The Fruit, the Tree, and the Serpent PDF Download

Author: Lynne A. Isbell
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674033019
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 222

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Book Description
The global prominence of snakes in religion, myth, and folklore underscores our deep connection to them—but why, when few of us have firsthand experience? The answer, Isbell suggests, lies in snakes’ singular impact on primate evolution; predation pressure from snakes is ultimately responsible for the superior vision and large brains of primates.

Author: Lynne A. Isbell
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674054040
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 222

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Book Description
From the temptation of Eve to the venomous murder of the mighty Thor, the serpent appears throughout time and cultures as a figure of mischief and misery. The worldwide prominence of snakes in religion, myth, and folklore underscores our deep connection to the serpent—but why, when so few of us have firsthand experience? The surprising answer, this book suggests, lies in the singular impact of snakes on primate evolution. Predation pressure from snakes, Lynne Isbell tells us, is ultimately responsible for the superior vision and large brains of primates—and for a critical aspect of human evolution. Drawing on extensive research, Isbell further speculates how snakes could have influenced the development of a distinctively human behavior: our ability to point for the purpose of directing attention. A social activity (no one points when alone) dependent on fast and accurate localization, pointing would have reduced deadly snake bites among our hominin ancestors. It might have also figured in later human behavior: snakes, this book eloquently argues, may well have given bipedal hominins, already equipped with a non-human primate communication system, the evolutionary nudge to point to communicate for social good, a critical step toward the evolution of language, and all that followed.

Author: Caryl Johnston
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 170

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Book Description
Explores the nature of human awareness as represented in the Garden of Eden, Cain and Abel, Abraham and the sacrifice of Isaac, and humanity’s covenant with God.

Author: John Milton
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Poetry
Languages : en
Pages : 156

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Author: Various Authors,
Publisher: Zondervan
ISBN: 0310294142
Category : Bibles
Languages : en
Pages : 6637

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The NIV is the world's best-selling modern translation, with over 150 million copies in print since its first full publication in 1978. This highly accurate and smooth-reading version of the Bible in modern English has the largest library of printed and electronic support material of any modern translation.

Author: John Milton
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Bible
Languages : en
Pages : 464

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Author: Jeffrey J. Kripal
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226453820
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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Book Description
“Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field.” With those words in Genesis, God condemns the serpent for tempting Adam and Eve, and the serpent has shouldered the blame ever since. But how would the study of religion change if we looked at the Fall from the snake’s point of view? Would he appear as a bringer of wisdom, more generous than the God who wishes to keep his creation ignorant? Inspired by the early Gnostics who took that startling view, Jeffrey J. Kripal uses the serpent as a starting point for a groundbreaking reconsideration of religious studies and its methods. In a series of related essays, he moves beyond both rational and faith-based approaches to religion, exploring the erotics of the gospels and the sexualities of Jesus, John, and Mary Magdalene. He considers Feuerbach’s Gnosticism, the untapped mystical potential of comparative religion, and even the modern mythology of the X-Men. Ultimately, The Serpent’s Gift is a provocative call for a complete reorientation of religious studies, aimed at a larger understanding of the world, the self, and the divine.

Author: Prof.M.M. Ninan
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 0359081525
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 102

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Book Description
In this book we are dealing essentially with the presence of the serpent in the Garden of Eden which God made on the earth and placed the newly created Adam and Eve with two strange trees with just one command to the new born babes not to eat from one of these trees. For some strange reason the serpent who was one of the residents got involved and starts of the process of the freedom of choice for the kids in their process of individuation and finding themselves. The children of God grew up under discipline to become part of God in all His creative activities.

Author: Gary A. Anderson
Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
ISBN: 9780664226992
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
A careful examination of the earliest biblical interpretations of Genesis considers such topics as human destiny, the Creation, sexuality, sin, and forgiveness, from the perspectives of both Judaism and Christianity.

Author: Jeremy Narby
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101494352
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
This adventure in science and imagination, which the Medical Tribune said might herald "a Copernican revolution for the life sciences," leads the reader through unexplored jungles and uncharted aspects of mind to the heart of knowledge.In a first-person narrative of scientific discovery that opens new perspectives on biology, anthropology, and the limits of rationalism, The Cosmic Serpent reveals how startlingly different the world around us appears when we open our minds to it.