Satan A Biography

This study shows how the Satan of the New Testament became the modern day personification of evil.

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'.

List of illustrations; List of abbreviations; Introduction; Part I. Hebrew Backgrounds: 1. The Old Testament; 2. Apocryphal works and the Dead Sea Scrolls; Part II. The New Testament: Satan Comes Into His Own: 3. St Paul, the first Christian writer; 4. The four Gospels; 5. Later Epistles; 6. The apocalypse of John the Divine; 7. Putting the New Testament together: a composite portrait of Satan in canonical order; Part III. Satan and Adam: 8. Satan's original sin: felling Adam; Part IV. The Rise of the Fallen Lucifer: 9. Lucifer and the new biography of Satan; 10. Satan and the human race; 11. Theorizing Satan; 12. Satan in literature and art; Part V. Satan in the Modern World: 13. Temptation and possession; 14. Doubts and affirmations; Summary and conclusion; Index of passages; General index.

The Devil of the New Testament is actually one of God's ministers, assigned to rule the world and monitor the conduct of human beings, but at the hands of the Church Fathers he became the personification of evil. Kelly shows how this portrayal developed and persists to the present day.

Henry Ansgar Kelly is Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Department of English and Director of the Center of Medieval Studies, University of California, Los Angeles.