The Natural History of Christian Devil

Annie Besant (1847-1933) was a British socialist, theosophist, freemason, women’s rights activist, educationist, a writer and a powerful orator. Regarded as a champion of human freedom, she was an ardent supporter of both Irish and Indian self-rule. She was also a prolific author with over three hundred books and pamphlets to her credit.

In 1890, meeting in Paris Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, she was converted to Theosophy, becoming a member of the Theosophical Society and a prominent lecturer on the subject. When Blavatsky died in 1891, Besant was left as one of the leading figures in Theosophy and in 1893 she represented it at the Chicago World Fair.

Besides being a prolific writer, Besant was a “practised stump orator” who gave sixty-six public lectures in one year. In her long life she wrote numerous books and pamphlets.

The pamphlet The Natural History of Christian Devil was published by Besant in London in 1885. It is an interesting and controversial dissertation on the mythical origins of the Devil and on the interpretation that, throughout history, the Christian doctrine has always given him. The title of this pamphlet suggests the mode in which the Devil is to be treated: he is to be studied as a natural product, and just as the place of an animal is settled by studying it in the light of comparative anatomy, and its descent is traced by the study of its embryology, of its rudimentary organs, etc., so will the place of the Christian Devil be settled by studying him in the light of comparative mythology, and his descent be traced by seeking his embryonic form, his many now rudimentary organs, his gradual development, in a word by studying his evolution.