A Way of Seeing in the Dark (3)

Seeking a Liturgy of the Wild, (Part 14)

Terry Ekasala One Trick Pony

Hello friends, I’ve so enjoyed many of the comments on this essay on the Devil. It’s clear there’s a significant amount of thinking on the subject you have already done, and I appreciate reading it. There’s a greater Christian emphasis in this third section, but I hope there’s threads useful to all.

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So I’m going to draw on some central ideas in the book Reviving Old Scratch by Richard Beck. It’s a very intelligent read, clearly aimed at Christians who no longer regard the Devil as a thing but a symbol, not an entity but an image. He pushes against that without getting too didactic. Beck leads Bible study in a maximum security prison and that gives his ideas a much-needed, well-trialed grit. He also claims that Satan (from the Hebrew meaning ha satan, “adversary”) can be seen as much as a relationship as a person. Anything that is getting in the way of you being part of the kingdom of God is a satan. Here’s his list: