Late-modern revisions
Anton Szandor LaVey
Howard Stanton Levey
Founder of the Church of Satan and author of a theatrical, individualist form of modern religious Satanism.
- Dates
- 11 April 1930 – 29 October 1997
- Dating
- documented dates
- Born
- Chicago
- Died
- San Francisco
The life
LaVey founded the Church of Satan in San Francisco in 1966 and became an expert public image-maker, combining ritual theatre, social Darwinism, secular self-interest and an adversarial religious identity.
Place in the tradition
He established the most visible institutional form of modern Satanism and made Satan a symbol of individual sovereignty rather than a being worshipped as the Christian devil.
a note on the record
History and later legend
Several colourful stories in LaVey's authorised biography — including parts of his circus, police-photographer and celebrity connections — were challenged by later researchers. His church's theology is generally non-theistic; calling it devil worship mistakes the symbol for the doctrine.
the written record
Principal works
-
1969
The Satanic Bible
The foundational statement of LaVeyan Satanism, combining polemic, ritual and an individualist ethic.
-
1972
The Satanic Rituals
A collection of group rites drawing freely on literary and historical sources.