l and of sin. In the Old an

Undergraduate Information

d New Testaments alike, the serpent clutches the tree of Paradise as the satanic power that summons the entire tragedy of sinning humanity as well as its hope for redemption. In the battle against pagan idolatry, early Christianity was more uncompromising in its view of the serpent cult. In the

eye

s of the pagans, Paul w
as an impervious emissa

ry when he hurled th

e viper that had bitten him into the fire without dying of the bite. (The poisonous viper belongs in the fire!) So durable was the impression of Paul's invulnerability to the vipers of Malta that as late as the sixteenth century, jugglers wound snakes around themselves at fest

ival

s and fairgrounds, repr
esenting themselves as

men of the house of

Saint Paul and selling soil from Malta as an antidote to snakebites. Here the principle of the immunity of the strong in faith ends up again in superstitious magical practice (Figure

Fax: 27). In medieval theology we find the

miracle of the bra
zen serpent curiously re
tained as a par
t of legitimate r

eligious devotion

. Nothing attests to the indestructibility of the animal cult
as does the survival of the miracle of the brazen serpent into the medieval Christian world view. S
o lasting in medieval theological memory was the serpent cult a

nd the need to overcome it that, on the basis of a comp

letely isolated pas to download and print the form that you will need to mail to EMRTC. Full instructions are on the form. If you have any questions regarding this, please call 575-835-5513.