The revolt of the Devil and the Fall of Adam and Eve. Legends of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Master Programme: Religious Roots of Europe Edel Erdal Date:31.05.2011 1 The revolt of the Devil and the Fall of Adam and Eve. ............................................................. 1 The legends of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. ....................................................................... 1 Introduction. ....................................................................................................................... 3 The sources used in this study. ........................................................................................... 5 Method. .............................................................................................................................. 9 The structure of this study is as follows ........................................................................... 10 The Life of Adam and Eve. ...................................................................................................... 10 The texts and their origins. ............................................................................................... 11 Narrative in the Latin and Greek versions. ........................................................................ 12 Description and analysis of the Latin version: Satan’s account of his expulsion from heaven. .............................................................................................................................. 13 Discussion: Satan’s account of his Fall. ........................................................................... 15 Description and analysis of the Latin- and Greek version: Adam’s account of the Fall of man. .................................................................................................................................. 16 Discussion: Adam’s account of the Fall of Man. ............................................................. 18 Eve’s account the Fall. ..................................................................................................... 19 Description and analysis of the Greek version: Eve’s story of the Fall and its Consequences, 15-30. ....................................................................................................... 19 Discussion: Eve’s account. ............................................................................................... 21 The Greek and Latin versions relations to Canonical and non- canonical books ............ 22 Conclusion: the Latin and Greek Versions. ..................................................................... 24 Apocalypse of Sedrach. ........................................................................................................ 25 The origins of the Text. .................................................................................................... 26 Overview of the narrative of the text. .............................................................................. 27 Description and analysis of Sedrach’s ascension. ............................................................ 28 Discussion: Serdrach: ....................................................................................................... 31 Textual relation to other Canonical and non-canonical texts. .......................................... 33 Conclusion: Sedrach. ........................................................................................................ 34 The Gospel of Bartholomew. ............................................................................................... 35 The text and its origin. ...................................................................................................... 36 The narrative of the Gospel I-III. ..................................................................................... 38 The Devil is summoned and Bartholomew is given power over him. ............................. 39 An overview of the content in chapter IV. ....................................................................... 39 Discussion: chapter IV. .................................................................................................... 43 An overview of the content in chapter V. ........................................................................ 45 Discussion: chapter V. ...................................................................................................... 46 Textual relations to Canonical and non- canonical books ................................................ 46 Discussion: the Gospel of Bartholomew. ......................................................................... 48 Conclusion: the Gospel of Bartholomew. ........................................................................ 49 The portrayal of the Fall of Iblis and the Fall of man in the Quran. .................................... 50 The Fall of Iblis in the Quran. .......................................................................................... 51 Hadith. .............................................................................................................................. 54 The Quran and other canonical and non- canonical texts. ............................................... 55 Discussion: the Quran and Hadith. ................................................................................... 56 Conclusion: the Quran and Hadith. .................................................................................. 57 Discussion, similarities and differences between the traditions. .......................................... 58 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 63 Bibliography: .................................................................................................................... 68 Appendix 1 ....................................................................................................................... 74 2 Introduction. In the three monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam, it is believed that there exists one almighty God, who is the creator of heaven and earth and of all living beings. This God is considered to be genuinely good and what he created did not have the ability to perform sin or evil actions initially. Therefore the first humans, who dwelled in Paradise, did not have the knowledge about wickedness and sin. In order to be able to perform sinful actions, they had to be introduced to this knowledge. At some point they received this knowledge and the explanation to how this happened, according to some religious texts, is that they were introduced to this knowledge by being misled and tricked by a pre-existent angel, known by many names such as the Devil, Satan the Adversary, the Enemy or Iblis. Moreover, he is also accused of constantly trying to deceive man to carry out sinful and evil actions, and to led him astray from God. Considering these things the following question arises: What caused the Fall of the Devil and what did the Fall of the Devil cause? It is the Fall of the Devil and the Fall of Man and what consequences it had that is the theme of this study. The question posed above may seem ambitious, as different answers are possible to find, because there are more than one legend that portrays this event. The notion of an evil figure that was the source of and the introduction of sin and evil things on earth are portrayed differently in them. Therefore only some writings that portray the event have to be selected and the answer must be derived from what they portray. The writings have been selected from the tree monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. They portray the events quite similar, but with some variations in the representation of the theme. The selected texts will be examined and compared in order to find out how the different traditions interpreted and described the events, how they happened and what they caused. Moreover, similarities will be pointed out and discussed in order to be able to determine what they consists of. Therefore it is of great importance that each writings initially are studied and analysed separately in order to reveal what they consists of before they are being compared and analysed together with the other writings which form the basis in this study. The first survey, the individual study of each text, are then what are to be used as the foundation in the nest step which is to establish what caused the Fall of the Devil and the consequences it had. Also some similarities in the portrayal of the events described in the writings will be pointed out and discussed. 3 As previously mentioned this is a study in how the different religious traditions describe the same events which are the theme of this study. The exact same ideas or notions about how sin was introduced and what caused it have been a captivating source of inspiration to believers of the Jewish, Christian and Islamic faith. This indicates that religious thoughts originated in one specific religion may influence other religions and that they have been either inspired by each other or by the same source material. The underlying purpose of some of these writings is that their content also was meant as guidelines to the readers. They discuss problems which people did not understand why happened, such as why evil things happened to them and who was responsible for them. These questions are posed and discussed even today. The writings