Personification of Evil
Although some forms of Judaism, both ancient and modern, do recognise the existence of supernatural evil, in particular fallen angels (as in the Dead Sea scrolls), the yetzer hara is often presented as a personification of evil distinct from the supernatural Satan of traditional Christianity and Islam. This tendency to demythologize Satan is found in Bava Batra and other rabbinical works, and is also found in some Enlightenment Christian writers, such as in the religious writings of Isaac Newton.
Read more about this topic: Yetzer Hara
Famous quotes containing the words personification of and/or evil:
“Throughout the history of commercial life nobody has ever quite liked the commission man. His function is too vague, his presence always seems one too many, his profit looks too easy, and even when you admit that he has a necessary function, you feel that this function is, as it were, a personification of something that in an ethical society would not need to exist. If people could deal with one another honestly, they would not need agents.”
—Raymond Chandler (1888–1959)
“In sum, all actions and habits are to be esteemed good or evil by their causes and usefulness in reference to the commonwealth, and not by their mediocrity, nor by their being commended. For several men praise several customs, and, contrarily, what one calls vice, another calls virtue, as their present affections lead them.”
—Thomas Hobbes (1579–1688)