In Revelation, he's a dragon, cast out of heaven, ultimately defeated. This fall, just in time for the witching Halloween season, Al Pacino gives us a 1990s Lucifer, a multilingual, wry hedonist who hangs out with Don King and, fittingly, is an aficionado of New York's subterranean transit system. That wily Satan.
Most religions recognize malevolent spirits, troublemaking deities, forces for evil.
But even within Christianity, the vision of the devil varies from a vaporous, intangible urge to do wrong to a cartoon imp with a pitchfork and spiky tail to a living, omnipotent entity wreaking havoc and waging war on all that is godly. The Judeo-Christian God may be steadfast, constant and seldom anthropomorphized on stage or canvas. The lawyers get the scum, the killers, the rapists, the greedy and the otherwise evil acquitted of their crimes, keeping them free to do the devil's handiwork. The Bible tells us that the devil takes on disguises and hides where we least expect. Many Christians interpret that passage to mean that the devil has gotten hold of Peter, prompting his seemingly well-intentioned suggestion, which is counter to God's will.