The Good and Evil Serpent by James H. Charlesworth

Author:James H. Charlesworth [Charlesworth, James H.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-300-14273-0
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: 2010-06-12T16:00:00+00:00

We should avoid the error of positing a false dichotomy between nature and nurture. Is it not clear that we are taught to hate snakes? This is not a native disposition inherited. To appreciate ancient serpent symbolism we must be constantly aware to avoid the nurturing that brands snakes as dangerous, evil, and fearsome.

If we are to comprehend successfully the symbolism inherited by and developed by the Fourth Evangelist, we must immerse ourselves in his time. We must indwell the culture that shaped his thoughts and provided the symbolism and metaphors by which he could articulate his own thoughts. His context provided perceptions and symbolism by which he crafted his challenging Christology. G. Theissen, with erudition and sensitivity, illustrates how immersing oneself in the cultural and political context of a text creates new insights for reflection.53 We have been attempting to demonstrate this point by focusing on serpent imagery and symbolism in the cultural and historical contexts of our texts, especially Genesis 3, Numbers 21, and John 3.

During the period when the Fourth Gospel was taking shape and for the next three centuries, the Asclepian cult and its bewitching serpent symbolism were a threat to Christian theologians and church leaders. In A Plea for the Christians, the second-century Athenagoras, the Athenian Christian apologist, reported that Hesiod said the following of Asclepius:

The mighty father both of gods and men

Was filled with wrath, and from Olympus’ top

With flaming thunderbolt cast down and slew

Latona’s well-lov’d son—such was his ire.54

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