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Summary: Loaded with Insights and Information
Review: In THE ORIGIN OF SATAN Elaine Pagels traces some of the earliest known incidents of religious groups demonizing their enemies back to Jewish apocalyptic sources and then shows how this idea was further developed by the Essenes and soon thereafter employed by the first Christian writers. The book is much more than a history of Satan. It is actually a story of the origins of Christianity told from the vantage point of how Satanic forces were described by different groups and succeeding generations of Christians.In the beginning the enemies of the Christians are seen as other Jews such as the Pharisees. When the new movement fails to attract many Jewish converts, it instead starts to successfully recruit Gentiles. Now Satan is more likely to be seen at work orchestrating the Roman persecutions or instigating angry pagan mobs. Still later the enemy can be identified among groups of Christian heretics. The author's strength and primary interest is the history of early Christianity. As usual her text is loaded with information on that subject. You may not agree with her conclusions but you will probably be impressed with the wealth of insights she gives to the reader on her favorite topic. Don't let the heavy-sounding title discourage you. Above all Elaine Pagels is an optimist and a message of hope can almost always be found in any of her books.
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Summary: Not exactly what I was expecting
Review: This book is a historical study of early Christians and their relations with opposing groups. Pagel starts with a detailed interpretation of the Gospel according to Mark as a historical document, juxtaposed with a description of the rebellion that was raging amongst the Jews in Palestine at the time the account was written. She then goes on to some Old Testament interpretations of the word and concept of Satan. Following this, she takes up the remaining gospels in turn, interpreting their historical content in the political context of the times when they were written. She also considers lesser known Christian religious writings, such as the Gnostic scriptures. Reading this book made me a lot more familiar with some of the political issues that were of concern to early Christians, and how these issues may have been reflected in the writing of the Gospels. But I was a little disappointed in the book because I felt that most of the focus was on general Christian history and politics and not on the central questions posed on the back cover concerning the origin of Satan. It seemed that the idea of using the question of the invention of Satan as the central theme of the book was almost pasted onto individual articles as an afterthought. In reading each chapter, it often felt like the chapter was meant to be a self-standing entity, and details concerning the conception of Satan were added simply to glue the book together. Many times, Pagel's comments touched on how the early Christians related to opposition, and how they might even demonize opposing groups, but how this led to the invention of the concept of Satan is still unclear to me after reading this book.
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Summary: Another Thought Provoking Book By Pagels
Review: This book deals with early Jewish and Christian religious politics and how these formed the identity of satan. Anyone that is interested in early christianity will find much of interest in this book. With this book and others she has swritten, the author has shown how early christianity evolved into what it is today. Recommended!
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Summary: Cosmic Warfare Between Good and Evil
Review: Elaine Pagels is an exceptional author and skilled interpreter of Christian history. The "Origin of Satan" is an excellent book for laypeople trying to understand the evolution of one piece of the Christian paradigm, namely the cosmic battle between good and evil, and the vilification of the Jews in the gospels. The book is organized in three principal sections. The first part dissects the four gospels in the order they were written, and delineates the relationships between the authors, their social context, and their thinking with regard to Satan and all things/people evil. Among the most helpful recognitions in this part of the book is that as the gospels evolved, Pilate and the Romans grew more and more "innocent" (the Christians were trying to make a distinction between themselves and the troublesome dissidents of Palestine), and the Jews grew more and more "responsible" for Jesus' crucifixion, thus "under the influence of Satan." Much of this awareness is found in the recognition that Jews in the Roman Empire were torn between the social elite who were for the most part the priesthood and the wealthy, and the poor fundamentalists who saw the privileges of the empire in opposition to the covenants with God. The second section of the book describes the growing rift between the pagans of the Roman empire and the growing Christian sect. What is most helpful in this section is comparing the writings of such pagan minds as Celsus and Marcus Arelius with the early writings of Justin, Origen and others. In the Roman Empire, there was no greater virtue than that of "citizenship" in the empire, and the strength of the empire was assured by performing the ritual obligations to the Gods. The Christians saw themselves not as citizens of Rome, but of Heaven, and their rituals ran counter to those of the Pagans. Naturally, this was threatening to the pagan majority, and resulted in the wholesale slaughter of Christians who wouldn't cede to the authority of the Roman pantheon. Satan, of course, was identified with the pagans. The last section of the book discusses the growing dissent within the early church itself, and the identification of Satan with heretics from within. For me persoanally this was the most engaging part of the book, as it was SO telling in terms of the evolution of the control paradigm so apparent in Western religion to this day. Reading the writings of Tertullian in particular, compared with the gnostic writers of the same time period, is incredibly enlightening! In spite of the title, this book is in no way "dark." In fact, it shines light in so many dank dark corners of our history that it is truly a bright spot on my bookshelf and in my mind. This is a "Highly Recommend" book!
