Given the grim state of the human enterprise in the early years of the twenty-first century, it is no surprise that the Devil is making a comeback in our imaginative life. I don’t want to rain on his parade, but it is best to see the Devil as a mythical expression of our capacity for evil. He forces us to confront two sources of iniquity in human experience, which are so ungovernable that theologians describe them as demonic. One is the dark continent within us we call the Unconscious; the other is the Herd Instinct, the group mind, which can possess and completely override our personal identity. Together, these two forces can create engines of cruelty that are beyond the influence of the normal powers of personal goodwill. They provoke tragedy of the sort we observe helplessly in the great acts of war and genocide that disfigure our time. In the face of these continuing horrors it is easy to understand why some believe there are systems of evil so overwhelming and intractable that they must be superhuman in origin.

While it is important to face the shadow side of our humanity, it is equally important to remember the goodness we are capable of. We may unleash hell on Earth from time to time, yet we also go on longing for a world of decency and justice. Myth is the best way for us to understand these ancient themes, so that Heaven becomes the symbol of our longing for a better society, while Hell and its Chief executive become images of our dread at the evil we know we are capable of.

The Devil may indeed be going up and down upon the earth again, seeking whom he may devour, but it is worth remembering that even he never entirely gets his own way.

Richard Holloway is the 2009 Edinburgh International Book Festival’s guest director. He is a philosopher, theologian, and former bishop of Edinburgh.

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