The Evil Creator: Origins of an Early Christian Idea

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 of the Christian Bible have concluded that the creator manifests an evil character.


Author: M. David Litwa
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 08/27/2021
Pages: 224
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.08lbs
Size: 9.48h x 6.40w x 0.79d
ISBN: 9780197566428


Review Citation(s):
Choice 08/01/2022

About the Author

M. David Litwa is a scholar of ancient Mediterranean religions with a focus on early Christianity. He has taught courses at the University of Virginia, the College of William & Mary, and Virginia Tech. He is the author of recent publications Desiring Divinity, How the Gospel Became History: Jesus
and Mediterranean Myth, and Iesus Deus: The Early Christian Depiction of Jesus as a Mediterranean God. He is currently at the Australian Catholic University in Melbourne, where he is a member of the Steering Committee of the Bible, Myth, and Myth Theory Group at the Society of Biblical Literature.