Editing Devil (section)

{{Short description|Personification of evil}}
{{about|the personification of the concept of evil|the proper figure known in Abrahamic religions|Satan}}
{{redirect|Devilish|other uses|Devil (disambiguation)}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2019}}
[[File:022 devil representation.JPG|thumb|upright|Statue of the devil in "the [[Žmuidzinavičius Museum|Devil Museum]]" in [[Kaunas, Lithuania]]|alt=A winged male humanoid devil holds a naked woman as she touches her breast. ]]
[[File:La tenture de lApocalypse (Angers) (2).jpg|thumb|[[Satan]] (the dragon; on the left) gives to the beast of the sea (on the right) power represented by a [[sceptre]] in a detail of panel III.40 of the medieval French [[Apocalypse Tapestry]], produced between 1377 and 1382.]]
[[File:Devils-from-Rila-monastery.jpg|thumb|upright|A fresco detail from the [[Rila Monastery]], in which demons are depicted as having grotesque faces and bodies]]

A '''devil''' is the [[wiktionary:myth|mythical]] [[personification]] of [[evil]] as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions.<ref>Jeffrey Burton Russell, ''The Devil: Perceptions of Evil from Antiquity to Primitive Christianity'', Cornell University Press 1987 {{ISBN|978-0-801-49409-3}}, pp. 11 and 34</ref> It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force.<ref>Jeffrey Burton Russell, ''The Devil: Perceptions of Evil from Antiquity to Primitive Christianity'', Cornell University Press 1987 {{ISBN|978-0-801-49409-3}}, p. 34</ref> [[Jeffrey Burton Russell]] states that the different conceptions of the devil can be summed up as 1) a principle of evil independent from [[God]], 2) an aspect of God, 3) a created being turning evil (a ''[[fallen angel]]'') or 4) a symbol of human evil.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Russell |first1=Jeffrey Burton |title=Mephistopheles: The Devil in the Modern World |date=1990 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-0-8014-9718-6}}</ref>{{rp|p=23}}

Each tradition, culture, and religion with a devil in its mythos offers a different lens on manifestations of evil.<ref name="ReferenceC">Jeffrey Burton Russell, ''The Devil: Perceptions of Evil from Antiquity to Primitive Christianity'', Cornell University Press 1987 {{ISBN|978-0-801-49409-3}}, pp. 41–75</ref> The history of these perspectives intertwines with theology, mythology, psychiatry, art, and literature, developing independently within each of the traditions.<ref>Jeffrey Burton Russell, ''The Devil: Perceptions of Evil from Antiquity to Primitive Christianity'', Cornell University Press 1987 {{ISBN|978-0-801-49409-3}}, pp. 44 and 51</ref> It occurs historically in many contexts and cultures, and is given many different names—[[Satan]] (Judaism), [[Lucifer]] (Christianity), [[Beelzebub]] (Judeo-Christian), [[Mephistopheles]] (German), [[Iblis]] (Islam)—and attributes: it is portrayed as blue, black, or red; it is portrayed as having horns on its head, and without horns, and so on.<ref name="Arp, Robert 2014">Arp, Robert. ''The Devil and Philosophy: The Nature of His Game''. Open Court, 2014. {{ISBN|978-0-8126-9880-0}}. pp. 30–50</ref><ref name="ReferenceD">Jeffrey Burton Russell, ''The Devil: Perceptions of Evil from Antiquity to Primitive Christianity'', Cornell University Press. 1987 {{ISBN|978-0-801-49409-3}}. p. 66.</ref>