The doctrine of the serpent seed, also known as the dual-seed or the two-seedline doctrine, is a controversial and fringe
Christian religious
belief
A belief is an attitude that something is the case, or that some proposition is true. In epistemology, philosophers use the term "belief" to refer to attitudes about the world which can be either true or false. To believe something is to take ...
which explains the biblical account of the
fall of man
The fall of man, the fall of Adam, or simply the Fall, is a term used in Christianity to describe the transition of the first man and woman from a state of innocent obedience to God to a state of guilty disobedience.
*
*
*
* The doctrine of the ...
by stating that the
Serpent
Serpent or The Serpent may refer to:
* Snake, a carnivorous reptile of the suborder Serpentes
Mythology and religion
* Sea serpent, a monstrous ocean creature
* Serpent (symbolism), the snake in religious rites and mythological contexts
* Serp ...
mated with
Eve
Eve (; ; ar, حَوَّاء, Ḥawwāʾ; el, Εὕα, Heúa; la, Eva, Heva; Syriac: romanized: ) is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. According to the origin story, "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the ...
in the
Garden of Eden, and the offspring of their union was
Cain. This event resulted in the creation of two races of people: the wicked descendants of the Serpent who were destined for
damnation
Damnation (from Latin '':wikt:damnatio, damnatio'') is the concept of Divine judgment, divine punishment and torment in an afterlife for actions that were committed, or in some cases, not committed on Earth.
In Ancient Egyptian religion, Anci ...
, and the righteous descendants of Adam who were destined to have
eternal life. The doctrine frames
human history
Human history, also called world history, is the narrative of humanity's past. It is understood and studied through anthropology, archaeology, genetics, and linguistics. Since the invention of writing, human history has been studied throug ...
as a conflict between these two races in which the descendants of Adam will eventually triumph over the descendants of the Serpent.
Elements of the teaching appears in the early
Gnostic
Gnosticism (from grc, γνωστικός, gnōstikós, , 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems which coalesced in the late 1st century AD among Jewish and early Christian sects. These various groups emphasized pe ...
writings of
Valentinus (100–160) and the
Gospel of Philip
The Gospel of Philip is a non-canonical Gnostic Gospel dated to around the 3rd century but lost in medieval times until rediscovered by accident, buried with other texts near Nag Hammadi in Egypt, in 1945.
The text is not closely related to the ...
(). Mainstream Christian teachers rejected the serpent seed doctrine as heresy during the gnostic period.
Irenaeus
Irenaeus (; grc-gre, Εἰρηναῖος ''Eirēnaios''; c. 130 – c. 202 AD) was a Greek bishop noted for his role in guiding and expanding Christian communities in the southern regions of present-day France and, more widely, for the dev ...
(), an
Early Church Father, described the gnostic doctrine that the original sin was adultery between Eve and the serpent and explicitly rejected it as
heresy
Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...
in his book ''
Against Heresies''.
In the
middle ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
, the concept also appeared in Jewish literature, including the
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan
Targum Jonathan is a western targum (interpretation) of the Torah (Pentateuch) from the land of Israel (as opposed to the eastern Babylonian Targum Onkelos). Its correct title was originally Targum Yerushalmi (Jerusalem Targum), which is how it w ...
.
During the 19th century, the serpent seed doctrine was revived by American religious leaders who wanted to promote
white supremacy
White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White s ...
. The modern versions of the serpent seed doctrine were developed within the teachings of
British Israelism by
C. A. L. Totten (1851–1908) and
Russel Kelso Carter
Russel Kelso Carter (November 18, 1849 - August 23, 1928) was an American Christian minister, professor, and songwriter.
Biography
Russel Kelso Carter was born in Baltimore, Maryland on November 18, 1849. He attended the Pennsylvania Military A ...
(1849–1928).
Daniel Parker (1781–1844) was also responsible for reviving and promoting the doctrine among
Primitive Baptists
Primitive Baptists – also known as Hard Shell Baptists, Foot Washing Baptists or Old School Baptists – are conservative Baptists adhering to a degree of Calvinist beliefs who coalesced out of the controversy among Baptists in the early 19th c ...
. Teachers of
Christian Identity Theology
Christian Identity (also known as Identity Christianity) is an interpretation of Christianity which advocates the belief that only Celtic and Germanic peoples, such as the Anglo-Saxon, Nordic nations, or Aryan people and people of kindred blo ...
, which branched off from British Israelism, preached the doctrine during the early twentieth century and promoted it within the
Ku Klux Klan,
Aryan Nations, the
American Nazi Party
The American Nazi Party (ANP) is an American far-right and neo-Nazi political party founded by George Lincoln Rockwell and headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. The organization was originally named the World Union of Free Enterprise Nation ...
and other white supremacist organizations. The belief's adherents commonly use it to justify
antisemitism
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
and
racism
Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonis ...
by claiming that
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
or members of
non-white races are the descendants of Cain and the
Serpent
Serpent or The Serpent may refer to:
* Snake, a carnivorous reptile of the suborder Serpentes
Mythology and religion
* Sea serpent, a monstrous ocean creature
* Serpent (symbolism), the snake in religious rites and mythological contexts
* Serp ...
, who they variably interpret to be
Satan or an
intelligent non-human creature which
lived before Adam and Eve.
The serpent seed teaching comes in several different forms.
William M. Branham (1909–1965),
Arnold Murray (1929–2014),
Wesley A. Swift (1913–1970), and
Sun Myung Moon (1920–2012) played important roles in spreading different versions of the doctrine among members of their respective groups throughout the 20th century. Around the world, there are millions of adherents of the serpent seed doctrine within
Branhamism and the
Unification Church
The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, widely known as the Unification Church, is a new religious movement, whose members are called Unificationists, or " Moonies". It was officially founded on 1 May 1954 under the name Holy Sp ...
