The Origin of Satan

How Christians Demonized Jews, Pagans, and Heretics

How Christians Demonized Jews, Pagans, and Heretics

By Elaine Pagels

By Elaine Pagels

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The Origin of Satan by Elaine Pagels

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Paperback $18.00

Apr 30, 1996 | 240 Pages

Ebook $14.99

Oct 12, 2011 | 240 Pages

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      Apr 30, 1996 | 240 Pages

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    • Ebook $14.99

      Oct 12, 2011 | 240 Pages

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    About The Origin of Satan

    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.

    About The Origin of Satan

    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.

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    Praise

    “Arresting . . . brilliant . . . this book illuminates the angels with which we must wrestle to come to the truth of our bedeviling spritual problems.”  —Boston Globe

    “Pagels is a wonderful writer. . . . She has a gift for bringing ancient texts alive. . . . Fascinating.”  —San Francisco Chronicle

    “Lively reading . . . a book that makes familiar concepts disturbingly fresh and provocative.” —The New York Times

    “Pagels has achieved something important. . . . Thoughtful scholarly works that are also original and adventurous are not common. The Origin of Satan is such a work, and we should be correspondingly grateful.”  —New York Review of Books

    “Lucid and closely reasoned. . . . Pagels remains always a lively writer who discerns the human implications of esoteric texts and scholarly disputes.” —Chicago Tribune

    About Elaine Pagels

    Elaine Pagels is the Harrington Spear Paine Foundation Professor of Religion at Princeton University. She is the author of several books, including Reading Judas: The Gospel of Judas and the Shaping of Christianity, the New York Times bestseller Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas, and The… More about Elaine Pagels

    About Elaine Pagels

    Elaine Pagels is the Harrington Spear Paine Foundation Professor of Religion at Princeton University. She is the author of several books, including Reading Judas: The Gospel of Judas and the Shaping of Christianity, the New York Times bestseller Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas, and The… More about Elaine Pagels

    Product Details

    Paperback
    Published by Vintage
    Apr 30, 1996 | 240 Pages | 5-3/16 x 8 | ISBN 9780679731184

    Ebook
    Published by Vintage
    Oct 12, 2011 | 240 Pages | ISBN 9780307807366

    Also by Elaine Pagels

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