The Origin of Satan

How Christians Demonized Jews, Pagans, and Heretics

By: Elaine Pagels

Narrated by: Suzanne Toren

Who is Satan in the New Testament, and what is the evil that he represents? In this groundbreaking book, Elaine Pagels, Princeton's distinguished historian of religion, 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. In The Origin of Satan, Pagels shows that the four Christian gospels tell two very different stories. The first is the story of Jesus' moral genius: his lessons of love, forgiveness, and redemption. The second tells of the bitter conflict between the followers of Jesus and their fellow Jews, a conflict in which the writers of the four gospels condemned as creatures of Satan those Jews who refused to worship Jesus as the Messiah. Writing during and just after the Jewish war against Rome, the evangelists invoked Satan to portray their Jewish enemies as God's enemies too. As Pagels then shows, the church later turned this satanic indictment against its Roman enemies, declaring that pagans and infidels were also creatures of Satan, and against its own dissenters, calling them heretics and ascribing their heterodox views to satanic influences.

©1995 Elaine Pagels (P)2014 Audible Inc.

deceptive

deceptive title, the character of satan is rarely discussed. primarily a history of the early church.

interesting

loved it,very well done,was a pleasure to listen to, will definitely check out more of her books

Good Information

Well done
Well said
Historical Information
Maybe more present day application would have took the book to that next level

Very informative!

This book was very informative and inspirational. I loved every minute of it. I highly recommend it!

Fascinating history

The first half of the book contains common knowledge of all Christians. There's really nothing new there, and for me, it was mostly a waste of time to go through. Sailing past, the second half is a whole other story, that of the Gospel of Thomas and the gnostics. This was both captivating and inspiring. It really sparked my imagination and got me interested in early Christianity. I will definitely be studying this subject more as time goes on and I definitely recommend this book if that sounds like a rabbit hole you'd like to discover or go down.