. In 2000, there were an estimated 50,000 adherents of it within Christian Identity. The
Anti-Defamation League and various
Christian apologetics
Christian apologetics ( grc, ἀπολογία, "verbal defense, speech in defense") is a branch of Christian theology that defends Christianity.
Christian apologetics has taken many forms over the centuries, starting with Paul the Apostle in ...
organizations have denounced racist versions of the serpent seed teaching by claiming that they are incompatible with the teachings of traditional Christianity, and they have accused their promoters of exacerbating racial divisions by spreading
hate
Hatred is an intense negative emotional response towards certain people, things or ideas, usually related to opposition or revulsion toward something. Hatred is often associated with intense feelings of anger, contempt, and disgust. Hatred is ...
.
Doctrine
Various nuanced forms of the serpent seed doctrine have been developed over the centuries. In its most prominent modern form, it explains the
biblical account of the
fall of man
The fall of man, the fall of Adam, or simply the Fall, is a term used in Christianity to describe the transition of the first man and woman from a state of innocent obedience to God to a state of guilty disobedience.
*
*
*
* The doctrine of the ...
by stating that the
serpent
Serpent or The Serpent may refer to:
* Snake, a carnivorous reptile of the suborder Serpentes
Mythology and religion
* Sea serpent, a monstrous ocean creature
* Serpent (symbolism), the snake in religious rites and mythological contexts
* Serp ...
mated with
Eve
Eve (; ; ar, حَوَّاء, Ḥawwāʾ; el, Εὕα, Heúa; la, Eva, Heva; Syriac: romanized: ) is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. According to the origin story, "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the ...
in the
Garden of Eden, and the offspring of their union was
Cain. It claims that Eve had relations with Adam a second time, and Abel and his younger brother Seth were the two offspring who were produced by that union. Both of these events resulted in the creation of two races of people, the first event produced the wicked descendants of the Serpent who were destined for damnation, and the second event produced the righteous descendants of Adam who were destined to have eternal life. The doctrine frames human history as a conflict between these two races in which the descendants of Adam will eventually triumph over the descendants of Cain and the Serpent.
Genesis 3:14-15 is a foundational verse for the doctrine.
The doctrine is frequently used to
demonize Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
and people who are members of
non-white
The term "person of color" ( : people of color or persons of color; abbreviated POC) is primarily used to describe any person who is not considered "white". In its current meaning, the term originated in, and is primarily associated with, the U ...
races and justify their mistreatment, abuse,
enslavement or
elimination by labeling them Satanic and sub-human. Variations of the doctrine claim that the Serpent's descendants have no souls because they are partially descended from animals and are therefore
predestined for
damnation
Damnation (from Latin '':wikt:damnatio, damnatio'') is the concept of Divine judgment, divine punishment and torment in an afterlife for actions that were committed, or in some cases, not committed on Earth.
In Ancient Egyptian religion, Anci ...
. Some groups are markedly militant on the subject because of their
millennial
Millennials, also known as Generation Y or Gen Y, are the Western demographic cohort following Generation X and preceding Generation Z. Researchers and popular media use the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid-1990s to early 2000s ...
teachings, and as a result, they believe that at the
end of days, a final battle will be fought in which the pure race will triumph over the impure race.
The identity of the serpent varies between groups. Some groups claim that the serpent is Satan himself, while other groups claim that the serpent is an animal which is either apelike or human-like. Some groups incorporate
Pre-Adamite
The pre-Adamite hypothesis or pre-Adamism is the theological belief that humans (or intelligent yet non-human creatures) existed before the biblical character Adam. Pre-Adamism is therefore distinct from the conventional Abrahamic belief that Ada ...
views which state that the serpent was a non-human creature whose creation predated the creation of Adam.
The identity of the serpent's seed also varies between groups.
Aryan Nations, an American anti-semitic, neo-Nazi and white supremacist group, claims that the descendants of the serpent are all people who are not of northern European descent. Other
Christian Identity
Christian Identity (also known as Identity Christianity) is an interpretation of Christianity which advocates the belief that only Celtic and Germanic peoples, such as the Anglo-Saxon, Nordic nations, or Aryan people and people of kindred blood, ...
groups claim that the descendants of the serpent are either Jews or
Africans. William Branham connected the serpent's descendants with
Ham
Ham is pork from a leg cut that has been preserved by wet or dry curing, with or without smoking."Bacon: Bacon and Ham Curing" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 39. As a processed meat, the term "ham ...
(the biblical progenitor of the African peoples), several Jewish figures, the highly educated, and society's criminals. Arnold Murray connected the descendants of the Serpent with the "
Kenites
According to the Hebrew Bible, the Kenites ( or ; he, ''Qēinī'') were a nomadic tribe in the ancient Levant. The Kenites were coppersmiths and metalworkers. According to some scholars, they are descendants of Cain, Harris, Stephen L., Underst ...
", a group of people which he believed had infiltrated some part of Jewish society. In the
Unification Church
The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, widely known as the Unification Church, is a new religious movement, whose members are called Unificationists, or " Moonies". It was officially founded on 1 May 1954 under the name Holy Sp ...
, the bloodline of all humanity is believed to be contaminated as a result of Eve's relations with the serpent. However, married couples can change their heritages by performing the
Holy Marriage Blessing Ceremony which enables them to become the adopted children of their new Adam:
Sun Myung Moon.
[Yamamoto, J. ISamu (2016). ]
Unification Church
'. Zondervan.
