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Devil
A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of the devil can be summed up as 1) a principle of evil independent from God, 2) an aspect of God, 3) a created being turning evil (a ''fallen angel''), and 4) a symbol of human evil. Each tradition, culture, and religion with a devil in its mythos offers a different lens on manifestations of evil.Jeffrey Burton Russell, ''The Devil: Perceptions of Evil from Antiquity to Primitive Christianity'', Cornell University Press 1987 , pp. 41–75 The history of these perspectives intertwines with theology, mythology, psychiatry, art, and literature developing independently within each of the traditions. It occurs historically in many contexts and cultures, and is given many different names— Satan, Lucifer, Beelzebub, Mephistopheles, Iblis—and ...
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Satan
Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an entity in the Abrahamic religions that seduces humans into sin or falsehood. In Judaism, Satan is seen as an agent subservient to God, typically regarded as a metaphor for the ''yetzer hara'', or "evil inclination." In Christianity and Islam, he is usually seen as a fallen angel or jinn who has rebelled against God, who nevertheless allows him temporary power over the fallen world and a host of demons. In the Quran, Shaitan, also known as Iblis, is an entity made of fire who was cast out of Heaven because he refused to bow before the newly created Adam and incites humans to sin by infecting their minds with ''waswās'' ("evil suggestions"). A figure known as ''ha-satan'' ("the satan") first appears in the Hebrew Bible as a heavenly prosecutor, subordinate to Yahweh (God), who prosecutes the nation of ...
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Iblis
Iblis ( ar, إِبْلِيس, translit=Iblīs), alternatively known as Eblīs, is the leader of the devils () in Islam. According to the Quran, Iblis was thrown out of heaven, after he refused to prostrate himself before Adam. Regarding the origin and nature of Iblis, there are two different viewpoints. In the first version, before Iblis was cast down from heaven, he used to be a high-ranking angel (''Karub'') called Azazil, appointed by God to obliterate the original disobedient inhabitants of the earth, who were replaced with humans, as more obedient creatures. After Iblis objected to God's decision to create a successor (), he was punished by being relegated and cast down to earth as a (devil). In the alternative account, God created Iblis from the fires beneath the seventh earth. Worshipping God for thousands of years, Iblis ascended to the surface, whereupon, thanks to his pertinacious servitude, he rose until he reached the company of angels in the seventh heaven. When ...
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Lucifer
Lucifer is one of various figures in folklore associated with the planet Venus. The entity's name was subsequently absorbed into Christianity as a name for the devil. Modern scholarship generally translates the term in the relevant Bible passage ( Isaiah 14:12), where the Greek Septuagint reads ὁ ἑωσφόρος ὁ πρωὶ, as "morning star" or "shining one" rather than as a proper noun, Lucifer, as found in the Latin Vulgate. As a name for the Devil in Christian theology, the more common meaning in English, "Lucifer" is the rendering of the Hebrew word he, הֵילֵל, hêlēl, label=none, (pronunciation: ''hay-lale'') in Isaiah given in the King James Version of the Bible. The translators of this version took the word from the Latin Vulgate, Originally published New York: The MacMillan Co., 1923. which translated by the Latin word (uncapitalized), meaning "the morning star", "the planet Venus", or, as an adjective, "light-bringing". As a name for the planet in it ...
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Beelzebub
Beelzebub ( ; he, ''Baʿal-zəḇūḇ'') or Beelzebul is a name derived from a Philistine god, formerly worshipped in Ekron, and later adopted by some Abrahamic religions as a major demon. The name ''Beelzebub'' is associated with the Canaanite god Baal. In theological sources, predominantly Christian, Beelzebub is another name for Satan. He is known in demonology as one of the seven deadly demons or seven princes of Hell, Beelzebub representing gluttony. The ''Dictionnaire Infernal'' describes Beelzebub as a being capable of flying, known as the "Lord of the Flyers", or the "Lord of the Flies". Hebrew Scriptures The source for the name ''Beelzebub'' is in the Books of Kings (), written ''Ba'al-zəbûb'', referring to a deity worshipped by the Philistines. The title ''Baal'', meaning "Lord" in Ugaritic, was used in conjunction with a descriptive name of a specific god. Opinions differ on what the name means. In one understanding, ''Ba'al-zəbûb'' is translated literal ...
