical and theological. 'I1tey added and subtracted narrative details and varied the plot as they sought meaning in the ancient sto- ries. Their stories reveal a privileged time. when divine decisiom were made that determined the future of the human race. The origin of something was thought to explain its present meaning, e.g., how God acts with justice and generosity, why human beings are rebellious. the nature of sexual attraction and marriage. why there are many peo- ples and languages. Though the stories may ini- tially suilte us as primitive and naive, they are in fact told with skill. compression. and subtlety. they provide profound answers to perennial about God and human beings.
Going to church meeting. Hope to get back with more later.