Devil

=== Catharism ===
In the 12th century in Europe the [[Catharism|Cathars]], who were rooted in [[Gnosticism]], dealt with the problem of evil, and developed ideas of dualism and demonology. The Cathars were seen as a serious potential challenge to the Catholic church of the time. The Cathars split into two camps. The first is ''absolute'' dualism, which held that evil was completely separate from the good God, and that God and the devil each had power. The second camp is ''mitigated'' dualism, which considers [[Lucifer]] to be a son of God, and a brother to Christ. To explain this they used the parable of the prodigal son, with Christ as the good son, and Lucifer as the son that strayed into evilness. The Catholic Church responded to dualism in AD 1215 in the [[Fourth Council of the Lateran|Fourth Lateran Council]], saying that God created everything from nothing, and the devil was good when he was created, but he made himself bad by his own free will.<ref>Rouner, Leroy (1983). ''The Westminster Dictionary of Christian Theology''. Westminster John Knox Press. p. 166. {{ISBN|978-0-664-22748-7}}.</ref><ref>Jeffrey Burton Russell, ''Lucifer: The Devil in the Middle Ages'', Cornell University Press 1986 {{ISBN|978-0-801-49429-1}}, pp. 187–188</ref> In the ''[[Gospel of the Secret Supper]]'', Lucifer, just as in prior Gnostic systems, appears as a demiurge, who created the material world.<ref>Willis Barnstone, Marvin Meyer ''The Gnostic Bible: Revised and Expanded Edition'' Shambhala Publications 2009 {{ISBN|978-0-834-82414-0}} p. 764</ref>