The Origin of Satan: How Christians Demonized Jews, Pagans, and Heretics by Elaine Pagels (PDF)

Description

From the religious historian whose The Gnostic Gospels won both the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award comes a dramatic interpretation of Satan and his role on the Christian tradition. With magisterial learning and the elan of a born storyteller, Pagels turns Satan’s story into an audacious exploration of Christianity’s shadow side, in which the gospel of love gives way to irrational hatreds that continue to haunt Christians and non-Christians alike.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐This is a very interesting book that recapitulates the emergence of Christianity in context, detailed and vivid, from its origins in Palestine to its expansion westward. But the focus is on the use of Satan, first as a kind of gadfly or tester of belief in the Jewish and Pauline traditions to the “cosmic war” of later Christianity, whereby opposition from without and within are portrayed as intrinsically evil and irredeemable. It is beautifully written and fascinating throughout, but it was not what I was looking for.The evolution of the notion of Satan progresses from an angel who tests people for God, posing questions and proposing alternatives to the righteous in contravention of God’s will, into the embodiment of evil, whether as a being or a force within one’s heart and mind. Pagels explains this strictly from both Biblical and “heretical” texts, with a keen eye on political developments of the time. First, in the Hebrew Bible, Satan (or Bielzebub or by any array of names) is an angel. Slowly, he becomes the force behind sectarian disagreements, from intra-Jewish ones to opponents of Jesus’ supposed vision for the Jews. He also serves as the source of evil to be found in GOYIM, or those who are not of the nation of Israel. Second, as Christianity progressively becomes dominated by gentiles, the notion of the devil’s evil work moves from a) vilification of non-believing Jews, Romans, and Pagans, to b) the condemnation of those Christians who promote rival interpretations to one’s own, ending in c) a question of what is in one’s own heart and what causes one to sin.All of these notions, Pagels argues persuasively, came to dominate the consciences of the various branches of monotheism over the next 2,000 years. With the accusation (or “demonization”) of the “other” as irredeemably evil and not on the side of God and his righteous, it creates a kind of solidarity and certainty in the face of sometimes overwhelming odds – and an excuse to treat others as less than human in a cosmic war. This makes her argument, in my view, essential reading.Nonetheless, I was looking for an examination of Satan himself, not only as a socio-political phenomenon, but as imagery, characterization, etc. As he appears in this book, Satan is a kind of morphing gravity well, a murky socio-political force. While very interesting, I was disappointed and will have to seek the other perspective elsewhere.REcommended with enthusiasm. It is a great review of early Christianity and crucial to understanding the monotheistic mind.

⭐An extremely well-researched book by early Christianity scholar, Elaine Pagels. Exposes the truth about the death if Jesus (it was the Roman, not the Jews). And illustrated how Christianity became more ant-Semitic with each gospel. This is not about Satan, as much as it is about demonization of the “other.”

⭐Pagel’s writing is always clear and to the point. However, her brush with the Old Testament Satan hardly stands the test of good scholarship. Moreover, her idea that Satan is socially constructed based on her analysis of the New Testament writings left me with an unsatisfied hunger, a need for more. I will confess a bias here, a bias against the fuzzy-headed thinking of postmodern scholars. If you can’t explain it, particularly if it is traditional thinking, it ‘ain’t there.’ It’s in your head with the rest of the world. It was an interesting book, but Pagel’s ideas fall short of the promise in the title. She has no clue about the origin of Satan.

⭐Prof. Pagels has written much fascinating material on the early Church and the gospels. Add _The Origin of Satan_ to an already prolific list. Pagels begins with an explanation of the political climate in Palestine in the first century CE (well trod ground for those who have read her other works), but quickly moves on to explore the role and place of Satan in the Jewish tradition. The notion is certainly a dogmatically problematic one: if all things are created by God, and if God is benevolent, why permit Satan? The answer (in the Judaic tradition) is interesting – far from the modern Christian conception of Satan, the roots of the term (and the angel to whom the name is referred) is merely the “opposition”. The remainder of the book addresses how the idea of Satan as an evil-doer who influences actions on earth changed as Christianity split and grew from Judiaism.About half of the book focuses on Matthew (and the Q-source), Luke and John’s versions of the life of Jesus are written against the social and political backdrop of Roman Palestine – and how the conception of Satan was used as a tool to criticize other sects of the growing Christian community, while simultaneously ingratiating Christians to the Romans who had destroyed the Temple of Solomon and viciously surpassed the Jewish revolt of 67 – 69. Pagels concludes with yet another change in the conception of Satan as the early Church grew and spread, this time used against the next threat to the emerging faith, paganism.The scholarship of the book is a bit dated – it seems this was one of Pagels’ early works – but for armchair historians or those simply interested in fleshing out their familiarity with the history of the early Church, this is an accessable, easy-to-read piece of scholarship for the general reader on a fascinating topic. Recommended.

⭐Well-written and informative

⭐Interesting subject , have read another by her about Gnostic Gospels and of the two I felt this was stronger . ‘Everything’s fine until people get involved ‘ springs to mind . I have always felt the medieval construct of the red horned devil was somewhat absurd and this book explains the history of this idea very well in my opinion .Recommended

⭐This is a superb book, very insightful confirms and helps my understanding.

⭐I received the book, The Origin of Satan, as promised by the American distributor. It was a first class service as usual.The book content was interesting and a well presented thesis by Elaine.

⭐great,

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