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The Evil Creator

Origins of an Early Christian Idea

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The Evil Creator

By: M. David Litwa
Narrated by: Ben Henri
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About this listen

This book examines the origins of the evil creator idea chiefly in light of early Christian biblical interpretations. It is divided into two parts. In Part I, the focus is on the interpretations of Exodus and John. Firstly, ancient Egyptian assimilation of the Jewish god to the evil deity Seth-Typhon is studied to understand its reapplication by Phibionite and Sethian Christians to the Judeo-catholic creator. Secondly, the Christian reception of John 8:44 (understood to refer to the devil's father) is shown to implicate the Judeo-catholic creator in murdering Christ. Part II focuses on Marcionite Christian biblical interpretations. It begins with Marcionite interpretations of the creator's character in the Christian "Old Testament," analyzes 2 Corinthians 4:4 (in which "the god of this world" blinds people from Christ's glory), examines Christ's so-called destruction of the Law (Eph 2:15) and the Lawgiver, and shows how Christ finally succumbs to the "curse of the Law" inflicted by the creator (Gal 3:13). A concluding chapter shows how still today readers/listeners of the Christian Bible have concluded that the creator manifests an evil character.

©2021 Oxford University Press (P)2024 Matthew David Litwa
Christianity History Judaism
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Compelling reframing of the origin of evil

Excellent narration of a tightly argued, well referenced historical study of a simple statement: if God is the ultimate Good, a creator that commits evil cannot be God. Litwa provides a much richer, and maybe more coherent, alternative to the atheist’s answer.

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Fascinating

Litwa is fast becoming one of my favourite biblical scholars. He seems always to have something new and interesting to contribute. I've bought several of his books now, but this one is far and away the most interesting to my mind. I'll definitely revisit it several times over.

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