Evil and the Devil

✍ Scribed by Erkki Koskenniemi; Ida Fröhlich (editors)

• Publisher: Bloomsbury T&T Clark
• Year: 2013
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 274
• Series: The Library of New Testament Studies
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

The problem of evil has preoccupied world religions for centuries. The Old Testament contained no uniform dogma on evil powers, launching a fierce debate that has dominated theological and philosophical thought through the centuries to this day.
Evil and the Devil brings together contributions from leading inter national scholars to chart that debate, tracing the history of evil from its origins in the Old Testament through early Judaism and the New Testament to the thought of Origen and one of the topic’s most influential theologians, Augustine. What role did evil adopt in ancient Judaism? What impact did the association of miracles with demons have upon Matthew’s Gospel? Evil and the Devil examines such questions, resulting in a fascinating and comprehensive exploration of portrayals of evil and its power and influence on religious thought.

✦ Table of Contents

Contents
Tables
Introduction
Chapter1 The Devil in the Old Testament
Introduction
Satan—A Proper Name in the Old Testament?
The Concept of the Divine Council
The Divine Council Imagery in the Pre-exilic Yahwistic Monolatric Tradition
Exilic Apology and the Divine Council Imagery
Monotheistic Modification of the Divine Council
Rewriting Genesis 6.1-4 and the Origin of Evil Demons
Four “Satanic Verses” in the Old Testament
Conclusions
Chapter 2 Evil in Second Temple Texts
The Origin of the Evil in Qumran Tradition—The Story of the Watchers (1 En. 6-11)
Sin and Impurity: Ethical (Prohibited) Impurities
The Giants in the Enochic Tradition
Jubilees as a Narrative with Systematic Demonology
Demons and Spirits in Qumran Texts
Demons of Fever
Conclusion
Chapter 3 The Demonic World of the Dead Sea Scrolls
Introduction
The Demonic of the Enochic Tradition and Its Take-up in the Dead Sea Scrolls
“Demons,” “Spirits” and “Angels” in the Dead Sea Scrolls
Chief Demonic Beings
Conclusion
Chapter 4 The Devil in Rabbinic Literature
Satan as Accuser
Satan as Tempter and Seducer
Satan as Adversary
Satan, Sama’el, and the Angel of Death
Summary
Chapter 5 Miracles of the Devil and His Assistants in Early Judaism and Their Influence on the Gospel of Matthew
Introduction
Greek and Latin Demonology: From dai/monej to Demons
The Old Testament and the Septuagint
Early Judaism
Matthew: Do Not Try This at Home
Conclusion
Chapter 6 The Devil in the Gospel of Mark
Introduction
Mk 8.33
Mk 1.13
Mk 3.22-29
Mk 4.15
General Comments on Mark’s Satanology
Chapter 7 Binding the Strong Man: Demon-Possession and Liberation in the Gospel of Luke
Introduction
Demon-possession and Exorcism in the Context of the Ancient Mediterranean
Limited Good and Demon-Possession
Exorcism as Political Action
Luke’s Special Emphases in the Narratives of Exorcism
Chapter 8 The Believing Jews as the Children of the Devil in John 8.44: Similarity as a Threat to Social Identity
Jn 8.44 in Its Literary Context
Dualism and the Construction of Identity
The Social Identity Perspective
Conclusion: Similarity as a Threat to the Social Identity of the Johannine Community
Chapter 9 Paul and the Evil One
1. Paul and Evil
2. Figures of Evil
3. Pauline Argument and Vocabulary of “Evil”
4. Conclusion
Chapter 10 1 Peter and the Lion
Intertextual Background
The Accuser
The Predator
The Lion in Context
Why the Personal Evil?
Conclusion
Chapter 11 The Dangerous Loser: The Narrative and Rhetorical Function of the Devil as Character in the Book of Revelation
Linguistic Evidence
The Rhetoric of Revelation and Its Hermeneutical Horizon
The “Defeat of Satan” (Rev. 12): Present Time in Light of the Past as a Time of Threat from the Defeated
The Elimination of Satan (Rev. 20): Future as Certainty of Conquest in the Present
Conclusion
Chapter 12 “Evil is not a Nature”: Origen on Evil and the Devil
The Origin of Evil
The Pagan Deities, Represented Like Demons
The Devil and the Seduction of Human Beings
Conclusion
Chapter 13 Augustine and Evil
Childhood
Manicheanism
Plotinus and Porphyry
Liberum Arbitrium
Peccatum originale
Libertas
Malum physicum
Civitas dei
Bellum iustum
Diabolus et daimones
Concluding Remarks
Bibliography
Index of Sources
1. Old Testament
2. New Testament
3. Qumran
4. Rabbinical Texts
5. Other Early Jewish Texts
6. Patristic texts
7. Other texts
Index of Scholars
Index of Subjects