Mainstream Christianity
Mainstream Christianity rejects the serpent seed view. Many different Christian groups offer systematic rebuttals of the doctrine. For example, the
Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry
The Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry (CARM) is a nonprofit, nondenominational Protestant apologetics ministry with an internet and radio outreach. It is involved in evangelism, including full-time support for several foreign missionar ...
points to Genesis 4:1 in order to refute the doctrine. Because the biblical record explicitly names Adam as the father of Cain, the teaching of the serpent seed is considered incompatible with the
Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
teaching of
Biblical infallibility
Biblical infallibility is the belief that what the Bible says regarding matters of faith and Christian practice is wholly useful and true. It is the "belief that the Bible is completely trustworthy as a guide to salvation and the life of faith ...
.
Critics argue that the doctrine foments division and fuels racism, which makes it an unhealthy belief which is incompatible with Christianity because the belief itself leads to
sin
In a religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered immoral, selfish, s ...
. One Christian apologetics group states, "Although an idea should not be criticized when it is wrongly applied, it is appropriate to condemn an idea when it logically leads to sin. A philosophy that teaches that some races or people are universally satanic, like the serpent seed doctrine, is one such philosophy."
Also writing on the topic, Rev. John Brisby stated, "The Serpent's Seed doctrine is the hallmark of most radical
hate groups today. Whether it involves
neo-Nazis
Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and racial supremacy (often white supremacy), attack ...
,
right-wing militias
A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...
, or one of the many other white supremacist groups, most of them share this doctrine in common. How do they justify their hatred towards Jews, non-whites, and others? They believe that these people are not real people at all!"
Other criticisms of the doctrine point out the theological repercussions of blurring traditional Christianity's interpretation of the doctrine of
original sin. The serpent seed doctrine characterizes original sin as a feature of genetic inheritance rather than a spiritual condition.
Mainstream Christianity teaches the belief that all individuals are the spiritual children of Satan because they were born in a state of original sin. Through the act of
Christian conversion
Conversion to Christianity is the religious conversion of a previously non-Christian person to Christianity. Different Christian denominations may perform various different kinds of rituals or ceremonies initiation into their community of belie ...
, individuals can become children of God through
adoption. The serpent seed doctrine undermines the basic teachings of Christian conversion by teaching the belief that only individuals who are descended from Adam are the inherent children of God, a belief which classifies them as the only people who do not need to convert to Christianity, while the Serpent's seedline is irredeemable.
History
Early teachings
Valentinus (100–160) promoted a doctrine which is similar to the serpent seed doctrine because it states that Eve mated with the serpent and produced Cain. In his teaching, the serpent was the manifestation of an
aeon
The word aeon , also spelled eon (in American and Australian English), originally meant "life", "vital force" or "being", "generation" or "a period of time", though it tended to be translated as "age" in the sense of "ages", "forever", "timele ...
named Sophia who seduced Eve. The teachings of Valentinus were compiled in the Gnostic
Gospel of Philip
The Gospel of Philip is a non-canonical Gnostic Gospel dated to around the 3rd century but lost in medieval times until rediscovered by accident, buried with other texts near Nag Hammadi in Egypt, in 1945.
The text is not closely related to the ...
() where the idea that Eve mated with the serpent, or
Satan, and produced Cain, finds its earliest expression. A similar account is recorded in the Gnostic
Apocryphon of John
The ''Apocryphon of John'', also called the ''Secret Book of John'' or the ''Secret Revelation of John'', is a 2nd-century Sethian Gnostic Christian pseudographical text attributed to John the Apostle. It is one of the texts addressed b ...
which was authored by the
Sethians
The Sethians were one of the main currents of Gnosticism during the 2nd and 3rd century CE, along with Valentinianism and Basilideanism. According to John D. Turner, it originated in the 2nd century CE as a fusion of two distinct Hellenistic ...
().
Irenaeus
Irenaeus (; grc-gre, Εἰρηναῖος ''Eirēnaios''; c. 130 – c. 202 AD) was a Greek bishop noted for his role in guiding and expanding Christian communities in the southern regions of present-day France and, more widely, for the dev ...
recorded a portion of the teaching and denounced it as heresy in his book ''Against Heresies''.
Explaining and commenting on the teachings of Valentinus, Irenaeus states:
Medieval Judaism
The teaching also appeared in
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
Judaica. In his 1957 book ''Cain: Son of the Serpent'',
David Max Eichhorn traces the belief that Cain was the son of the union between the serpent and Eve back to early Jewish
Midrash
''Midrash'' (;["midrash"]
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. he, מִדְרָשׁ; ...
ic texts which were composed between 800 CE and 1200 CE. Eichhorn identified rabbis who wrote about the topic,
including a 9th-century book titled ''
Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer
Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer (also Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer; Aramaic: פרקי דרבי אליעזר, or פרקים דרבי אליעזר, Chapters of Rabbi Eliezer; abbreviated PdRE) is an aggadic-midrashic work on the Torah containing exegesis and re ...
'' and the
Zohar.
In their version, Adam's first wife was
Lilith
Lilith ( ; he, לִילִית, Līlīṯ) is a female figure in Mesopotamian and Judaic mythology, alternatively the first wife of Adam and supposedly the primordial she-demon. Lilith is cited as having been "banished" from the Garden of Ed ...
and his second wife was Eve. Lilith became possessed by the spirit of God's wife and rebelled against Adam and became the mother of all demons. Eve was subsequently seduced by the serpent and became the mother a race of evil men.
A later folk-version of the serpent seed doctrine was somewhat widespread in European Christianity during the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
and it ascribed the ancestry of legendary monsters such as
Grendel to Cain.
