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The Devil and His Advocates
Satan is not God’s enemy in the Bible, and he’s not always bad—much less evil. Through the lens of the Old and New Testaments, Erik Butler explores the Devil in literature, theology, visual art, and music from antiquity up to the present, discussing canonical authors (Dante, Milton, and Goethe among them) and a wealth of lesser-known sources. Since his first appearance in the Book of Job, Satan has pursued a single objective: to test human beings, whose moral worth and piety leave plenty of room for doubt. Satan can be manipulative, but at worst he facilitates what mortals are inclined to do anyway. “The Devil made me do it” does not hold up in the court of cosmic law. With wit and surprising examples, this book explains why.
- GenresNonfictionReligion
248 pages, Hardcover
Published April 8, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 2, 2023
This was an almost impenetrable book that was a real slog to complete.
I saw another reviewer suggest that they were not quite smart enough to understand this book and felt for them. I have an English degree, consider myself well-read, worked as a writer (in journalism and communications), and yet found myself reaching for the dictionary too often for comfort (or enjoyment) as well as having to read and re-read sentences to properly digest them.
This simply made for a frustrating read and limited the impact of the ideas expressed as it detracted from a coherent narrative.
The early chapters introduce the devil as 'the satan', an advocate and god-sanctioned tester of faith rather than a horned agent of evil, and this made for an insightful and interesting read. This was really what I was looking for throughout the book but the final two thirds is a haze of ideas and meandering literary, philosophical, and cultural analysis from which I found it almost impossible to draw any coherent conclusions other than the metamorphosis into the red demon of the middle ages onwards.
One revelation did jump out to me in that the reformation and the way Protestantism left no earthly barrier between humans and Satan, and led to a more active and evil version of hellfire and brimstone. I expected more of these types of interesting insights.
Ironically, the coda (page 231) talks of putting questions in less high-flown language and responding in more straightforward terms. This is exactly what this book required.
There can be no doubt the book is written by an erudite author in a skilled manner. But it almost comes across as showing off and makes you wonder who this book is actually written for.
If the aim was to impress professors of religion or literary theory, I'm sure the author would consider it a success.
Why make it such a chore and inaccessible for the majority of readers, though? This so reminded me of the thick, dusty, yellowing volumes of literary criticism written in archaic language that I was forced to read in university.
One last note, what kept me reading to the very end was the hope that Erik Butler would mention the Rollings Stones' Sympathy For The Devil, which I'm very glad to say he did.
I saw another reviewer suggest that they were not quite smart enough to understand this book and felt for them. I have an English degree, consider myself well-read, worked as a writer (in journalism and communications), and yet found myself reaching for the dictionary too often for comfort (or enjoyment) as well as having to read and re-read sentences to properly digest them.
This simply made for a frustrating read and limited the impact of the ideas expressed as it detracted from a coherent narrative.
The early chapters introduce the devil as 'the satan', an advocate and god-sanctioned tester of faith rather than a horned agent of evil, and this made for an insightful and interesting read. This was really what I was looking for throughout the book but the final two thirds is a haze of ideas and meandering literary, philosophical, and cultural analysis from which I found it almost impossible to draw any coherent conclusions other than the metamorphosis into the red demon of the middle ages onwards.
One revelation did jump out to me in that the reformation and the way Protestantism left no earthly barrier between humans and Satan, and led to a more active and evil version of hellfire and brimstone. I expected more of these types of interesting insights.
Ironically, the coda (page 231) talks of putting questions in less high-flown language and responding in more straightforward terms. This is exactly what this book required.
There can be no doubt the book is written by an erudite author in a skilled manner. But it almost comes across as showing off and makes you wonder who this book is actually written for.
If the aim was to impress professors of religion or literary theory, I'm sure the author would consider it a success.
Why make it such a chore and inaccessible for the majority of readers, though? This so reminded me of the thick, dusty, yellowing volumes of literary criticism written in archaic language that I was forced to read in university.
One last note, what kept me reading to the very end was the hope that Erik Butler would mention the Rollings Stones' Sympathy For The Devil, which I'm very glad to say he did.