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Summary: Excellent !!!
Review: Pagel's book is one of the most lucid expositions of early Christianity available to the general reader. In this work she goes step by step through the four canonical gospels to show how the Christian Devil evolved into a unifying symbol of hatred. Her treatise is not really neutral, but in light of the Inquisition, the 700 Club, and Bob Larson, neutrality would be the sign of a numbed psyche. If nothing else, Pagels shows how the concept of Satan in Christianity has marred its message with filth and morbidity. For those Christians still deluded enough to believe literally in the Bible, it would be too much of a shock to read this book. This book is for people who wish to rise above the fear they were subjected to in childhood. (its part of our society. No one escaped it.) It is not for the "faithful". If you like conspiracy books Here are a few. Having read the TOP books in the Government Cover-up Genre; "Unconventional Flying Objects" (NASA UFO Investigator for 30 years) by the scientist Dr. Paul Hill; my FAVORITE is "Alien Rapture" by Brad Steiger and Edgar Fouche (Top Secret Black Programs Insider) - (Great fiction-soon to be a movie); "Alien Agenda" by the best selling author of 'Crossfire' Jim Marrs (Best reference on UFOlogy); and "The Day After Roswell," by Colonel Corso - I'd say these books are a MUST READ also!
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Summary: Well Articulated Theory of An Old Invective
Review: Whether or not you have read other works by Elaine Pagels, you will find the book "The Origin of Satan" as a fascinating view into the time of the writings of the gospels. This is not a deep theological treatise and those familiar with her earlier books ("The Gnostic Gospels" for one) will find this book easy to read. It does not have that large a scope. Exploring the usage of the word "Satan" in the writings of new testament times, this book is really more about the Christian gospels than it is about the adversarial angel. The title is a bit misleading: the work is really about the origin of the use of the word "satan". There is a considerable amount of treatment of how Mark and each of the gospel writers used invective to refer to the other Jewish sectarian movements. And whether any of us can really pin down when a word came into usage or why, there is a clever and well articulated theory in this work. You get the sense that there is a moral behind all this, that the challenge in the church is not to survive persecution (as it was in the early days), but to stand on God's side without demonizing perceived opponents. For those who want as complete an understanding of the new testament writings as possible, this book will be a helpful teacher of one aspect of that writing. Just do not expect too much from this little study.
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Summary: On the Lord of Spammers and Book Critics!
Review: This is a fascinating read. The author explores how the concept of Satin evolved from a loyal servant of God who carried out His instructions for creating "good obstacles on bad paths" to essentially the "Lord of everyone we dislike." Those who actually believe that Satin exists will not be able to stomach this book or perhaps assume that Satin is behind it! This is a historian's look at the emergence of Satin as a concept, it's development and the historical context for these changes. The early Christians come off looking like a some what vicious bunch of name callers. A large part of the book is devoted to trying to show how various authors (particularly of the gospels) stretched and bent the truth to achieve their desired effect. The account of the life of Jesus just prior to his crucifixion is a key story in this analysis. The "truth" is assumed based on various historical accounts and by exposing the inconsistencies in the main reference text, The Bible. This kind of analysis will obviously make the author unpopular with those who actually believe that the Bible is the word of God. I found the book to be factual and objective however my Christian friends have advised me that it is terribly misguided and dangerous. A must have for anyone interested on the impact of Christianity on early history. I will certainly read this author again.