The
Aramaic
The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan
Targum Jonathan is a western targum (interpretation) of the Torah (Pentateuch) from the land of Israel (as opposed to the eastern Babylonian Targum Onkelos). Its correct title was originally Targum Yerushalmi (Jerusalem Targum), which is how it w ...
contains passages referencing the serpent seed concept. The targum was referenced by Rabbi
Menahem Recanati
Menahem ben Benjamin Recanati ( he, מנחם בן בנימין ריקנטי;
1223–1290) was an Italian rabbi who was born and died in the city of Recanati, who devoted the chief part of his writings to the Kabbalah.
Works
In addition to the ...
(1250–1310) in his Perush 'Al ha-Torah. The age of the writing is disputed. A 2006 analysis by
Beverly Mortensen
Beverly P. Mortensen is a musician, composer, and scholar of ancient Jewish religion at Northwestern University. In 2006, she published the book ''The Priesthood in Targum Pseudo-Jonathan: Renewing the Profession'' (Studies in Aramaic Interpretat ...
dates
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan
Targum Jonathan is a western targum (interpretation) of the Torah (Pentateuch) from the land of Israel (as opposed to the eastern Babylonian Targum Onkelos). Its correct title was originally Targum Yerushalmi (Jerusalem Targum), which is how it w ...
to the 4th century and regards it as a manual for
kohanim
Kohen ( he, , ''kōhēn'', , "priest", pl. , ''kōhănīm'', , "priests") is the Hebrew word for "priest", used in reference to the Aaronic priesthood, also called Aaronites or Aaronides. Levitical priests or ''kohanim'' are traditionally be ...
. Gavin McDowell's analyses suggested the document was created in the early 1200s because it includes excerpts from writings from the 1100s.
In
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan
Targum Jonathan is a western targum (interpretation) of the Torah (Pentateuch) from the land of Israel (as opposed to the eastern Babylonian Targum Onkelos). Its correct title was originally Targum Yerushalmi (Jerusalem Targum), which is how it w ...
, the serpent is an angelic being named
Samael
Samael ( he, סַמָּאֵל, ''Sammāʾēl'', "Venom/Poison of God"; ar, سمسمائيل, ''Samsama'il'' or ar, سمائل, label=none, ''Samail''; alternatively Smal, Smil, Samil, or Samiel) is an archangel in Talmudic and post-Talmudic ...
.
And again, in
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan
Targum Jonathan is a western targum (interpretation) of the Torah (Pentateuch) from the land of Israel (as opposed to the eastern Babylonian Targum Onkelos). Its correct title was originally Targum Yerushalmi (Jerusalem Targum), which is how it w ...
..
So Adam knew his wife Eve/Hava, who desired the Angel (
Samael
Samael ( he, סַמָּאֵל, ''Sammāʾēl'', "Venom/Poison of God"; ar, سمسمائيل, ''Samsama'il'' or ar, سمائل, label=none, ''Samail''; alternatively Smal, Smil, Samil, or Samiel) is an archangel in Talmudic and post-Talmudic ...
), aka "The Serpent, Satan & The Destroyer" in Judaism & Talmudic Lore. And then she bore Kain. In one account
Samael
Samael ( he, סַמָּאֵל, ''Sammāʾēl'', "Venom/Poison of God"; ar, سمسمائيل, ''Samsama'il'' or ar, سمائل, label=none, ''Samail''; alternatively Smal, Smil, Samil, or Samiel) is an archangel in Talmudic and post-Talmudic ...
is also believed to be the father of
Cain,
as well as the partner of
Lilith
Lilith ( ; he, לִילִית, Līlīṯ) is a female figure in Mesopotamian and Judaic mythology, alternatively the first wife of Adam and supposedly the primordial she-demon. Lilith is cited as having been "banished" from the Garden of Ed ...
. The relationship between
Samael
Samael ( he, סַמָּאֵל, ''Sammāʾēl'', "Venom/Poison of God"; ar, سمسمائيل, ''Samsama'il'' or ar, سمائل, label=none, ''Samail''; alternatively Smal, Smil, Samil, or Samiel) is an archangel in Talmudic and post-Talmudic ...
and
Lilith
Lilith ( ; he, לִילִית, Līlīṯ) is a female figure in Mesopotamian and Judaic mythology, alternatively the first wife of Adam and supposedly the primordial she-demon. Lilith is cited as having been "banished" from the Garden of Ed ...
is depicted in the
Sigil of Baphomet
The Sigil of Baphomet is the official insignia of the Church of Satan. It first appeared on the cover of '' The Satanic Mass LP'' in 1968 and later on the cover of ''The Satanic Bible'' in 1969. The sigil has been called a "material pentagram" r ...
, the official insignia of the
Church of Satan
The Church of Satan is a religious organization dedicated to the religion of LaVeyan Satanism as codified in '' The Satanic Bible''. The Church of Satan was established at the Black House in San Francisco, California, on Walpurgisnacht, A ...
.
The serpent seedline doctrine's modern origins in British Israelism
British Israelism reintroduced a version of serpent seed beginning in the mid 1800s.
A small circle of ministers in the United Kingdom first began to develop what they called "seedline" doctrine in the 1790s. The seedline teaching stated that two races of people lived upon the earth: a righteous pure seedline of people and an unrighteous impure seedline of people. The early teachings of the seedline doctrine did not offer an origin story for the two groups. The original form of British Israelism taught the belief that the Anglo-Saxons were descended from the lost tribes of Israel and were therefore part of the pure seedline.
British Israelism traces its roots to
Richard Brothers
Richard Brothers (25 December 1757 – 25 January 1824) was an early believer and teacher of British Israelism, a theory concerning the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel.
Biography
Life
Brothers was born in Port Kirwan, Newfoundland (earlier known ...
