# Satan more overzealous than evil says UCLA Historian - Satan is very misunderstood **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 18, 2006, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satan-more-overzealous-than-evil-says-ucla-historian-satan-is-very-misunderstood/369278 "2006-08-18T21:57:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2006, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satan-more-overzealous-than-evil-says-ucla-historian-satan-is-very-misunderstood/369278/21 "2006-08-19T19:48:41Z")
He sure knew how to compile a list… ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satan-more-overzealous-than-evil-says-ucla-historian-satan-is-very-misunderstood/369278/22 "2006-08-20T02:04:46Z")
[QUOTE=astro] **Satan more overzealous than evil says UCLA Historian - Satan is very misunderstood** [/QUOTE] I’m just a boy whose intentions are good Oh, Lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satan-more-overzealous-than-evil-says-ucla-historian-satan-is-very-misunderstood/369278/23 "2006-08-20T12:03:04Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] I’m just a boy whose intentions are good Oh, Lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood [/QUOTE] You have my sympathy. 🙂 Why have we no “Mick The Lick” smiley? ---
**Author:** ![Grammaticaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@Grammaticaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grammaticaster)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satan-more-overzealous-than-evil-says-ucla-historian-satan-is-very-misunderstood/369278/24 "2006-08-20T16:44:05Z")
I’m a seminarian, and I’ve never heard my professors attribute anything in the OT to Satan (but I haven’t studied Job yet), and things are very rarely attributed to him in the NT. He’s mentioned a few times in parables (which are obviously not to be taken literally), and a lot in the Revelation – which certainly isn’t to be taken literally either. The word “satan” just means “adversary” in Hebrew, so I imagine there’s some places where it could rightly be translated as such. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satan-more-overzealous-than-evil-says-ucla-historian-satan-is-very-misunderstood/369278/25 "2006-08-20T19:31:15Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] I think the coneption we have of Satan comes from sources other than the Bible. [/QUOTE] I would say heavily so – what the average man-on-the-street thinks of when Satan or Hell are mentioned is likely more heavily colored by Dante, Milton, and the ancient/medieval theologians from whom these two borrowed; but the man-on-the-street isn’t aware of that all (or that the writers and theologians were in turn influenced by extant mythologies – e.g. Tartarus, the place in the Greek netherworld where folks such as Tantalus were tortured). One could even say what is called “Satan” in the NT and in the theologians is not quite the same as what is called “Satan” in the Book of Job. This may have involved a period of Zoroastrian influence, that led in the direction of a more black-and-white embodiment of the Good-Evil opposition. Like **Grammaticaster** mentions, “Satan” may have been used in some passages in the sense of an embodiment of “the adversary” or “the enemy”, _in whatever the context is of the adversarial or enemy role_ in the particular writing – sometimes a mere challenge, sometimes outright evil. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satan-more-overzealous-than-evil-says-ucla-historian-satan-is-very-misunderstood/369278/26 "2006-08-20T23:52:49Z")
[QUOTE=Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor] Why have we no “Mick The Lick” smiley? [/QUOTE] 😕 That was an Animals song, not a Rolling Stones song. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satan-more-overzealous-than-evil-says-ucla-historian-satan-is-very-misunderstood/369278/27 "2006-08-21T00:15:13Z")
[QUOTE=RTFirefly] 😕 That was an Animals song, not a Rolling Stones song. [/QUOTE] Sir, I know it is rather unique for me to be right about things around here, but I politely insist that ity is a Stones song. It was the first song on the _Begger’s Banquet_ album. I think. But it was a Stones song! ---
**Author:** ![RetroVertigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@RetroVertigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RetroVertigo)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satan-more-overzealous-than-evil-says-ucla-historian-satan-is-very-misunderstood/369278/28 "2006-08-21T06:19:06Z")
“Sympathy For The Devil” is the first song on _Beggar’s Banquet_, but it doesn’t contain those lyrics ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satan-more-overzealous-than-evil-says-ucla-historian-satan-is-very-misunderstood/369278/29 "2006-08-21T12:14:14Z")
[QUOTE=RetroVertigo] “Sympathy For The Devil” is the first song on _Beggar’s Banquet_, but it doesn’t contain those lyrics [/QUOTE] Correct, but I was riffing on the Thread’s _theme_, not the lyrics. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satan-more-overzealous-than-evil-says-ucla-historian-satan-is-very-misunderstood/369278/30 "2006-08-21T14:30:25Z")
[QUOTE=Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor] Sir, I know it is rather unique for me to be right about things around here, but I politely insist that ity is a Stones song. It was the first song on the _Begger’s Banquet_ album. I think. But it was a Stones song! [/QUOTE] From [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Animals): > [@](#): > > The Animals’ two-year chart career, masterminded by producer Mickie Most, featured singles that were intense, gritty pop covers such as Sam Cooke’s “Bring It On Home To Me” and “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” (from Nina Simone). (Underlining mine.) _Beggars Banquet_ tracks [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beggars_Banquet). ---
**Author:** ![threemae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f9b8f/32.png) [@threemae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threemae)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satan-more-overzealous-than-evil-says-ucla-historian-satan-is-very-misunderstood/369278/31 "2006-08-21T15:47:12Z")
[QUOTE=Frylock] That probably increases the number of citations by quite a bit… but it’s perfectly legitimate IMO to debate whether the identification of “Satan” with these various labels is correct in the first place. [/QUOTE] [Church Chat Lady] Oh, could it be, I don’t know, SANTA? [/Church Chat Lady] ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satan-more-overzealous-than-evil-says-ucla-historian-satan-is-very-misunderstood/369278/32 "2006-08-21T20:33:56Z")
[QUOTE=RTFirefly] From [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Animals): (Underlining mine.) _Beggars Banquet_ tracks [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beggars_Banquet). [/QUOTE] We have a communication problem here. What is your contention–_stated explicitly_? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satan-more-overzealous-than-evil-says-ucla-historian-satan-is-very-misunderstood/369278/33 "2006-08-22T13:36:56Z")
[QUOTE=Skald the Rhymer] I’m familiar with the notion’s roots in Jewish folklore, but I don’t see how that is “ironic” in any but an Alanis Morisettian sense. In what sense do you think it ironic? [/QUOTE] Nice one. That song sure had stupid lyrics. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satan-more-overzealous-than-evil-says-ucla-historian-satan-is-very-misunderstood/369278/34 "2006-08-22T13:47:29Z")
[QUOTE=mr. jp] Nice one. That song sure had stupid lyrics. [/QUOTE] Indeed - it has been said that the only ironic thing about the song is that AM does not appear to know what ‘ironic’ means. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satan-more-overzealous-than-evil-says-ucla-historian-satan-is-very-misunderstood/369278.md?page=1)