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Summary: A fascinating exploration of the social history of Satan
Review: The Origin of Satan is a fascinating monograph that might best be considered a social history of the concept of Satan in the formative era of the early Christian Church. The actual origin of Satan in terms of Lucifer's fall from grace is mentioned but is not specifically explored. Instead, Pagels sets out to explore the evolution of early Christian conceptualizations of the ultimate adversary as an increasingly internal threat. Israel had always retained a strong moral and ethnic identity as God's chosen people ever since God's promise to Abraham, but Jesus' ministry and the nascent Christian Church tore asunder this viewpoint and offered salvation to Gentiles as well as Jews; in the process, Israel, already occupied by foreign powers, became a house divided internally. In this fractious atmosphere, "the enemy within" came to be seen as a more insidious threat than even the Roman occupiers by many early Christians. The greatest strength of this book is Pagels' description of the historical and political atmosphere in which early Christianity developed and its influence on the writing of the Gospels and the movement's growing internalization of concepts of "the adversary." While my personal belief in the infallibility of the Gospels keeps me from reading as much into them as Pagels does and while I do not necessarily accept without question some of her "facts" in terms of the dates and authorship of the primary books in question, I am impressed by the logic and consistency of her presentation and principal arguments; what she says does indeed make sense. I found myself taking copious notes on her chapters dealing with the writing of the Four Gospels and came away with a much greater understanding of the formative first two centuries of the Christian church. The Origin of Satan basically follows the progression of the internalization of "the enemy" among early Christians; the enemy without has become the enemy within by the time of John's gospel. The Essenes, seeing a cosmic war between the forces of God and those of Satan, were among the first group of Jews to withdraw from the larger Jewish community. Mark, the earliest of the Gospels, likewise envisions a cosmic war between God's people and Satan's. At the time Matthew was written, the Pharisees were seen as the chief rivals of the Christians and so the book of Matthew becomes to a degree a polemic between Jesus and the Pharisees. Matthew reverses traditional roles to turn the outside entities of Israel's antiquity (such as the pharaoh) into intimate enemies existing within the Jewish community itself. God's people have been split into opposing camps, those who accept Jesus and those who deny Him. The Gospels of Matthew and Mark implicitly link Jesus' Jewish enemies with Satan; the Gospels of Luke and John state these charges outright. Luke's Passion narrative casts all the blame for Jesus' arrest and execution on the Jewish community, deflecting guilt from the Romans. Those who oppose Jesus perform the work of Satan on Earth, Luke argues. John truly paints his portrait of Jesus and his execution in terms of a cosmic war between Good and Evil. Unlike the other Gospels, John portrays the Jewish people as performing Satan's work for him. Pagels concentrates on how John, much more aggressively than the other Gospels, associates the work of Satan with specific human opposition, implicating Judas Iscariot, then the Jewish authorities, and finally "the Jews" collectively. By the time John's Gospel was written, Christianity had become largely a Gentile religious movement, and Pagels goes on to explore the spread of Christianity among Roman pagans in the following era. Pagels argues that it was Christians' strong belief in Satan that made them so dangerous in the eyes of the Roman leadership; their teachings of a rebellion in Heaven between forces of light and forces of darkness was seen by many pagan leaders as a means for justifying rebellion on earth against those they viewed as Jesus' enemies. Pagels goes on to include a chapter describing the church's condemnation and eradication of dissidents within the Church itself - church leaders viewed the Gnostics as the supreme heretics, for through them Satan was seen as infiltrating the very heart of the Christian movement itself. All in all, The Origin of Satan is a fascinating look at the evolution of Satan from a murky concept to the sustaining force that served to define Christianity as a movement. Her look at the formative years of the Christian church demonstrates how "the enemy without" increasingly became "the enemy within." While some could argue that the early Christians shaped and evolved Satan to fit their own political and social purposes, Pagels never strays from the objective stance of the historian proper. The book's title is something of a misnomer, as the true origin of Satan is not really investigated; instead, what this book provides is a penetrating examination of the way in which early Christianity's viewpoint of the ultimate adversary in an increasingly cosmic war between forces and good and evil shaped the very foundation of the Christian church in the volatile decades following the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ.
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Summary: The Evil Within...
