PhD in Islamic Theology/Islamic Kalam, University of Qom, Qom, Iran
Abstract
Some have raised the question of what similarities exist between modern Satanism and liberal thinking in the modernization of the functions of Christian myths. This study employs a comparative approach to examine the aforementioned similarities in the myths of the god-king (the lord) and Satan. The findings indicate that for the neo-mythology of the myths of the lord and Satan, first, metaphysical approaches to these myths were eliminated; then, their definitions and interpretations in the Bible were redefined. Accordingly, the modernization of the aforementioned myths, based on modern functions—after negating their theological function—can be divided into two stages: a) the modernization of myths based on cultural functions; b) the modernization of myths based on liturgical (ritual) functions. It is noteworthy that liberal thinking and modern Satanism in the first stage overlap with each other, while Satanism in the second stage, which involves the reutilization of theological–modernized myths in religious rites, is distinguished from liberal thinking.
Cupitt, Don. (1952).The World to Come. London: SCM Press Ltd.
Eliade, Mircea. (1963).Myth and Reality. Translated by Willard R. Trask. New York: Harper & Row Publishers.
Hanegraaff, Wouter J. (1999). New Age Spiritualities as Secular Religion: A Historian’s Perspective.Social Compass46: 145–60.
Hege, Brent. (2017). Rudolf Bultmann on Myth, History, and the Resurrection.InMyth, History, and the Resurrection in German Protestant Theology. Edited by Brent Hege. Eugene: Pickwick Publications, pp. 41–71.
Hexham, Irving, and Karla Poewe. (1997).New Religions as Global Cultures: Making the Human Sacred. Colorado: Westview Press.
Lavey, A.z, (1969), the Satanic Bible, Avon, New York.
Lavey, A.z, (1976), the Satanic Rituals, Avon, New York.
Lavey, A.z, (1998), Satan Speaks, Avon, New York.
Levi-Strauss, Claude. 1985.The View from Afar. Translated by Joachim Neugroschel, and Phoebe Hoss. New York: Basic Books.
Pickvance, C. (2005). The four varieties of comparative analysis: the case of environmental regulation. Journal of Housing and the Built Environment, 16, 7-28.
Rothstein, Mikael. (2006). UFOs. InEncyclopedia of New Religious Movements. Edited by Peter B. Clarke. New York: Routledge, pp. 648–49.
Segal, Robert A. (2004).Myth: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Tilly, C. (1984). Big structures, large processes, huge comparisons. Russell Sage Foundation.
Tylor, B. 1920. Primitive Culture: Researches into the Development of Mythology, Philosophy, Religion, Language, Art, and Custom (Vol. 1–2), 6th ed. London: John Murray. First published 1871.
Vahanian, G, (1961), the death of God: The Culture of Our Post-Christian Era, New York.
Xidakis, I. (2022). Neomythology: A New Religious Mythology.Religions,13(6), 536.
Xidakis, Ioannis. 2018. Good and Evil in the World of Video Games: A Religious Studies Essay. Ph.D. dissertation, National and Kapodistian University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
Sayyed Jafari,S A . (2025). Cross-validation in the Function of Neo-Mythology of Gods-Overlords; Satan in the Liberal Thought Approach and Modern Satanism. Religious Studies, 1(1), 91-110.
MLA
Sayyed Jafari,S A . "Cross-validation in the Function of Neo-Mythology of Gods-Overlords; Satan in the Liberal Thought Approach and Modern Satanism", Religious Studies, 1, 1, 2025, 91-110.
HARVARD
Sayyed Jafari S A. (2025). 'Cross-validation in the Function of Neo-Mythology of Gods-Overlords; Satan in the Liberal Thought Approach and Modern Satanism', Religious Studies, 1(1), pp. 91-110.
CHICAGO
S A Sayyed Jafari, "Cross-validation in the Function of Neo-Mythology of Gods-Overlords; Satan in the Liberal Thought Approach and Modern Satanism," Religious Studies, 1 1 (2025): 91-110,
VANCOUVER
Sayyed Jafari S A. Cross-validation in the Function of Neo-Mythology of Gods-Overlords; Satan in the Liberal Thought Approach and Modern Satanism. Religious Studies. 2025;1(1):91-110 (In Persian).