(1759–1824) who was one of the earliest promoters of the theology and published a tract on the topic in 1794.
John Wilson (1788–1870), and
Edward Hine
Edward Hine (10 February 1825 – 15 October 1891) was an influential proponent of British Israelism in the 1870s and 1880s, drawing on the earlier work of Richard Brothers (1794) and John Wilson (1840). Hine went as far as to conclude that "It i ...
(1825–1891) followed Brothers in promoting the doctrine in the mid-1800s and each of them also published books on the topic and acquired a large following within various Christian denominations. Elements of their teachings gradually became popular among members of the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...
.
[Schambers, p. 2][Gardell, Mattias (2003). ''Gods of the Blood: The Pagan Revival and White Separatism''. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. p. 372.] Each of them published books on the topic and they also acquired a growing number of followers within various Christian denominations.
According to the
Anti-Defamation League, the earliest versions of the teaching did not seem to be racially motivated, but that began to change as the theology was introduced in the United States.
The theology arrived in the United States through British Israelite evangelists in the mid-19th century. Rev. Joseph Williams (1826–1882), who immigrated from the UK to the USA, was probably the first such evangelist. He lectured on the subject in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
from 1874 until his death in 1882. His teachings on the subject were published in two periodicals, ''The Trio'' and ''The Trumpet of Israel''. Rev.
Joseph Wild
Joseph Wild (1759–1837) held a number of titles throughout his life, namely a convict, explorer, shepherd, constable and conveyor. He was convicted of burglary and was eventually sentenced to transportation to Australia. This was a common pu ...
(1834–1908) immigrated from England to Brooklyn during the 1880s. He became the preeminent American promoter of British Israelism. He published multiple books on the subject and influence many white Americans with his teachings.
Daniel Parker (1781–1844) was an early American leader of the
Primitive Baptist Church
Primitive Baptists – also known as Hard Shell Baptists, Foot Washing Baptists or Old School Baptists – are conservative Baptists adhering to a degree of Calvinist beliefs who coalesced out of the controversy among Baptists in the early 19th ...
in the Southern United States and founder of numerous churches in
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
,
Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...
,
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
,
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...
, and
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
. As an
elder, Parker led a group which separated from that
church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship
* C ...
and formed the
Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists
Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists are part of a larger sub-group of Baptists that is commonly referred to as "anti-mission" Baptists. This sub-group includes the Duck River and Kindred Baptists, Old Regular Baptists, some Regular ...
. Parker integrated the serpent seed doctrine into
Calvinist Predestination. He connected the elect with the pure seedline, and he connected the non-elect with the serpent seedline.
[Schambers, p. 12] Parker published his beliefs in a tract which he entitled ''Views on the Two Seeds'' while he was living in
Vincennes, Indiana
Vincennes is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Indiana, United States. It is located on the lower Wabash River in the southwestern part of the state, nearly halfway between Evansville and Terre Haute. Founded in 1732 by French fur ...
in 1826. Parker's seedline doctrine identified the serpent as the father of Cain and the originator of the wicked impure seedline. Parkers initially developed and promoted the serpent seedline doctrine as a key argument in his opposition to foreign
Christian missionaries. Parker believed that the non-white races who were the targets of foreign missions were people who were descended from the wicked seed of the serpent. He stated that since "God would save His own children, and since the children of Satan were predestined to eternal punishment, any kind of mission plan would seem ridiculous."
Parker was labeled a heretic for teaching the doctrine by mainstream Baptists. The influences on Parker's beliefs are unknown, so he may have arrived at his version of the serpent seedline doctrine independently, or he may have been influenced by early British Israel teachings. Parker's teachings coincided with the promotion of the earliest form of
Polygenism
Polygenism is a theory of human origins which posits the view that the human races are of different origins (''polygenesis''). This view is opposite to the idea of monogenism, which posits a single origin of humanity. Modern scientific views no ...
in the United States by the Kentuckian
Charles Caldwell, who believed non-white races could not have descended from Adam. Although it was not widely accepted, Parker's teaching became well known among Calvinistic Baptists in Kentucky. "Two-Seed Predestinarian Baptists always remained a small group. The U.S. religious census of 1906 recorded 781 members. In 1938 there were 98 members."
In the 1890s,
C. A. L. Totten (1851–1908), a former professor of
military science at
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...
, began to promote British Israelism. Totten began to promote the belief that Anglo-Saxons were destined by God to rule the world.
[Schambers, p. 5] Also during the 1890s, British Israelism began to develop into a formal organization which took on racial overtones. In 1886, the growing group formed the
Anglo-Israel Association and in 1919, this group renamed itself the
British-Israel-World Federation
The British-Israel-World Federation (also stylized as the British-Israel World Federation) is a United Kingdom-based organization that promotes British Israelism, a pseudohistorical belief that the people of the British Isles are direct desce ...
. The primary aim of this group was the promotion of archeological expeditions which it wished to undertake in order to discover pieces of evidence which would validate its beliefs. The group remained small, but it gained a broader base of international appeal when it began to accept all
people of Germanic descent as part of the righteous seed-line of the lost tribes of Israel. By the 1930s, the movement had grown to include over 50 branches in the United States which were all under the leadership of William J. Cameron, but the British Israel movement largely faded from view both during and after World War II.
Most modern versions of the serpent seed teaching can be traced to Totten and the seedline teachings which he promoted during the early 20th century. Totten published several books and integrated British Israel theology into Adventism, Adventist theology. According to Professor Jon F. Schamber, Totten's works "inspired dozens of evangelists and religious writers, including Rev. John H. Allen, a founding minister in the Church of God (Holiness); Charles Fox Parham (1873–1929), the founder of the Apostolic Pentecostal, Pentecostal Apostolic Faith Movement; Victor Morris Tyler, a wealthy industrialist and an editor of the ''Our Race Quarterly''; Rev. Reuben H. Sawyer, a clergyman in the Christian Church and a recruiter for the
Ku Klux Klan; and Alan A. Beauchamp, a publisher and an editor of the ''Watchman of Israel''."
