Though Satan had been mentioned in Jewish tradition, he had been an angel used by God to obstruct or test his people. One sect of Judaism that existed during Jesus' time, the Essenes, considered him to embody all evil, but this was just one small sect. The first of the gospels included in what we now call the New Testament was chronologically written by Mark. The following, in the order they were written, were Matthew, Luke, and John. Mark was writing about 35-40 years after Jesus' death. John, about 100 years later. Read in that order for allusions to Satan and to the Jews, Pagels notices that Satan becomes progressively worse and Jews become progressively more maligned. She assumes that Mark's denunciation of certain Jewish religious hierarchy is caused by Jews' ostracism of early Christians from the synagogues, community and their own families. She also thinks he may have been trying to seem inconsequential to the Romans. In later gospels we see the Romans more and more maligned as the persecution of the Christians grew.
I have found all three books I have read by Elaine Pagels:
The Gnostic Gospels, Adam, Eve, and the Serpent, and finally,
The Origin of Satan to be mind expanding and serious food for thought.
I have now started
Roseanne, My Life as a Woman, by Roseanne Barr. I am only on page 25, but already have had some belly laughs as well as some serious moments.
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