The Good and Evil Serpent: How a Universal Symbol Became Christianized

by James H. Charlesworth

A pathbreaking study of the serpent's symbolic meanings from 40,000 BCE to the present day

In a perplexing passage from the Gospel of John, Jesus is likened to the most reviled creature in Christian symbology: the snake. Attempting to understand how the Fourth Evangelist could have made such a surprising analogy, James H. Charlesworth has spent nearly a decade combing through the vast array of references to serpents in the ancient...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0300140827
• ISBN13: 9780300140828
• Release Date: March 2010
• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Length: 744 Pages
• Weight: 2.68 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.8" x 6.1" x 9.5"