A Historical Account of the Conceptual Evolution of Satan in the Abrahamic Belief Traditions

Hanan Huneidi, Dominican University of California

Abstract

This paper shows a historical account of the development of the Satan persona in the Abrahamic belief traditions beginning with early Judaism in which Satan evolves most vastly from beginning as merely an action verb to ending as a tempter of man, then moving into the Christian New Testament evil entity personified as a direct opponent to Jesus, and finally ending with Islam’s perspective of a leader of the Jinn.