3 thoughts on “Satanic Commandments: The Satanic Bible

  1. Straight from the Devil: Holy Books in Contemporary Satanism
    Eugene V. Gallagher

    At first glance, Anton Szandor LaVey, founder of the Church of Satan and author of The Satanic Bible, hardly seems to fit in with the visionaries and prophets already discussed. Unlike Joseph Smith or Matthew Philip Gill, he does not claim that his religious pronouncements have been authorized by visionary experiences. Nor does he claim to reveal for the first time episodes from history that will forever alter our understanding of both the past and the present. Unlike David Koresh, he does not claim to have come to the realization that he was one of the figures described in the Bible, and unlike the โ€œChosen Vesselโ€ he does not claim to be continuing and extending the prophetic mission of a predecessor. Neither does LaVey spend much time at all on developing proper translations or novel interpretations of the Bible. Nonetheless, LaVey did formally found a new church and issue a text with at least some pretensions to authoritative, scriptural status. Many who identify themselves as Satanists claim to have commenced their progress toward self-understanding with an encounter with The Satanic Bible.

    Current representatives of the Church of Satan clearly treat LaVeyโ€™s Bible as an authoritative text. But, unlike
    many prophetic figures, LaVey insistently rejects any grounding of his authority in commerce with the supernatural. He consistently attributes what he has to say to insight rather than revelation.

  2. The Satanic Bible,

    One thing stands sure: the standards, philosophy and practices set forth on these pages are those employed by the most self-realized and powerful humans on earth. In the secret thoughts of each man and woman, still
    motivated by sound and unclouded minds, resides the potential of the Satanist, as always has been.

  3. BIBLIOGRAPHY

    1-James R. Lewis, โ€œWho Serves Satan? A Demographic and Ideological Profile,โ€ Marburg Journal of Religious Studies 6 (2001): 1โ€“25.
    2-Anton Szandor LaVey, The Devilโ€™s Notebook (Venice, CA: Feral House, 1992)
    3-Max Weber, โ€œCharismatic Authority and Its Routinization,โ€ in S. N. Eisenstadt, ed., Max Weber on Charisma and Institution Building (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1968)
    4-Max Weber, The Sociology of Religion, Ephraim Fischoff, trans., (Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1963)
    5-Bruce Lincoln, Holy Terrors: Thinking About Religion After September 11, 2nd ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006)
    5-Wilfred Cantwell Smith, What Is Scripture? A Comparative Approach (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1993)

Comments are closed.