Christians traditionally think of Satan as Lucifer, God's enemy, who rebelled against Him out of pride and then caused Adam and Eve to sin. But, as Ansgar Kelly shows, this portrayal is not biblical but a scenario invented by the early Fathers of the Church which became the 'New Biography of Satan'. The 'Original Biography' must be reconstructed from the New Testament where Satan is the same sort of celestial functionary we see in the Book of Job - appointed to govern the world, specifically to monitor and test human beings. But he is brutal and deceitful in his methods, and Jesus predicts that his rule will soon come to an end. Kelly traces the further developments of the 'New Biography': humankind's inherited guilt, captivity by Satan, and punishment in Hell at his hands. This profile of Satan remains dominant, but Kelly urges a return to the 'Original Biography of Satan'.

List of illustrations

ix

List of abbreviations

xi

Introduction

1

(12)

Part I Hebrew backgrounds

1 The Old Testament

13

(19)

1.1 The first supernatural satan in the Hebrew Bible: the Angel of Yahweh and a talking ass

13

(8)

1.2 A Son of Elohim as a satan: the spy and tester of the Book of Job

21

(2)

1.3 A celestial satan as accuser: the trial of Joshua the High Priest in the Book of Zechariah

23

(5)

1.4 Revisions and translations: Satan and satans, DEVIL and devils

28

(4)

2 Apocryphal works and the Dead Sea Scrolls

32

(21)

2.1 Sins of Humans, sins of Angels: Genesis 1-11 and the Book of Enoch

32

(3)

2.2 Mastema/Satan and the Giant-Ghosts as punishers: The Book of Jubilees

35

(6)

2.3 Dueling dualisms at the Dead Sea: Belial, the Principle of Darkness, Lady Folly – but no Satan!

41

(12)

Part II The New Testament: Satan comes into his own

3 St. Paul, the first Christian writer

53

(27)

3.1 Thessalonians, 1 Corinthians: Satan as tester and punisher – and rehabilitator

53

(6)

3.2 2 Corinthians, Romans: Pseudo-Angel-of-Eight, due for a crushing

59

(5)

3.3 Other sinister figures: Beliar, the God of this World, the Elements, the Powers

64

(5)

3.4 St. Paul and the Wisdom of Solomon: on Adam, Eve, the Serpent, and the arrival of Death

69

(11)

4 The four Gospels

80

(34)

4.1 Satan in Mark, the earliest Gospel: testing and obstructing Jesus

80

(4)

4.2 Satan and Jesus in dialogue: Matthew's three-act drama of temptation

84

(9)

4.3 Luke's two books (Third Gospel and Acts): Satan in charge, and his predicted fall "like lightning"

93

(14)

4.4 Satan according to John: homicidal liar, and Archon of this Cosmos

107

(7)

5 Later Epistles

114

(27)

5.1 Pseudo-Paul 1: 1-2 Timothy, 2 Thessalonians: Satan and/or DEVIL

114

(6)

5.2 Pseudo-Paul 2: Colossians and Ephesians: the Heavenly Powers and DEVIL

120

(5)

5.3 The Epistle to the Hebrews and the Epistle of Jude: DEVIL as the Angel of Death – who deserves respect

125

(6)

5.4 Excursus: the non-Diabolical fall of the Angels in Jude and 2 Peter

131

(3)

5.5 Ecumenical Epistles: 1 Peter and James: DEVIL as lion, DEVIL as coward

134

(7)

6 The Apocalypse of John the Divine

141

(27)

6.1 Satan and the Angels of the Seven Churches

141

(6)

6.2 Dragon-Satan-DEVIL and his predicted ouster from Heaven

147

(12)

6.3 Another John, another world-view: DEVIL and anti-Christs in the Epistles of John the Presbyter

159

(5)

6.4 Excursus: Jesus as the good Lucifer in Revelation and 2 Peter

164

(4)

7 Putting the New Testament together: a composite portrait of Satan in canonical order

168

(7)

7.1 Gospels and Acts

168

(1)

7.2 The Pauline Epistles

169

(2)

7.3 The other Epistles and Revelation

171

(4)

Part III Satan and Adam

8 Satan's original sin: felling Adam

175

(16)

8.1 The early post-Biblical explanation: Satan fell because of Adam, Adam fell because of Satan

175

(7)

8.2 Satan's jealousy in the Life of Adam and Eve

182

(2)

8.3 The history of Iblis in the Koran

184

(7)

Part IV The rise of the fallen Lucifer

9 Lucifer and the New Biography of Satan

191

(24)

9.1 Satan as the rebel Lucifer, well before Adam: the hijacking of Isaiah 14 by Origen of Alexandria

191

(8)

9.2 The slanderous New Biography of Satan: re-reading the Bible with Lucifer as God's enemy

199

(9)

9.3 Satan and his Angels as Pagan Gods: renouncing the Devil and his pomps

208

(7)

10 Satan and the Human Race

215

(27)

10.1 Mankind enslaved by Satan – and redeemed (purchased back!) by Christ

215

(3)

10.2 Satan and the Saints: straight man, fall guy, persistent meddler, bungling loser

218

(11)

10.3 Satan's last assignment: Superintendent of Hell and punisher – right now! – of damned souls

229

(13)

11 Theorizing Satan

242

(23)

11.1 Satan as a Pure Spirit: the synthesis of Thomas Aquinas

242

(7)

11.2 Satan and the Magical Malefactors: Sorcery Diabolized

249

(16)

12 Satan in literature and art

265

(34)

12.1 Literary and dramatic presentations of Satan: Dante, Milton, et ceteri

265

(12)

12.2 Satan in the visual arts: scary and suave

277

(22)

Part V Satan in the modern world

13 Temptation and possession

299

(9)

13.1 Satan as ever-present invisible Tempter: "The Devil made me do it!"

299

(4)

13.2 Pathetic marvels: the phenomena of Diabolical possession

303

(5)

14 Doubts and affirmations

308

(15)

14.1 Satan contextualized and demythified: the Reformed Reformer Friedrich Schleiermacher takes a hard look at the Bible

308

(7)

14.2 The many lives of Satan today

315

(8)

Summary and conclusion

323

(6)

Index of passages

329

(7)

General index

336

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