The Origin of Satan

Pagels traces the evolution of Satan from its origins in the Hebrew Bible, where Satan is at first merely obstructive, to the New Testament, where Satan becomes the Prince of Darkness, the bitter enemy of God and man, evil incarnate.  She shows how this figure of the devil has been used both to confirm Christians in their identification with God and to demonize their opponents--first Jews, then pagans, and later dissident Christians.  The Origin of Satan demonstrates how the "great message" of Jesus, the gospel of love, is entwined at its origin with a no less powerful story of bitter hatred and cosmic strife, a story that has shaped human history as much as that of Jesus' love.

PRAISE FOR The Origin of Satan:

"Pagels has achieved something important.  She has demonstrated, more fully and convincingly than has been done before, how ancient the demonizing tradition in Christianity is."
--Norman Cohn, The New York Review of Books

"Ground-breaking . . .  By showing how the sectarian demonization of  the 'intimate enemies'--Jews and heretics--shaped early Christianity, the book helps us to understand the power of irrational forces that still need to be confronted in contemporary society."
--S. David Sperling, professor of Bible, Hebrew Union College

"Pagels' lucid history of the social construction of Satan is not only a wealth of historical information, but also a source of important insights into the demonization of "intimate enemies" that has marked the history of Christianity. Pagels writes that she began with the assumption that Christian discourse about invisible beings, including Satan and other angels, had as its primary purpose what Austrian-born Israeli philosopher Martin Buber called the "moralizing" of the natural universe. She                    discovered that it had far more to do with social relations among particular persons, and that discovery informs the entire book. She traces the development of Satan in the Jewish community from a sort of roving agent acting on God's behalf--always obstructing but not always evil--to an increasingly evil force identified more and more with intimate enemies, members of one's own community with whom one is in conflict. That trend toward demonization of portions of the Jewish                    community intensified with the emergence of Christianity and became the basis for demonization of heretics and centuries of anti-Semitism. This is an informative, beautifully written book, an excellent illustration of how careful historical research can  illuminate questions of more than passing historical interest."
--Booklist


CONTENTS

The Gospel of Mark and the Jewish War

The Social History of Satan: From the Hebrew Bible to the Gospels

Matthew's Campaign Against the Pharisees: Deploying the Devil

Luke and John Claim Israel's Legacy: The Split Widens

Satan's Earthly Kingdom: Christians Against Pagans

The Enemy Within: Demonizing the Heretics

Conclusion