Mark Laita’s book is for those that admire the aesthetics of snakes. It is an artistic endeavor in the form of a photography collection. I am so here for this cover design and for this book. Sigourney Rose is out for revenge after her island’s colonizers murdered her family. Sigourney is ambitious and powerful: she has the ability to manipulate and reads minds. When the childless king of the islands declares that he will choose his successor from amongst eligible noble families, Sigourney uses her powers to set her revenge in motion. This epic fantasy read explores and peels away the layers of privilege and power. The Little Snake by A.L. Kennedy In Christian tradition, the "ancient serpent" is commonly identified with the Genesis serpent and as Satan. This identification redefined the Hebrew Bible's concept of Satan ("the Adversary", a member of the Heavenly Court acting on behalf of God to test Job's faith), so that Satan/Serpent became a part of a divine plan stretching from Creation to Christ and the Second Coming. [54] Religious views [ edit ] Biblical apocrypha and deuterocanonical books [ edit ] In Gnosticism, the biblical serpent in the Garden of Eden was praised and thanked for bringing knowledge ( gnosis) to Adam and Eve and thereby freeing them from the malevolent Demiurge's control. [63] Gnostic Christian doctrines rely on a dualistic cosmology that implies the eternal conflict between good and evil, and a conception of the serpent as the liberating savior and bestower of knowledge to humankind opposed to the Demiurge or creator god, identified with the Hebrew God of the Old Testament. [60] [63] Gnostic Christians considered the Hebrew God of the Old Testament as the evil, false god and creator of the material universe, and the Unknown God of the Gospel, the father of Jesus Christ and creator of the spiritual world, as the true, good God. [59] [60] [63] [64] In the Archontic, Sethian, and Ophite systems, Yaldabaoth (Yahweh) is regarded as the malevolent Demiurge and false god of the Old Testament who generated the material universe and keeps the souls trapped in physical bodies, imprisoned in the world full of pain and suffering that he created. [65] [66] [67]

In the Gospel of Matthew, John the Baptist calls the Pharisees and Saducees, who were visiting him, a "brood of vipers" ( Matthew 3:7). Jesus also uses this imagery, observing: "Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?" ( Matthew 23:33). Alternatively, Jesus also presents the snake with a less negative connotation when sending out the Twelve Apostles. Jesus exhorted them, "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves" ( Matthew 10:16). Wilhelm Gesenius notes that even amongst the ancient Hebrews, the serpent was a symbol of wisdom. [41] Kvam, Kristen E.; Schearing, Linda S.; Ziegler, Valarie H., eds. (1999). "Hebrew Bible Accounts". Eve and Adam: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Readings on Genesis and Gender. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. pp.15–40. doi: 10.2307/j.ctt2050vqm.5. ISBN 9780253212719. JSTOR j.ctt2050vqm.5. The idea of Zoroastrian influence on the evolution of Satan is in limited favor among scholars today, not least because the satan figure is always subordinate to God in Hebrew and Christian representations, and Angra Mainyu ..."- Kelly, Henry Ansgar (2006). Satan: a biography (1sted.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p.360. ISBN 978-0-521-84339-3. Layton, Bentley (1999). "Prolegomena to the Study of Ancient Gnosticism". In Ferguson, Everett (ed.). Doctrinal Diversity: Varieties of Early Christianity. Recent Studies in Early Christianity: A Collection of Scholarly Essays. New York and London: Garland Publishing, Inc. pp.106–123. ISBN 0-8153-3071-5. This book provides information on more than 100 species, including several rare and endangered species.a b c d e May, Gerhard (2008). "Part V: The Shaping of Christian Theology - Monotheism and creation". In Mitchell, Margaret M.; Young, Frances M. (eds.). The Cambridge History of Christianity, Volume 1: Origins to Constantine. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp.434–451, 452–456. doi: 10.1017/CHOL9780521812399.026. ISBN 9781139054836. In one of the oldest stories ever written, the Epic of Gilgamesh, the main character and eponymous protagonist Gilgamesh loses the power of immortality, stolen by a snake. [1] [12] The serpent was a widespread figure in the mythologies of the Ancient Near East and Eastern Mediterranean. [1] Ouroboros is an ancient symbol of a serpent eating its own tail that represents the perpetual cyclic renewal of life, [13] the eternal return, and the cycle of life, death, and rebirth, leading to immortality.

In the Hebrew Bible, the Book of Genesis refers to a serpent who triggered the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden in Eden ( Gen 3:1–20). Serpent is also used to describe sea monsters. Examples of these identifications are in the Book of Isaiah where a reference is made to a serpent-like dragon named Leviathan ( Isaiah 27:1), and in the Book of Amos where a serpent resides at the bottom of the sea ( Amos 9:3). Serpent figuratively describes biblical places such as Egypt ( Jer 46:22), and the city of Dan ( Gen 49:17). The prophet Jeremiah also compares the King of Babylon to a serpent ( Jer 51:34). E.A. Speiser, Excavations at Tepe Gawra: I. Levels I-VIII, p. 114ff., noted in Joines 1968:246 and note 9. The fun in this book comes from Steen answering questions you didn’t know had an answer or never thought to ask! Author Mark O’Shea is a Professor of Herpetology and a television presenter. He published this book of snake species in 2018.Serpentineis NOT a reference book, but one for people just love to look at snakes in all their diverse beauty. a b c d e f Ehrman, Bart D. (2005) [2003]. "Christians "In The Know": The Worlds of Early Christian Gnosticism". Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp.113–134. doi: 10.1017/s0009640700110273. ISBN 978-0-19-518249-1. LCCN 2003053097. S2CID 152458823.