Title: The Origin of Satan: How Christians Demonized Jews, Pagans, and Heretics

Author: Elaine Pagels

Publisher: Vintage Books 1995

Genre: Nonfiction - Religion

Pages: 214

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Perpetual (NonAd); Mount TBR; A to Z: O

From the religious historian whose The Gnostic Gospels won both the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award comes a dramatic interpretation of Satan and his role on the Christian tradition. With magisterial learning and the elan of a born storyteller, Pagels turns Satan’s story into an audacious exploration of Christianity’s shadow side, in which the gospel of love gives way to irrational hatreds that continue to haunt Christians and non-Christians alike.

I really enjoyed Pagels's The Gnostic Gospels and hoped this one would be just as good. Unfortunately, I found this volume to be too meandering but also dense. I was bogged down by all the information included. I really enjoyed history tomes, but this one bored me a little too much. I was hoping for a much more lively account of the history of the Satan figure.

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