Christian Identity theology and white supremacy
Rev. Russel Kelso Carter (1849–1928) was a prominent Church of God (Holiness) minister and a follower of Totten. He became the first preacher of British Israelism to offer a theory on the origin of the serpent's seedline. Carter theorized that Cain was the literal Son of the serpent in his book ''The Tree of Knowledge'' which he published in 1894. Carter believed that "the tremendous pull of the sexual appetite, aroused by the excited state of the woman" caused humanity's fall in the Garden of Eden. He believed that Satan used the seduction of Eve to destroy God's pure race "at its fountainhead".
Carter stopped short of speculating on who the descendants of Cain might be, but he connected the righteous seedline with the Anglo-Saxons. Carter's teachings on the subject were subsequently integrated into the overall teachings of British Israelism and they proved to be particularly appealing to members of the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacists who spread the teaching during the 20th century.
Carter's theory was very similar to the theory which was first proposed by Daniel Parker, who may have been an influence on him.
Carter may have also been influenced by the pre-Adamite and Polygenism, Polygenist theories which were being promoted in the United States during the 19th century. In 1875, A. Lester Hoyle wrote a book titled ''The Pre-Adamite, or who tempted Eve?'' In his book, he claimed that multiple creations of races had occurred, but he claimed that only the White people, white race, of which Adam was the father, had been made in God's image and likeness.
Hoyle also suggested that Cain was the "mongrel offspring" of Eve's seduction by "an enticing Mongolian" with whom she had repeated trysts, thus laying the foundation for the white supremacist bio-theology which states that miscegenation is "an abomination". Blending contemporary Evolution, evolutionary thinking with pre-Adamism, the Vanderbilt University Evolutionary creationism, theistic evolutionist and geologist Alexander Winchell (geologist), Alexander Winchell argued in his 1878 tract, ''Adamites and Preadamites'', for the pre-Adamic origins of the human race, that Black people, Negroes were too racially inferior to be the descendants of the Biblical Adam.
According to Professor Jon Schamber, Rev. Philip E. J. Monson began to separate from traditional British Israelism and develop
Christian Identity Theology
Christian Identity (also known as Identity Christianity) is an interpretation of Christianity which advocates the belief that only Celtic and Germanic peoples, such as the Anglo-Saxon, Nordic nations, or Aryan people and people of kindred blo ...
.
During the 1920s, Monson published ''Satan's Seat: The Enemy of Our Race'' in which he adopted Carter's theory on the origin of the impure seedline and combined it with anti-Catholicism. Monson connected the work of the impure seedline to the activities of the Catholic Church and the Pope. Monson's ideas were popular among white supremacist organizations in the United States.
[Schambers, p. 11] Rev.
Wesley A. Swift (1913–1970), a minister and a former recruiter for the Ku Klux Klan, and a follower of Monson, accepted the serpent seed doctrine and Christian Identity Theology and was instrumental in promoting the teachings among white supremacists in the United States.
Swift was a minister at the Angelus Temple, a church frequently visited by William Branham. Swift later separated and started a new church, Church of Jesus Christ - Christian, which was later renamed
Aryan Nations by Swift's successor, Richard Butler (white supremacist), Richard Girnt Butler. Swift ordained several ministers who helped him to spread the theology. His lieutenants who helped him to spread the serpent seed teaching included two Nazism, Nazis, Oren Potito and Neuman Britton, and the prominent KKK leader Connie Lynch.
[Schambers, p. 6] Swift and his fellow white supremacists began to promote the doctrine even more heavily during the desegregation period of the 1950s and 1960s. According to Swift, the descendants of the serpent were "in violation of Divine law when they started to mutate species and mix races."
The serpent seed teaching was used to justify racial segregation and the prohibition of interracial marriage.
It was also during the desegregation period when William Branham (1909–1965) and Arnold Murray (1929–2014) first began to promote their versions of the serpent seed doctrine. Branham was the most successful promoter of the serpent seed doctrine, and his version of it was subsequently accepted by millions of his followers. During the desegregation era, a militant form of the doctrine was espoused, especially by Christian Identity groups, because its millennial teachings state that the pure race will wage a final battle with the evil descendants of the serpent in order to destroy them.
Butler continued to promote the serpent seed doctrine throughout his life, and it continued to be prominently featured at annual Aryan Nations World Congress meetings into the 1980s and 1990s. Butler's teachings on the subject influenced the Christian Defense League, the
American Nazi Party
The American Nazi Party (ANP) is an American far-right and neo-Nazi political party founded by George Lincoln Rockwell and headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. The organization was originally named the World Union of Free Enterprise Nation ...
, the ''Christian Vanguard'', David Duke and modern KKK organizations.
Modern adherents
William Branham
William M. Branham (1909–1965), a prominent American Pentecostal minister in the 1940s and 1950s who had links to the KKK,
also promoted the serpent seed doctrine.
Branham taught the belief that the Serpent (Bible), serpent had sexual intercourse with Eve and their offspring was
Cain. Branham also taught the belief that Cain's modern descendants were masquerading as educated people and scientists, along with the belief that Cain's descendants were "a big religious bunch of illegitimate bastard children" who comprised the majority of society's criminals. He believed that the serpent was the Transitional fossil, missing link between the Common chimpanzee, chimpanzee and man, and he also speculated that the serpent was possibly a human-like giant. Branham believed that the serpent was transformed into a reptile after it was cursed by God.