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Fallen Angel
In the Abrahamic religions, fallen angels are angels who were expelled from heaven. The literal term "fallen angel" never appears in any Abrahamic religious texts, but is used to describe angels cast out of heaven"Mehdi Azaiez, Gabriel Said Reynolds, Tommaso Tesei, Hamza M. Zafer ''The Qur'an Seminar Commentary / Le Qur'an Seminar: A Collaborative Study of 50 Qur'anic Passages / Commentaire collaboratif de 50 passages coraniques'' Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG Q 72 or angels who sinned. Such angels often tempt humans to sin. The idea of fallen angels derived from the Book of Enoch, a Jewish pseudepigraph, or the assumption that the "sons of God" () mentioned in Genesis 6:1–4 are angels. In the period immediately preceding the composition of the New Testament, some sects of Judaism, as well as many Christian Church Fathers, identified these same "sons of God" as fallen angels. During the late Second Temple period the biblical giants were sometimes considered the monst ...
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Mephistopheles
Mephistopheles (, ), also known as Mephisto, is a demon featured in German folklore. He originally appeared in literature as the demon in the Faust legend, and he has since appeared in other works as a stock character (see: Mephistopheles in the arts and popular culture). Etymology and name meaning The name ''Mephistopheles'' is a corrupted Greek compound. The Greek particle of negation (μη, ''mē'') and the Greek word for love or loving (φίλος, ''philos'') are the first and last terms of the compound but the middle term is more doubtful. For the middle term, three meanings have been noticed and three different complete etymologies have been established: *not loving light (φως το, ''phōs to''; the old form of the word being ''Mephostopheles'') *not loving Faust *allied to '' mephitic,'' a term which designates the poisonous vapors arising from the earth in certain places—pools, caverns, springs—destructive of human life. It is likely that the name was ...
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Jeffrey Burton Russell
Jeffrey Burton Russell (born 1934) is an American historian and religious studies scholar. Early life Russell received his undergraduate degree from the University of California, Berkeley in 1955 and his PhD from Emory University in 1960. Career He is currently Professor Emeritus of History at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has also taught History and Religious Studies at Berkeley, Riverside, California State University, Sacramento, Harvard, New Mexico, and Notre Dame. Russell has published widely, mostly in medieval European history and the history of theology. His first book was ''Dissent and Reform in the Early Middle Ages'' (1965). He is most noted for his five-volume history of the concept of the Devil: ''The Devil'' (1977), ''Satan'' (1981), ''Lucifer'' (1984), ''Mephistopheles'' (1986) and ''The Prince of Darkness'' (1988). In ''Inventing the Flat Earth'' (1991) he argues that 19th century anti-Christians invented and spread the falsehood that educate ...
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Evil
Evil, in a general sense, is defined as the opposite or absence of good. It can be an extremely broad concept, although in everyday usage it is often more narrowly used to talk about profound wickedness and against common good. It is generally seen as taking multiple possible forms, such as the form of personal moral evil commonly associated with the word, or impersonal natural evil (as in the case of natural disasters or illnesses), and in religious thought, the form of the demonic or supernatural/eternal. While some religions, world views, and philosophies focus on "good versus evil", others deny evil's existence and usefulness in describing people. Evil can denote profound immorality, but typically not without some basis in the understanding of the human condition, where strife and suffering ( cf. Hinduism) are the true roots of evil. In certain religious contexts, evil has been described as a supernatural force. Definitions of evil vary, as does the analysis of it ...
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Abrahamic Religions
The Abrahamic religions are a group of religions centered around worship of the God of Abraham. Abraham, a Hebrew patriarch, is extensively mentioned throughout Abrahamic religious scriptures such as the Bible and the Quran. Jewish tradition claims that the Twelve Tribes of Israel are descended from Abraham through his son Isaac and grandson Jacob, whose sons formed the nation of the Israelites in Canaan (or the Land of Israel); Islamic tradition claims that twelve Arab tribes known as the Ishmaelites are descended from Abraham through his son Ishmael in the Arabian Peninsula. In its early stages, Israelite religion was derived from the Canaanite religions of the Bronze Age; by Iron Age I, it had become distinct from other Canaanite religions as it shed polytheism for monolatry. The monolatrist nature of Yahwism was further developed in the period following the Babylonian captivity, eventually emerging as a firm religious movement of monotheism. In the 1st cent ...
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List Of Roman Deities
The Roman deities most widely known today are those the Romans identified with Greek counterparts (see ''interpretatio graeca''), integrating Greek myths, iconography, and sometimes religious practices into Roman culture, including Latin literature, Roman art, and religious life as it was experienced throughout the Empire. Many of the Romans' own gods remain obscure, known only by name and sometimes function, through inscriptions and texts that are often fragmentary. This is particularly true of those gods belonging to the archaic religion of the Romans dating back to the era of kings, the so-called "religion of Numa", which was perpetuated or revived over the centuries. Some archaic deities have Italic or Etruscan counterparts, as identified both by ancient sources and by modern scholars. Throughout the Empire, the deities of peoples in the provinces were given new theological interpretations in light of functions or attributes they shared with Roman deities. An extensiv ...
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