The quest for the historical Satan

De La Torre and Hernandez's volume probes the murky origins of the satanic legends and beliefs back to their pre-Christian roots in the Middle East.

They unearth the Satan's roots in Egyptian and Babylonian understandings of evil.

They also show, however, that the ancient Satan has some characteristics we would hardly recognize, especially his appearance in most ancient cultures and survival in many traditional religions as the "trickster" figure.

While a minor tradition in historic Christianity, the authors argue, seeing Satan as trickster is historically accurate and holds real promise for Christian rethinking in "theology, philosophy, and practive of evil" and how it can be dealt with.

This is a fascinating story that helps the reader reframe basic elements of our worldview of good and evil.