Author Topic: Satanic Black Mass at Harvard Canceled (Read 9118 times)

Darkhawk · « **Reply #30 on:** May 18, 2014, 12:01:49 pm »

Quote from: Sage;147845

Well, Satan shows up in the Old Testament, for one - just look at the book of Job. The books of the Hebrew Bible definitely predate Christianity.

Though I do think it should be noted that ha-Satan is an angel in service to Hashem in Jewish theology - something like that god's prosecuting attorney - rather than the being that Christianity subsequently constructed.

The history of the figure of the devil is one of those things that I kind of dabble in on and off. My recommended reading for the subject is Russell's "The Devil: Perceptions of Evil from Antiquity to Primitive Christianity".

Sage · « **Reply #31 on:** May 18, 2014, 04:02:06 pm »

Quote from: Darkhawk;147874

Though I do think it should be noted that ha-Satan is an angel in service to Hashem in Jewish theology - something like that god's prosecuting attorney - rather than the being that Christianity subsequently constructed.

Absolutely right. I didn't know enough about that to properly articulate it.

Aspiria · « **Reply #32 on:** May 18, 2014, 08:37:05 pm »

Quote from: Jack;147852

LOL, yes, Sage has that right. Job's the big one but there's a couple of places you can look. Specifically there are two that use "satan" with a definite article, as a title:

Job 1-2, where God encourages Satan to go be a dick to Job.
Zechariah 3:1-2

There are others where it's sometimes translated as Satan or devil and others that are usually translated simply as adversary, but the word comes from the Hebrew. Wikipedia has a good list to get you started if you want to poke around.

Thanks guys.