Discussion Group Report

"In the Ancient Western World," says historian Elaine Pagels, "many - perhaps most - people assumed that the universe was inhabited by invisible beings whose presence impinged upon the visible world, and its human inhabitants."

Conversion from paganism to Judaism or Christianity meant, above all, transforming one's perception of the invisible world. The pagan convert was baptized only after confessing that all spirit beings previously revered as divine were actually only "demons:" Hostile spirits contending against the One God of goodness and justice, and against his armies of angels. Becoming either a Christian or a Jew polarized a pagan's view of the universe, and moralized it. However, the Jews and Christians were less concerned with the natural world as a whole, than with the particular world of human relationships.

While angels often appear in the Hebrew bible, Satan, along with other fallen angels or demonic beings, is virtually absent. But among certain first-century Jewish groups, prominently including the Essenes and the followers of Jesus, Satan began to assume central importance. Mark, in the New Testament, characterizes Jesus' ministry as involving continual struggle between God's spirit and the demons who belong to Satan's kingdom. Such visions have been incorporated into Christian tradition, and have served to confirm for Christians their own identification with God, and to demonize their opponents: first other Jews, then pagans, and later dissident Christians called heretics.

Satan is also a reflection of how we perceive ourselves, and those we call "others"; he defines negatively what we think of as human. In Western Christian tradition, "we" are God's people, and "they" are God's enemies, and ours as well. "Such moral interpretation," says Pagels, "has proven extraordinarily effective throughout Western history in consolidating the identity of Christian groups; the same history also shows that it can justify hatred, even mass slaughter." The Christian vision of supernatural struggle both expresses conflict, and raises it to cosmic dimensions. As SØren Kierkegaard pointed out, "An unconscious relationship is more powerful than a conscious one."

Christian tradition derives much of its power from the conviction that, although the believer may be besieged by evil forces, Christ has already won the decisive victory. The apocalyptic faith that He has triumphed assures Christians that in their own struggles, the stakes are eternal and victory is certain. So compelling is this vision of cosmic war that it has pervaded the imaginations of people for two thousand years. It has taught even secular-minded people to interpret the history of Western culture as a moral history in which the forces of good contend against the forces of evil in the world. Millions of Muslims invoke similar apocalyptic visions, and switch the sides so that to them Christians are the allies of "the great Satan." This vision derives its power not only from the conviction that one stands on God's side, but also from the belief that one's opponents are doomed to failure.

Still, from the first century, some Christians, including Matthew, have taught a profoundly different perception of opponents: that, whatever harm their enemies have done, they are capable of being reconciled. For the most part, however, Christians have taught that their enemies are evil, and beyond redemption.