According to Steven Hassan, "Branham’s sermons lay the foundation to believe that black people are the inferior race."
Branham used the term "hybrid" to describe anything he believed to be tainted by the serpent.
Branham accused Eve of producing a "hybrid" race, and he provided a way to trace the hybrid line of the Serpent's Seed to Africans and Jews through
Ham
Ham is pork from a leg cut that has been preserved by wet or dry curing, with or without smoking."Bacon: Bacon and Ham Curing" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 39. As a processed meat, the term "ham ...
the biblical progenitor of the African peoples, King Ahab, Judas Iscariot, Catholic Church, Roman Catholics, and the future Antichrist.
Michael Barkun wrote that Branham was the most significant proponent of the racial teaching outside of the
Christian Identity
Christian Identity (also known as Identity Christianity) is an interpretation of Christianity which advocates the belief that only Celtic and Germanic peoples, such as the Anglo-Saxon, Nordic nations, or Aryan people and people of kindred blood, ...
movement and directly influenced their theology. Branham's teachings on serpent seed was particularly significant to the development of Identity’s view of the Jews as the seed of the Devil through Cain. Branham's 1958 introduction of serpent seed teaching coincided with Wesley A. Swift, Wesley Swift's introduction of demonic origin of the Jews through the serpent the same year.
Branham related a story in which he privately discussed the belief that blacks were descended from apes as early as 1929. Branham publicly hinted his belief in the serpent seed doctrine as early as 1953. He first began to teach serpent seed in 1958 at the Civil rights movement, height of racial unrest in the United States. Prof. Doug Weaver (author), Douglas Weaver believed that Branham may have become acquainted with the serpent seed doctrine through his Baptists, Baptist roots. Branham was baptized and ordained at a First Pentecostal Baptist Church which was pastored by Roy Elonzo Davis, Roy Davis, a founding member and later Imperial Wizard of the second
Ku Klux Klan. Branham may also have made contact with Kentucky churches which espoused Daniel Parker's Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists, two-seed doctrine. Professor Jon Schambers also reviewed Branham's serpent seed teachings and the role which he played in spreading the doctrine. Schambers also connected Branham's serpent seed doctrine to Russel Carter's teachings which were integrated into Christian Identity Theology and Daniel Parker's Two-Seed Theology.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, CBC connected William Branham to the Ku Klux Klan during a 2017 investigation.
Branham's embrace of the serpent seed doctrine alienated most of the members of his Pentecostalism, Pentecostal audience. According to Pearry Green, adherents of the broader Pentecostal movement consider Branham's version of the serpent seed doctrine repugnant and in their point of view, it was the "filthy doctrine ... that ruined his ministry." No other mainstream Christian group held a similar view; Branham was widely criticized for spreading the doctrine, but his followers view the doctrine as one of his greatest revelations.
There are millions of adherents of William Branham's serpent seed teachings. Voice of God Recordings reported that about two million people subscribe to Branham's teachings through the William Branham Evangelical Association. His followers continue to promote the doctrine and as a result, they have made international news for their racial views in connection to the teaching. According to Weaver, Branham's followers are very proud of his serpent seed teaching, believing it to be "his most original revelation". Many of his followers are unaware of the doctrine's true origin. When confronted with the accusations of racism, some of his followers have denied the teaching of serpent seed has any connection to white supremacy or racism.
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, "Not all Branham churches are racist or embrace the anti-race-mixing position," "but the theology clearly invites racism."
In 2014, Pastor Donny Reagan made news in the United States for promoting Branham's racial teachings. Several news outlets labeled Reagan as the "most racist pastor in America."
Kacou Philippe, a leader of Branham's followers in Africa, was arrested in 2017 for hate speech and sentenced to one year prison after preaching in multiple African nations that blacks should be submissive towards whites. Philippe insisted decolonization of Africa was a sin, and that Africans could only prosper when in servitude to Europeans.
Arnold Murray
Televangelist Arnold Murray (pastor), Arnold Murray (1929–2014), founder of The Shepherd's Chapel and a prominent televangelist, taught the serpent seed doctrine. He accepted the belief that the Jews (Kingdom of Judah) were descended from Adam through Seth, as the Bible describes. However, he held the view that the
Kenites
According to the Hebrew Bible, the Kenites ( or ; he, ''Qēinī'') were a nomadic tribe in the ancient Levant. The Kenites were coppersmiths and metalworkers. According to some scholars, they are descendants of Cain, Harris, Stephen L., Underst ...
were the offspring of Cain. He also believed that they infiltrated the northern Kingdom of Israel (Samaria), Kingdom of Israel.
[The Shepherd's Chapel Answers Page]
. Retrieved 17 November 2013. Murray's teachings are disputed by
Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
apologetics ministries CARM and the Christian Research Institute, CRI.
[Matt Slick]
The serpent seed and the Kenites
criticizing the teaching of Arnold Murray and the Shepherd's Chapel. Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry
The Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry (CARM) is a nonprofit, nondenominational Protestant apologetics ministry with an internet and radio outreach. It is involved in evangelism, including full-time support for several foreign missionar ...
. Retrieved 17 November 2013.
According to Southern Poverty Law, Murray was ordained a minister in 1958 by Roy Gillaspie and Kenneth Goff, two members of the KKK and early preachers of Christian Identity. Until at least 1978, Murray served as a leader in Gillaspie's Church of Jesus Christ–Christian, Church of Jesus Christ organization, which had been founded by Wesley Swift. Murray was also connected to Goff's Soldiers of the Cross Training Institute where Christian Identity was taught. Dan Gayman, the most prominent Christian Identity Leader in the 1980s, attended the institute.
