The Baal Book

A Biography of the Devil

Ancient Near Eastern texts such as The Baal Cycle portray the pagan god Baal as a rebel—the hero of a revolution, worshiped and glorified for his long string of victories. In The Baal Book: A Biography of the Devil, Fr. Stephen De Young shows that the Hebrew Scriptures consciously turn the Baal story on its head, depicting him as a failed and defeated rebel who nonetheless tries to steal the glory that belongs to Almighty God. From these Scriptures, the figure of the Devil emerged within Jewish and Christian Tradition. Father De Young works through the Old and New Testament passages that refer to various Baal stories, and he surveys Baal worship through followers’ beliefs, religious practices, and liturgical life. In this book, we will see that the figures of Baal and the Devil—the prince of demons—are one and the same.

©2025 Stephen De Young (P)2025 Stephen De Young

Truly enlightening

Crazy to think that a book about the history of the Devil could be written in a way that also helps us understand what truth and love are. Thank you Fr. Stephen for this enlightening work

Excellent

The author traces the history of Baal in the ancient texts and shows how the story is retold in the pre-incarnation scriptures. The retelling of the story turns it on its head and shows us that the values of the ancient, pagan story were not salvific.

Fascinating Connections

Appreciate how Fr De Young ties the story of the Bible together by providing context to the ancient imagery and stories which inform the meaning of the Scriptures.

Extremely thorough, while short and to the point

This book is definitely a new favorite, providing extensive history and broad Mediterranean and Near Eastern cultural context to make scripture more clear. While being a relatively short book, he provides academic material in a way that the average reader can understand, and applies that to scripture. I highly recommend!

very helpful

For several years I've been trying to articulate how the gods of the nations, namely Baal, from the Old Testament are synonymous with the demons of the New Testament in a way that people who don't know the Baal Cycle can understand. This book has done a fantastic job at bringing the Baal traditions from Canaanite paganism and devil traditions of the Bible and showing the Baal of nations is the Satan of Christians.