Ahh! Posted September 15, 2007 Share Posted September 15, 2007 I've heard it claimed a few times that the Devil, as commonly portrayed, started as a racist caricature. The claim I've heard is that he is red to mock the Native Americans and has a long nose to make him look Jewish. Can anyone confirm if this is true or not? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-COG Posted September 15, 2007 Share Posted September 15, 2007 I've never heard of this. Didn't the present day image of the devil (horns, pointy tail, red, hairless) arise during the middle ages? This would be an interesting study, how the devil has been seen through out the centuries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
מה טבו Posted September 17, 2007 Share Posted September 17, 2007 sacred-texts.com has an online copy of Paul Carus' History of the Devil that you might find interesting. I had always heard that the modern representation of the devil descends from that of middle-ages Christianity, and that that image descended from earlier pagan deities. The resemblance of the modern devil charicature to a Greek satyr seems to back this up. Another theory is posed that the middle ages devil was created by artists to illustrate a being deprived of beauty, and that the red color was supposed to symbolize either hellfire or human blood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke Wolf Posted September 17, 2007 Share Posted September 17, 2007 The devil's image is actually a mockery of the Celtic God Cerunos, as he was borrowed as was almost everything else from the European religions that existed before Christianity. The general shape is the same, allthough I do not know the origins of the red skin. I had always assumed it to be a psychological thing of fire generally being interpreted as red, and since Hell has alot of fire, they decided to make the devil red just to subconsciously also remind them of the fire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Notanotherchristian!? Posted October 1, 2007 Share Posted October 1, 2007 I've heard it claimed a few times that the Devil, as commonly portrayed, started as a racist caricature. The claim I've heard is that he is red to mock the Native Americans and has a long nose to make him look Jewish. Can anyone confirm if this is true or not? The film 'Borat' comes to mind and 'the running of the jew'! Quite a bizarre theory and on par with the mediaeval version of red tights, cape, horns and pitchfork etc. This 'devil' character or HaSatan (The Satan) in the Hebrew language is actually a title for 'the accuser'. In the book of Job and Zechariah he's kind of like a prosecutor on the jewish god's council. I presume if he's supposed to be a spirit, quasi-personal entity whatever, than he can't actually have a body. Ps. *Useless fact of the day: Did you know that Santa actually comes from Germany? Apparently St Nicholas is also the patron saint of theives and murderers... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sir fer Posted October 3, 2007 Share Posted October 3, 2007 Ps. *Useless fact of the day: Did you know that Santa actually comes from Germany? Apparently St Nicholas is also the patron saint of theives and murderers... every day i learn some fucked up thing about the catholic church... A patron saint for murderers? now i've heard it all...what a fucked, fucked institute... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trashy Posted October 3, 2007 Share Posted October 3, 2007 Ps. *Useless fact of the day: Did you know that Santa actually comes from Germany? Apparently St Nicholas is also the patron saint of theives and murderers... It's common knowledge about St. Nicholas/Santa connection, although Santa Claus and Christmas come from many, many pagan traditions. But do you have a source for this 'patron saint of thieves and murderers' bit? Never heard that one before, and it doesn't make sense to me... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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