Ancient Near Eastern texts such as The Baal Cycle portray the pagan god Baal as a rebel—the hero of a revolution, worshiped and glorified for his long string of victories. In The Baal Book: A Biography of the Devil, Fr. Stephen De Young shows that the Hebrew Scriptures consciously turn the Baal story on its head, depicting him as a failed and defeated rebel who nonetheless tries to steal the glory that belongs to Almighty God. From these Scriptures, the figure of the Devil emerged within Jewish and Christian Tradition. Father De Young works through the Old and New Testament passages that refer to various Baal stories, and he surveys Baal worship through followers’ beliefs, religious practices, and liturgical life. In these pages, we will see that the figures of Baal and the Devil—the prince of demons—are one and the same.
