The Evangelical Universalist Forum

Satan: Lifting the Veil

Thank you so much! I kind of felt the same way as I was researching this topic - it’s absolutely fascinating!

I have published the next section - Part 9: Azazel. This section deals with the ancient rite of Atonement and its connection to Satan.

Part 10 is up, and begins to explore the story of Jesus’ trials in the desert.

Part 11 is up, and explores some of the Jewish history behind the concepts in Jesus’ day of what a messiah would look like.

Fascinating post on Azazel Geoff :smiley: - and I love that quotation from Peter Rollins!

The book was amazing - one of my favorites. Really had me thinking about a lot of things for a long time. And thank you!

I confess I’ve gotten behind on your series, bro, I only made it up to the 4th or 5th post I think. I’ll try to catch up this weekend :slight_smile:

Gasp Well, that’s just unforgiveable.

:wink: :laughing:

I knew as I released these that there would be some who would take it at their own pace, some for whom I wasn’t releasing them fast enough, and some who would read the first section and not any more.

Just read the section on Maccabees Geoff - still enjoying it greatly - and it’s beautifully written :smiley:

How are you liking Jesus Driven Life? I’m about 60% or so through it, and I think it’s phenomenal and very insightful. I think everyone should read it.

Thank you so much!

I’ve just published Part 12, which explores the third and final temptation of Jesus in the desert.

I’m up to part ten, so just three articles to go (the ones on the temptation in the desert) and I’m all caught up. Good stuff bro, keep 'em coming :slight_smile:

I’m loving it, Tim! :smiley: About 3/4 done. I agree totally with everyone reading it. Though Hardin’s not the greatest stylist, the book is very accessible to non-theologians and his arguments are thorough and well-supported. His presentation of Girard’s “mimetic theory” was concise and excellent and I loved the historical discussion of the early church etc. Just phenomenal, as you said!

:sunglasses:

Geoff; I started reading through your series last night, and I’m really enjoying it. I’m maybe about halfway through (or less), and I’ll be very interested to see the conclusions you draw. Great series; thanks for sharing.

Thank you! The series is finished, I am just publishing one section a day now until I’ve got all 25 sections published. So if you catch up, bear with me!

By the way, I’ve been meaning to check out Jesus Driven Life sometime, as well. Hardin worked with Walter Wink - who was a huge influence on my thinking in the area of Satan/Demons - on a section of the “Understanding Spiritual Warfare: Four Views” book, which I put a couple quotes from in my series in the second post.

Yeah; Hardin’s approach is very influenced by Rene Girard’s mimetic theory/ mimetic realism and Walter Wink’s work. I think it’s one of the most insightful books I’ve ever read, and it touches on a number of important and interrelated topics, including the atonement. I plan to re-read it once I finish it; it’s just that good.

I found this section to be particularly interesting, brilliant and insightful.

Thank you! You know, I didn’t originally plan to have that section. But I had notes all over saying “should I talk about Atonement here?” And so I inserted that section after having moved on.

I’ve published Part 13, which examines a story immediately following the desert temptation, and its connections to the trials.

The next section of my series examines the question: how did the Accuser become “the Evil One”? And how did “he” become associated with chaos, when all our examples so far have been of an overzealous lawyer?

All these in Part 14

Hi Geoff :slight_smile: this reminds me that Girard associates this chaos with the sacrificial crisis in which all distinctions break down as sacrificing rage overtakes the sacrificing mob. Indeed Girard draws attention to an African tribal mask in which there are not only human and animal elements but also organic elements – bits of plants and fields of crops get mixed up with everything else.

I watched a sanitised version of one of these rituals on television a few years ago. It was an ancient Shinto rite enacted by the men of an industrial town in Japan where everything is clean and orderly and no litter is ever dropped. Once a year the men dress up in nothing but loincloths – all social distinctions between bosses and workers are broken down -and get horribly drunk and often hurt each other badly in fights. But with the rising sun order is reborn from chaos in renewed creation and they return to normal life purged. (In former times a real sacrificial victim would have been murdered as part of the rite as part of ‘Satan casting out Satan’).

As you say Geoff -