Explaining his beliefs in a 1979 Shepherd's Bible, Murray explained that the Kenites were serpent's offspring who "slipped in among the Jewish people in Jerusalem and claim to be God's chosen people, when in fact they are of Lucifer."
[ Connecting the Kennites to the modern Jewish people, Murray explained that "in 1967 … Jerusalem fell to the Kenites during the 6 day war".][ In another sermon, Murray said that the Kenites "are responsible for the slaying of Christ."][ Although his teachings portrayed Jews as descendants of Lucifer, Murray insisted that his beliefs were not anti-semitic.][
]
Christian Identity movement
Adherents of the White supremacy, white supremacist theology which is known as two-seedline Christian Identity
Christian Identity (also known as Identity Christianity) is an interpretation of Christianity which advocates the belief that only Celtic and Germanic peoples, such as the Anglo-Saxon, Nordic nations, or Aryan people and people of kindred blood, ...
do not believe Jews as the chosen people, that the Jews are the chosen people of God because in their view, only white people are the descendants of Adam and hence the chosen people of God. According to their belief, members of all other races are descended from Cain and are thus descended from Satan, especially Jews and Black people, Blacks. This belief was popularized by Wesley A. Swift (Church of Jesus Christ–Christian), Conrad Gaard, Dan Gayman (Church of Israel) and William Potter Gale among others. The opposing faction is called One-Seedline Christian Identity because its adherents hold the view that all people are descended from Adam, but they believe that only Aryan race, Aryans (meaning Northern Europeans) are God's chosen people. Christian Identity followers "believe that they are in or are about to enter into the time of the Great Tribulation, Tribulation, a great battle between good and evil in which they will take part."
Groups which adhere to Christian Identity theology include Aryan Nations, the Christian Defense League, and the Ku Klux Klan. In 2000, the Southern Poverty Law Center estimated that there were 50,000 adherents of Christian Identity theology in the United States.
Unification Church
The Unification Church
The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, widely known as the Unification Church, is a new religious movement, whose members are called Unificationists, or " Moonies". It was officially founded on 1 May 1954 under the name Holy Sp ...
has taught a version of the serpent seed doctrine since at least 1961. Sun Myung Moon taught that the Fall of Man occurred when Eve
Eve (; ; ar, حَوَّاء, Ḥawwāʾ; el, Εὕα, Heúa; la, Eva, Heva; Syriac: romanized: ) is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. According to the origin story, "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the ...
was sexually seduced by Satan, and since then, the human bloodline has been contaminated. Moon believed that both Cain and Abel were physically descended from Adam and Eve, but taught that "Cain is in the position of Satan's son". Moon referred to secular society and religious people outside of the Unification Church as "Cain people". Members of the Unification Church believe that through their Holy Marriage Blessing Ceremony, married couples are removed from the lineage of Adam and Eve and grafted into God's sinless lineage as the adopted children of their new Adam: Sun Myung Moon. The first of these ceremonies occurred in 1961.[Hwan Kwak, p.252]
In ''World Scripture'' the Unification Church uses excerpts from the ''Koran'', the ''Midrash Rabbah'', the ''Bahir'', the ''Stromata'' and Sigmund Freud to support their interpretation. Moon attended many different Christian churches during the 1930s and 1940s in both Korea and Japan, and was exposed to British missionaries and Pentecostals. He may have been exposed to seedline teachings during this period.
P'ikareum is a related ritual which is performed by members of several Korean new religious movements, in which a female devotee has sex with the male leader (Messiah claimant, who claims to be the messiah) in order to purify her descendants from inherited sin. The purpose of this ritual is to undo the original sin, which (as in the classic serpent seed doctrine) was believed to have been committed when Eve had sex with the serpent. British religious scholar George Chryssides also noted that there were cases in which the messianic leader was a female and the neophyte was a male. The person who is so initiated will then have intercourse with his or her spouse, and the purity which is acquired from the messianic leader will be transmitted to both the spouse and the spouse's progeny. The most notable Korean new religious movement to have faced allegations of performing p'ikareum is the early Unification Church of Sun Myung Moon; however, Chryssides notes that, aside from the use of language which involves the purifying of sinful bloodlines, there is no actual evidence that this ritual occurs within the Unification movement.
QAnon
Ideas which are similar to the serpent seed doctrine have also been embraced by some believers in the QAnon conspiracy theory. An example of this is the case of Matthew Taylor Coleman, a California surfing instructor who said that he killed his two young children with a spear fishing gun because he believed that they had inherited “serpent DNA” from their mother and would eventually turn into monsters.
See also
* Antisemitism in Christianity
* Curse and mark of Cain
* Curse of Ham
* Khazar hypothesis of Ashkenazi ancestry
* Ophites
* Polygenism
Polygenism is a theory of human origins which posits the view that the human races are of different origins (''polygenesis''). This view is opposite to the idea of monogenism, which posits a single origin of humanity. Modern scientific views no ...
* Pre-Adamite
The pre-Adamite hypothesis or pre-Adamism is the theological belief that humans (or intelligent yet non-human creatures) existed before the biblical character Adam. Pre-Adamism is therefore distinct from the conventional Abrahamic belief that Ada ...
* Religious antisemitism
* Reptilian conspiracy theory
References
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Serpent Seed
Christianity and antisemitism
Branhamism
Christian Identity
Christian mythology
Christian terminology
Christian theology of the Bible
Gnosticism
Heresy in Christianity
Kabbalah
Kabbalistic words and phrases
Protestant theology
Unification Church beliefs
Religious concepts related with Adam and Eve
Snakes in religion