Why read The Origin of Satan?

Book cover of The Origin of Satan: How Christians Demonized Jews, Pagans, and Heretics

Book description

From the National Book Award-winning and National Book Critics Circle Award-winning author of The Gnostic Gospels comes a dramatic interpretation of Satan and his role on the Christian tradition.

"Arresting...brilliant...this book illuminates the angels with which we must wrestle to come to the truth of our bedeviling spritual problems." —The…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Origin of Satan as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

David Grassé

Author

Though the title was somewhat misleading, Elain Pagel’s book contained a wealth of information not only on the demonization of non-Christian cultures through the centuries, but also on how historical events, like the Jewish Roman Wars of the 1st/2nd Century C.E., affected the writing of the Bible.

By way of example, the Pharisees were a relatively minor sect while Jesus was alive, but by the time the Bible was being cobbled together, they had become much more powerful, and this is why they were referenced so often in the New Testament.

I found Pagel’s information about how the Bible was…

From David's 3 favorite reads in 2023.