Blog of the week

Here at Faith and Theology, our new blog of the week is Phil Harland’s Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean. Phil has posted an excellent three-part series on the figure of “Satan” in the ancient world. First, Phil offers a short history of Satan; then a discussion of Mesopotamian gods and chaos-monsters; and finally a discussion of other predecessors of Satan in the Old Testament.

As Phil notes, when reading the Old Testament “it is important not to project back into its pages later developments in Judaism and Christianity”—and “this is particularly true in the case of ‘Satan.’”

Thanks to Phil for such a splendid and insightful series. Be sure to pay a visit to Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean.