Sympathy for the Devil
Last night the family and I sat around and watched the movie Constantine. For those who haven’t seen it, it is about John Constantine, a sort of supernatural cop who sends demons back to hell if they break rules that govern an ongoing bet between God and Satan. It was fairly entertaining light fare, perfect for a day when both the boy and I were suffering from colds that had us feeling less than ourselves.
During the course of the movie, A. asked question after question about Satan, demons, angels, spirits, possession and the like. He was just being curious and testing what he was seeing in front of him. Like so many other religious themed things we watch or read, he likes to ask “Is that really how it works?” I admire this about him. Last night, however, I was disturbed. It was not the fact that he asked questions, but the fact that I realized the church is either unwilling or unable to broach the question of the Devil.
When I was in seminary, we never spoke of the Devil. The only passing reference made was in Old Testament when talking about the wager between God and ha-satan, when it was pointed out that Satan was more like a District Attorney, “accusing” folks of wrong doing. A sort of divine tattle tale. In New Testament, we didn’t seem to pay him much attention. There was never a time (at least in my classes) where we explored this idea that there was a personification of evil, a fallen angel, a foe seeking to devour us. 
So just what do we as the church think about this fellow called the Devil? Who is he? Does he exist in persona, or is he a literary metaphor for those things that dwell inside of us that we are too appalled to claim as our own? [Perhaps I should be more “inclusive” and alternate referring to the Devil as “her” so as not to offend anyone] Regardless of how we answer those questions, is it not our responsibility to discuss this broadly as the church. With Lent around the corner, we are about to join Jesus in his 40 days of temptation by the Devil. We will here the story of the things offered to Jesus: food, wealth, power. Yet we won’t talk about who it is that offers these things to him. When Jesus is standing at the pinnacle of the Temple and is tempted to jump so that the angels will rush down and rescue him, is he talking to himself or is someone else there? More importantly, when we ask “Do you reject the Devil and all of his empty promises” in the baptismal formula, what are we asking?
There are very few resources out there that even discuss this. I have greatly admired the work of historian Jeffrey Burton Russell, who has written extensively on this issue. As much as I enjoy his work and find it enlightening, it really is little more than cultural history, and not a work of theology. Even the theology books I have make little if any reference to this notion of Satan. Satan seems to appear chiefly in my more dated liturgical books. The Rituale Romanum has a text for exorcism. The ECUSA’s Book of Occasional Services is the only modern liturgy book I have that refers to exorcism, but when you read the entry, it basically says, “Call the Bishop.” In other words, “if you think someone needs an exorcism, call the Bishop who will suggest you take a sabbatical because it is clear that if you believe a demon has possessed someone, you have been working too hard.”
Was the warning of C.S. Lewis accurate? Has the devil played his greatest trick by convincing us he does not exist? For even if we do believe the devil exists on some level, we live and act as if this fact is of little or no consequence.
So, do you believe in the Devil? Do your churches talk about the Devil? For those of you who went to seminary or divinity school, did you ever discuss the Devil in classes? How do you respond in church settings when people ask you about such things?
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We hardly ever talk about Satan in theology class. Yes we talk about our baptismal rite of rejecting the Devil and his/her promises but thats about it.
I believe CS Lewis was right.
Being a huge fan of Constantine (the movie and the comic), I really appreciated this post. I grew up Lutheran (ELCA) and was always somewhat puzzled by the Church’s presentation of evil and Satan. Both were always presented as abstracts, which may be the fault of modernism or the fault of Lutheranism’s rational way of dealing with theology. At times it seems that we, as a Church, have kicked mysticism out of the sanctuary in favor of a more rational and modern approach to God.
I do believe that CS Lewis was right, but I also believe in an actual Satan (the accuser) just as much as I believe in an actual God.
Personally, I think that one of the questions that we have to wrestle with is whether Christianity is a dualistic religion or not. Judaism is not. There is only one power in heaven and God is what’s there. I think it’s a valid question for discussion in regard to Christianity, though. I’d say that the more liberal, more modernist Christians tend to side with Judaism and say that it’s not and should not be. However, there’s absolutely no doubt that classical Christianity was.
I personally believe in a devil. There is real, true evil out there in the world and experiencing it/encountering it can be just as much a conversion experience as experiental proof of God. Apocalyptic makes sense of this and apocalyptic is something that simply doesn’t make sense without a belief in and an understanding of evil–which is why liberal protestantism has such a hard time with it.
Demons and angels fall in the same realm for me; I am a modern person born into a scientific age. I do not understand the mechanisms. I cannot comprehend the mechanisms–but I believe in both angels and demons when asked. However–they also don’t shape the way I live my life and practice my faith except in my affirmations that evil is real. (i.e., I don’t do any specific practices that relate to them except invoking Michael and Gabriel in my litany of saints.) So, I suppose I find myself saying that I do belive in them, ut I’m not sure how much I act on that belief. Does that make sense?
I have never gone to a seminary but I do believe CS Lewis is right in his saying. I think the most dangerous lie is to be fooled into thinking that Satan is not real.
When I was attending a protestant Church I heard alot about Satan and trickery etc, in fact each time someone was in a rough time there would be prayers against the works of Satan etc.
I am surprised that there is not a bit more focus on this in seminary.
Although I think a better focus on this is to look at where our faith can be strong enough to resist evil things and have a better recognition of them.
On another note, I want to see Constantine too!
Alexander Schmemann has a thoughtful discussion of the “Do you reject the Devil and all his empty promises?” question in his book, For the Life of the World. He observes that people “who use electricity” (a reference to Bultmann, right?) aren’t supposed to believe in evil. Then he points out that people “who use electricity” witnessed the Holocaust. He says that no matter what we want to profess, evil is a tangible reality in the world we live in.
I don’t think I believe in a personal devil (but I could be wrong, I might believe in him). Even so, I do believe in evil as something present in the world beyond simply bad choices. I believe that something evil pursues us and naybe even intends to drive us in certain directions. So maybe I do believe in the Devil.
I would second Derek’s points, except I’d include the guardian angel prayer (do Lutherans/Anglicans pray that?). My seminary experience is the same as LutherPunk’s (as if should be; we went to the same place, lol).
I will say that my high school students frequently ask about the devil, demons, etc. in class. I think it’s so easy to become cynical and casual about evil, especially in the American middle class, that we forget it is a reality to many people (and ourselves if we look honestly).
Jonathon - the end of Luther’s Morning and Evening Prayer asks God to “let you Holy Angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me.”
But your point about the American middle class forgetting about evil is a point to really be explored. Maybe if we encountered a hardship other than those we get in our suburban neighborhoods we might view things differently.
Tina - The mystical slant is one that interesting. We don’t seem to have much room for that in the Lutheran church, which is sad. I also didn’t know Constantine was a comic book until today.
All of these are good thoughts from everyone. It seems that we are all willing to acknowledge some form of evil, perhaps even some personification in a person called the Devil. I guess the question becomes why don’t we ever talk about this at church????
LutherPunk,
Could your question re: why we don’t hear about the devil in church be answered by our experiences at seminary? I think it may have something to do with it.
Another reason could be that since many Christian groups have so elevated the role of the devil to preposterous levels, perhaps the mainline Protestants, even those more traditional ones, and Catholics just don’t want to go there.
Whenever I have a conversation with an evanglical, they always ask what Lutherans think about the Devil, and hell for that matter. I can never give a good answer, becides say that we don’t talk about it.
I had one professor of New Testament who had some theories about Mark and Luke that included the devil. I’m not sure if he has written these thoeries or not, but they were really interesting to hear (whether you believe them or not!).
Personally, I guess I don’t give the Devil too much thought or credit. Instead of thinking of an evil that is “out there”, I think that the possibility of evil is within myself. All the horrible things that have been done are usually the results of human hands. I often think that the Devil becomes an excuse for our own sin (”The Devil made me do it”). I would like to see us take more personal responsibility for our own sin, and the evil that we can manufacture.
It seems that I’m the minority opinion among these postings. I’ll just have to stand alone!
LP, the Book of Occasional Services is wiser than I thought. At General Convention, perhaps it should be proposed that the note on exorcisms should be replaced with “call +Jack Iker” (the Bishop of Ft. Worth and the only bishop in the Episcopal Church who I think would be helpful.)
In non-baptismal references, the Great Litany in the BCP mentions Satan and the devil thrice. I am not a seminarian but a rather vibrant pneumatology is at the very root of my Christianity. It may be dualistic, but it’s hard to disbelieve in evil spirits when the Holy Spirit is so important to me. In addition, you may have heard of the notion of “thin places” in Celtic Christianity. Well, there are also “thin people,” and it is often said to run in families. I have some “thin people” on my mother’s side and thus try to be careful…
Those I know who have lived in non-Western societies often find more resonance with the idea of Satan. I have a friend who lived in Africa for a while and was certain that someone had tried to afflict her mother with witchcraft. It made an interesting conversation at the college chaplaincy coffee hour one Sunday. Only the chaplain and I found the story believable.
On the parish level, I have faced this issue as a catechist. I can’t exactly remember what I said, but I usually only managed to convince parents that there was some use or meaning in renouncing “Satan and all of the spiritual forces of wickedness that rebel against God.” My present parish has taken their ever-handy pens to that portion of the BCP baptismal liturgy to my dismay.
That said, I agree with those who say that the role of Satan has been blown up to preposterous levels (see Jack Chick) and that it is easy to confuse “evil spirits” with an excess of our own passions to avoid blame for our sins. Satan, I suspect, goes for the “thin people” and the big scores.
Ok–more thoughts here.
Some of us Lutherans DO still believe and teach about the Devil as a real and personal being - as does Scripture.
Yes Missouri got that one right
Yeah, they hit it on the head every now and again. I actually used an LCMS document in my class tonight.
I talked about this on Derek’s blog as well…I’ve had a couple of what I’d describe as palpable experiences of evil — literally hair-raising experiences, experiences of something both malevolent and other — that ran counter to my rational explanations for evil, for references to Satan in Scripture, etc.
I think part of my own reticence in talking about Satan is indeed the way that some evangelical and Pentecostal Christians have elevated Satan and his minions to an almost dualistic level, and see them hiding behind every curtain and under every rock…as well as the “de debbil made me do it” copout that lets us off the hook for our own bad behaviors. And…in my observation/experience, the Christians who obsess about demonology the most seem to magnetize that dark energy into their lives…a self-fulfilling prophecy.
As I told Derek, the best response to all of this may be periodically reminding ourselves of our baptisms — we’re marked with the cross of Christ forever!