21.3: The Serpent Seed Theory (Part One)

What if the serpent didn’t offer Eve an apple when they met in the Garden of Eden? What if, instead, Eve had sex with the serpent, betraying her partner and engendering a race of half-serpent, half-human people? The suggestion may seem bizarre but as a theological theory it’s had a long life and continues to surface in a variety of interpretations of Genesis up to the modern age. It’s difficult for many readers to just let the serpent be. He’s an unusual character in his own right as the only animal who starts a recorded conversation with the humans in the garden and he’s made even stranger for his rebellious nature. The animals in the garden, after all, had not been endowed with the capabilities nor the responsibilities of Adam and yet here comes a reptile acting almost human and inserting himself into the uniquely human problem of the Tree of Knowledge. When the student of mythology adds the many uses of the serpent in the caduceus, the ouroboros, and legends stretching across civilizations and times, it’s difficult not to wonder if Genesis is trying to say more than what’s on the surface with its snake. The fact that the serpent is the most phallic of animals raises the distinct possibility that maybe this secret is somehow sexual.