June 5, 2021
Throughout my studies in Religion, and writing, the Devil has cropped up several times, unsurprisingly. However, with the general worldview towards this figure of the Old and New Testaments being somewhat negative, Erik Butler has provided us with a new appraisal of this very unknown figure.
In The Devil and His Advocates, Erik Butler explores the history and etymology of this figure and how the consensus has wholly misconstrued this figure we blame for all the world’s ills. Taking historical and literary viewpoints Butler poses the view that the Devil, or Satan, has been doing God’s work all along and not acting as God’s adversary, which tends to be a general position. Employing passages from the Bible, primarily the story of Job and the test of Jesus illustrates this point very clearly at first glance and although I’m sure many would read the book and disagree, Butler, argues his point with brilliant astuteness.
One of the main premises in The Devil and His Advocates is that the Devil, or the Satan, has the main objective to test humans, whether it be for good or bad intentions, it is God who in the Bible sends this figure to test the faith of the suffering figure contained within the text, thus fulfilling some divine plan? It’s a question that certainly deserves merit insofar that many figures throughout history have employed the excuse “the Devil made me do it”, which doesn’t hold up after reading Butler’s very well researched argument to the contrary, and that we are responsible for our actions.
Looking at how the Devil has been portrayed throughout history, whether it be in literature, film, music or art, the Devil has played the part of the ultimate tester of faith and Erik Butler’s work in The Devil and His Advocates deserves serious evaluation. A highly original, enjoyable and thought-provoking book that manages to make us look at the Bible and our belief systems in a new light is a triumph that deserves high respect and praise. In The Devil and His Advocates, the Devil has indeed found his greatest advocate in Erik Butler.
In The Devil and His Advocates, Erik Butler explores the history and etymology of this figure and how the consensus has wholly misconstrued this figure we blame for all the world’s ills. Taking historical and literary viewpoints Butler poses the view that the Devil, or Satan, has been doing God’s work all along and not acting as God’s adversary, which tends to be a general position. Employing passages from the Bible, primarily the story of Job and the test of Jesus illustrates this point very clearly at first glance and although I’m sure many would read the book and disagree, Butler, argues his point with brilliant astuteness.
One of the main premises in The Devil and His Advocates is that the Devil, or the Satan, has the main objective to test humans, whether it be for good or bad intentions, it is God who in the Bible sends this figure to test the faith of the suffering figure contained within the text, thus fulfilling some divine plan? It’s a question that certainly deserves merit insofar that many figures throughout history have employed the excuse “the Devil made me do it”, which doesn’t hold up after reading Butler’s very well researched argument to the contrary, and that we are responsible for our actions.
Looking at how the Devil has been portrayed throughout history, whether it be in literature, film, music or art, the Devil has played the part of the ultimate tester of faith and Erik Butler’s work in The Devil and His Advocates deserves serious evaluation. A highly original, enjoyable and thought-provoking book that manages to make us look at the Bible and our belief systems in a new light is a triumph that deserves high respect and praise. In The Devil and His Advocates, the Devil has indeed found his greatest advocate in Erik Butler.
January 23, 2023
I’m definitely too much of a dummy to understand this book entirely, and it sort of lost me around the last third, but I thoroughly enjoyed the early historical and biblical discussion, just not the literary section. I perhaps need to come back to this when I have a better base understanding of the theology and philosophy involved.
May 23, 2025
Genuinely one of the most moving books I've read. The author dissects the concept of The Adversary and the way it manifested itself across history, starting with The Old Testament, and going down to 9/11.
The author is an absolute master of the written word. I've been holding the book in my left hand and a dictionary app in my right, and I've felt so much joy researching the archaic, religious and legal secondary meanings of the words used in the text. Simply marvelous.
The author is an absolute master of the written word. I've been holding the book in my left hand and a dictionary app in my right, and I've felt so much joy researching the archaic, religious and legal secondary meanings of the words used in the text. Simply marvelous.
September 9, 2025
It started off quite interesting but it started to lose me as I progressed. Still a broadly interesting read.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews