Satan: The Early Christian Tradition

By Jeffrey Burton Russell

Book Overview

"Russell has complete mastery of his material, and the book's sweep is grand: a tour of the first five centuries of Christian intellectual history with the spotlight on the villain instead of the hero.... Satan is a valuable introduction to the theological portion of the Western Devil tradition."
― Speculum

Undeniably, evil exists in our world; we ourselves commit evil acts. How can one account for evil's ageless presence, its attraction, and its fruits? The question is one that Jeffrey Burton Russell addresses in his history of the concept of the Devil--the personification of evil itself. In the predecessor to this book, The Devil: Perceptions of Evil from Antiquity to Primitive Christianity, Russell traced the idea of the Devil in comparative religions and examined its development in Western thought through ancient Hebrew religion and the New Testament. This volume follows its course over the first five centuries of the Christian era.

Like most theological problems, the question of evil was largely ignored by the primitive Christian community. The later Christian thinkers who wrestled with it for many centuries were faced with a seemingly irreconcilable paradox: if God is benevolent and omnipotent, why does He permit evil? How, on the other hand, can God be all-powerful if one adopts a dualist stance, and posits two divine forces, one good and one evil?

Drawing upon a rich variety of literary sources as well as upon the visual arts, Russell discusses the apostolic fathers, the apologetic fathers, and the Gnostics. He goes on to treat the thought of Irenaeus and Tertullian, and to describe the diabology of the Alexandrian fathers, Clement and Origen, as well as the dualist tendencies in Lactantius and in the monastic fathers. Finally he addresses the syntheses of the fifth century, especially that of Augustine, whose view of the Devil has been widely accepted in the entire Christian community ever since.

Satan is both a revealing study of the compelling figure of the Devil and an imaginative and persuasive inquiry into the forces that shape a concept and ensure its survival.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801494133
• ISBN13: 9780801494130
• Release Date: August 1987
• Publisher: Cornell University Press
• Length: 258 Pages
• Weight: 0.84 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Authoritative and Impartial

This volume more resembles a volume on the theology of evil of this time period, rather than upon the entity of Satan himself. Much of this volume discusses the theology of evil that was proposed by the early church fathers. Though this is largely acceptable under Russell's stated purview, Russell does spend much less time discussing Satan, and the perception of Satan, then in the first volume of the series. The main problem that I found with Russell's first volume "The Devil: perceptions of evil from antiquity to early Christianity" was the amount of theology that he imposed apon history. Russell seemed to take advantage of the fact that early history was largely obscure and unknowable by plugging the inherent historical holes with what he thought the ancients believed. This has definitely changed in this next volume. Due to the fact that we know more about this time in history than previously, there is thus less theology that Russel has to assume the subjects believed. Russell delves deeply into the current thought of that time, and where space restricts him he supply plenty of references for further study. I was a little disappointed with Russell's lack of study into the beliefs of the Christian society. Russell only discussed a couple of the early church fathers and really failed to go much further than that. Sure this may have been the general position of the Christian thinkers of that time, but I was also interested in knowing what the common Christian's perception of satan was. Russel just seemed to focus on the thoughts of the Christian `elite'. This volume is much more a study of the facts, as apposed to the fist volume where Russell seemed to just fabricate what was missing. Russell also spends a couple of pages at the end of this volume discussing his thoughts of evil, something I wished he had done in his first volume. And in this I found one of the most outstanding efforts at theodicy in regards to the existence of evil that I have seen, I found it quite profound and inspiring. And it is also clear from knowing his own beliefs that he does not let them cloud his research. Russell's research is quite superb, and conveys his thesis eloquently and precisely. I really have no serious quibbles with this book. Though I found myself disappointed a few times, this was more due to my false expectations then any fault in the book. Thus I have no troubles giving it five stars.

The Adversary Goes West ~ Personification of Evil In Biblical Scripture And Early Church Teaching

'Satan: the Early Christian Traditiion' was originally published in a hardcover edition in '81 and is Jeffrey Burton Russell's second foray into the darkside of human history, the concept of evil and the possible existence of the Devil. I liked this book better than his previous book. That might be because here he's working within a more focused Christian perspective, so it's probably more a subjective opinion than a critical analysis on my part. Pretty dry reading, but than the author is a historian, not a theologian. Good, solid research all in all.

Satan: The Early Christian Tradition.

This book is written by Jeffrey Burton Russell professor of History at the University of California. It is his second volume about the history of concept of the Devil, first published 1981. Satan: The early christian tradition tracks the first five centuries of the christian church. There are lot of questions in these book concerning the origin of evil in this world and the existence of the Devil. What was the nature of his fall? Where is he now? Can he be saved? Going through history with the guidance of J.F.Russell we see in what way the early church fathers tried to answer questions like these. It is also interesting to see why some early christians preferred martyrdom while others become monks. And here you find the basis for persecutions of heretics and witches for centuries! To my mind this is a good literature about the first five centuries of Christian history.