Review: The demonic figure known to most as Satan has come to represent many things for many people. For some he is the mythological personification of everything wrong with the world. Satan is the representation of pure evil and its manifestation on earth. To others, he is the actual treacherous fallen member of the divine court whom, because of his refusal to bow before God's creation, the human being, he was ostracised from heaven and has been hell-bent on proving to God that we are all a big mistake. This is sibling rivalry on a grand-cosmic scale. In this well argued text, Pagel proposes a different view of Satan, a social history of the representation of evil. In her own words: "[The] social implications of the figure of Satan: how he is invoked to express human conflict and to characterize human enemies within our own religious traditions." Her argument sets out to reveal major faults in the early writings of the Christian tradition. That Satan was a necessary adversary that characterized all that opposed the then new religion - Jews, pagans and heretics - confirming for Christians a solid identification with God -"...and to demonize their opponents." By identifying one's opponents and enemies with the forces of evil on a cosmic scale, one's faith and belief is strengthened. She goes on to argue that the personification of Satan is "...a reflection of how we perceive others - (he) has made a profession out of being the 'other''. Our worldview of most peoples has always been characterized in terms of binary oppositions, human/non human, and we/they; in other words, our tendency is to dehumanize our enemies, at times escalating 'them' as opponents to a level of cosmic proportions. Through projecting 'evil' on to the 'other' and further escalating it to a cosmic scale, it becomes a war between 'us' and 'them', good against evil, as God is on our side and Satan, the great adversary, is on 'their' side. The examples from history of escalating and justifying war by positioning the conflict to a cosmic scale are almost too numerous to mention. Pagel concludes by proposing that we stop projecting evil on the 'other' as something outside ourselves, and begin to reflect, to dig down to the root of evil within us. Through recognizing evil as something within us, and thereby dealing with it on a personal level, reconciliation can begin. This is a scholarly, important and illuminating book.
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Summary: What would Jesus do....
Review: In THE ORIGIN OF SATAN, Elaine Pagels says that the idea of Satan evolved from "an opposing angel" in Jewish writing such as the book of Lot (Old Testament) to the ultimate source of evil in the Christian gospels (New Testament). Pagels suggests that Christians associated three distinct sets of 'others' with evil (or demonized them) as a way of rallying an opposite force and strengthening group solidarity. The original 'others' the Christians demonized were 'other' Jews (Jesus and his early followers including Saint Paul were Jewish). At the time of Jesus, the Pharisees were the main Jewish power in Judea. However, Rome was the supreme ruler of Judea which it occupied as a defeated province. The Pharisees tended to be a "peace at any price" camp associated with Herod the nominal Jewish king. Other groups of dissenting Jews included the Essenes, who are believed to be the source of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Many scholars including Pagels argue that Jesus, although not a member of a dissenting Jewish party such as the Essenes, was probably seen as a problem by the Pharisees because the Romans probably viewed him as a seditionist after he wrecked the Temple in Jerusalem. Pagels suggests that although the four gospels depict the Roman Governor Pilate as a weak man who gave in to the wishes of the Sanhedrin (the council or court of the Pharisees) regarding the execution of Jesus, contemporary sources including Roman writers describe Pilate as a cruel ruler who summarily executed anyone he suspected of sedition. Furthermore, crucifixion was a Roman form of punishment. Pagels suggests the gospels may have palliated Pilate's involvement in Jesus' death for political reasons. During the period when the gospels were written, it was dangerous to criticize Rome. Besides, mainstream Jews had refused to accept Jesus as the Messiah, so the Christians had no incentive to downplay the role of the Pharisees and every reason to demonize them. The second 'other' group the Christians demonized were the Pagans whose ideas of divinity, gods, and goddesses differed from both the Jewish tradition and the new Christian position. The third 'other' group consisted of heretics who chose a differing interpretation of Jesus' message - as evident in the scrolls from Nag Hammadi. (Pagels covers the pagans who existed at the time the books of the New Testament were written - not later groups or individuals. She also limits her discussion of heresy to those groups reflected in the Nag Hammagi scrolls.) I particularly liked this book because I have always found the idea of Satan wrongheaded. How can a God who is both omniscient and omnipotent co-exist in a world with an 'other' who is the root of all evil, i.e., the devil. God must be his source (as Carl Jung suggested to Rome's chagrin). Oh I believe evil is real. One only has to reflect on Pogroms and the Holocaust to be reminded of it's existence. However, evil originates in the hearts and minds of human beings. I have long been troubled by the use of Jews, Pagans, dissenting Christians, and others as Christian scapegoats. Pagels suggests the true message of Jesus is about reconciliation which is divine, not seeing fellow human beings as the 'other.'
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