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 world-from the Bible
and other religious texts to ancient statuary and jewelry.
Charlesworth has arrived at a surprising conclusion: not only was
the serpent a widespread symbol throughout the world, but its
meanings were both subtle and varied. In fact, the serpent of
ancient times was more often associated with positive attributes
like healing and eternal life than it was with negative meanings.
This groundbreaking book explores in plentiful detail the symbol of
the serpent from 40,000 BCE to the present, and from diverse
regions in the world. In doing so it emphasizes the creativity of
the biblical authors' use of symbols and argues that we must today
reexamine our own archetypal conceptions with comparable
creativity.
General
Imprint: |
Yale University Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Series: |
The Anchor Yale Bible Reference Library |
Release date: |
March 2010 |
First published: |
March 2010 |
Authors: |
James H Charlesworth
|
Dimensions: |
235 x 156 x 46mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Hardcover - Cloth over boards
|
Pages: |
744 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-300-14082-8 |
Categories: |
Books
|
LSN: |
0-300-14082-7 |
Barcode: |
9780300140828 |
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