<P> Make ready, O Bethlehem, for Eden hath been opened for all . Prepare, O Ephratha, for the tree of life hath blossomed forth in the cave from the Virgin; for her womb did appear as a spiritual paradise in which is planted the divine Plant, whereof eating we shall live and not die as did Adam . Christ shall be born, raising the image that fell of old . </P> <P> The cross of Christ is also referred to as the tree of life, and in the service books, Jesus is sometimes likened to a "divine cluster" of grapes hanging on the "Tree of the Cross" from which all partake in Holy Communion . </P> <P> This theme is also found in Western Christianity . By way of an archetypal example consider Bonaventure's "biography" of the second person of the Trinity, entitled "The Tree of Life ." (see Cousins, The Classics of Western Spirituality Series) </P> <P> In The City of God (xiii. 20 - 21), Augustine of Hippo offers great allowance for "spiritual" interpretations of the events in the garden, so long as such allegories do not rob the narrative of its historical reality . Enlightenment theologians (culminating perhaps in Brunner and Niebuhr in the twentieth century) sought for figurative interpretations because they had already dismissed the historical possibility of the story . </P>

What is the tree of life in bible