The Sopranos, Old Testament Version
Not surprisingly, it seems Satan was just an invention by the Church to keep its flock in line, and the biblical satans (there were a number of them) were an early version of mob errand boys, but in god's employ:
Christians believe in a character called Satan who rules an evil empire and is constantly trying to make people have sex or drink beer, but a Medieval Studies professor is on a bold mission to tell the truth about the so-called Devil.According to Dr. Henry Ansgar Kelly, the Evil One feared by Christians is just an invention of the Roman church still used by "fire and brimstone" preachers even today. Over the centuries and especially during the Middle Ages, the Satan character became ever more detailed.
As the Christian religion was put together from a diverse collection of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean mythologies and cults, the church fathers found it useful to combine dozens of different characters to make a scary devil monster that would keep people in line, according to "Satan: A Biography."
The "satan" in the Old Testament isn't even a specific character, Dr. Kelly writes. In the famous Book of Job, for example, the Hebrew text describes a class of angels that do cruel experiments for a bored and vicious God.
These entities are known as "ha-satan," or "the adversaries" or "the prosecutors" -- the hit men or district attorneys working for God.
...Dr. Kelly says he wants this true history of "Satan" to spread so that Christians may one day learn the Devil they know doesn't actually exist in their own Bible.
Incidentally, my part-time biblical scholar mother once told me that, in Judaism, there's no concept of heaven or hell.
A bored and vicious God? Don't you know anything about theology, Amy? It's one thing to be smugly anti-religious, but quite something else to get the basic facts of the matter wrong.
Fritz at April 14, 2006 11:59 AM
It's funny, but I don't remember seeing Christians (or Jews, or Muslims, etc.) described as being "smugly" religious when they expound on their beliefs. Why the double-standard?
Btw, reread the Old Testament Fritz, and you'll see a God who is indeed quite vicious. Unless you don't think murdering all the first-born children of an entire nation is vicious.
Kimberly at April 16, 2006 6:32 AM
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