Overview

Does one believe in the Satan of the Bible or in a figure that has been invented from later misunderstandings or deliberate misreading of the Bible?

We can all admit that Satan is considered "bad news", however, this fascinating new book looks closely at the bible and many later received opinions about Satan to find that he has been frequently misunderstood and deliberately cast in a bad light.

The proverb tells us that the devil is in the detail and so it is with Henry Ansgar Kelly who takes a chronological and historical approach to trace the emergence of the new master narrative about Satan. The book traces the evolution of an idea of Satan from light bringer to the devil and looks at the ingredients of the Satanic motifs that appeared in the individual books of the Bible. Particular emphasis is given to the repeated re-interpretations of the Satan of the New Testament and then, after the Bible was closed and canonised, what interpreters made of those ingredients and how they invented new ones.

After thorough consideration of the Old and New Testaments, this biography covers the idea of Satan in relation to concepts of possession, devil worship, original sin, claims of title over mankind, punisher of souls in hell as well as various historical representations, with illustrations, of Satan in art and literature.

Even if one is inclined to reject the existence of Satan, one must still consider whether it is the Satan of Tradition or the Satan of Scripture who is being discounted. For Tradition has trumped Scripture in this matter and Kelly urges a return to an "Original Biography of Satan".