Interesting

A locally produced but syndicated NPR show that I've listened to for a number of years and just recently added to my Podcast list is OnPoint. They talk about everything.

A recent show had two religious scholars discussing their book about the origins of the devil, much in the news of late with Hugo Chavez calling Bush the devil at the UN.

Worth a listen - it's available at that link.

Some interesting stuff:

The devil/satan/whatever is almost entirely absent from the Old Testament. Most of the stuff we know regarding Lucifer's fall from grace may be some questionable interpretation of some pretty vague passages. Satan really gets going in what they refer to as the inter-testamental period - basically the period of time between the writing (or compiling) of the old and new testaments.

The ancient Jewish scholars attributed both good and evil to god - they were true monotheists. God created everything, including evil, and is ultimately responsible for its occurence. It was later that, particularly the Christians, created an adversary to god, combining intelectual streams going back to pre-biblical mythologies. Satan may be in some part a form of anti-semitism, though it obviously depends on how its acted on.

And so, in 'Christianity', there is a dualism absent from early Judaism, but once the end of days comes, satan is vanquished never to be heard from again. Its some serious rhetorical jujitsu. The same is generally true of hell. Jews don't believe in it. Christians have been frightening their children with threats of it for centuries.

Definitely some stuff I hadn't thought about previously.