Satan

By Henry Ansgar Kelly

Book Overview

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 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'.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0521604028
• ISBN13: 9780521604024
• Release Date: August 2006
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 376 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.3" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Poor Kelly...

In contrast to other reviewers, I found the book to be very useful actually. It's one of those books that does what it says on the tin, and pretty much lists every reference to Satan in the Bible and brings a number of interesting concepts to light. No, it's not written by a theologian, and if you want one written by a theologian, I'd recommend The Birth of Satan: Tracing the Devil's Biblical Roots by Wray and Mobley. Some people are a bit snobbish when it comes to theological books because they make a distinction between theologians and 'laymen'. I do too. But that doesn't mean non-theologians books are non-useful. One has to remember that most of the New Testament were written by laymen. Also, once you've read a number of theologians, you eventually realise "Oh dear...scholars love to contradict each other and disagree." Personally, I'd recommend this book if you want to have a good overview of the topic of Satan. I didn't read anything that was contradicted by official theologians, and have found it useful to explain things to others. So yes, even though I went to seminary, and have studied the official theologians, and have read the writings of the Early Church, and studied Koine Greek, I still think that this book would be very useful, although when I bought it, it was much cheaper!