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Date Posted: 04:16:35 07/05/04 Mon
Author: lando
Subject: DEMONS, A CULTURAL HISTORY by Jim Parker

DEMONS, A CULTURAL HISTORY: part one, the sources
source:
http://the-atlantic-paranormal-society.com/demonology/cultural.html


Researchers must be careful to consider the context of demonological
works. Unlike modern historians or folklorists, who are concerned with the
reliability of sources and the verifiability of findings, medieval and
early modern writers on the infernal hierarchy are often quick to accept
tradition as truth, to give credence to stories told by
friends-of-friends, and to let their own bias into their writing. Indeed,
many demonological works are polemic; that is, the information they
provide about demons merely serves as ammunition in a larger argument.
Much late antique (200-500 AD) Christian thinking on demons is a reaction
against the polytheistic traditions of the Roman and Germanic worlds; the
gods or guardian-spirits of non-Christian cultures were quickly re-labeled
and re-packaged as demons by Christian intellectuals and missionaries.
During the period of the Protestant reformation, the struggle between
Catholic orthodoxy and the newer sects animated demonological discussions:
Protestant writers claimed that Catholic traditions were demon-worship in
disguise, or, taking a slightly different approach, decried the Catholic
fear of demons as unreasonable superstition. For those who believe in the
possibility of supernatural beings, the earlier writings of demonologists
might very well provide useful evidence, but only when approached
critically. One must always realize that a demonological work is more
likely to give information about the cultural and intellectual environment
of its time than to offer the "truth" about extra-natural entities.

I would also argue that our concept of "demon" is uniquely western
and uniquely informed by the Christian thought of the middle ages.
Although we can point to dark or evil gods in pagan pantheons, we often do
them an injustice when we squeeze them into the "war in heaven" mythology
that has developed in the Christian church. For example, Loki is not
simply the "Satan" of the Norse pantheon; his role is far more ambiguous
-- after all, in many stories he's Thor's drinking buddy.

Diana Lynn Walzel has argued that the medieval conception of
demons comes from four sources: greco-roman mythology, hebrew traditions,
celtic and germanic mythology, and early Christian cosmology. This
medieval conception is largely consistent with the writings of later
demonologists such as Johannes Nider, John Weyer and Martin Del Rio, and
is still with us today in popular culture, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer
to Dungeons and Dragons to heavy-metal record covers and horror novels.

So, what were these traditions and what did each of them
contribute to our ideas of demons? The following paraphrases Walzel's
argument.

One of the most influential classical writers on demonology is
Apuleius, who is most famous for his novel The Metamorphoses, more
popularly known as The Golden Ass for its main character, an unfortunate
rogue who is transformed into a donkey. Apuleius became an invaluable
source for later generations because Saint Augustine included excerpts
from and discussions of his writings in his famous City of God.

For Apuleius, demons were neutral messengers between the gods and
humankind. The greek word daemon, in fact, means a messenger. Like humans,
demons had souls; unlike humans, they were bodiless.

Many of the names later applied to demons come from Hebrew
mythology. In the late antique period, a Jewish folklore of demons began
to develop. As E.M. Butler discusses, the Jewish Testament of Solomon
(written sometime between 100 and 400 A.D.), tells of Solomon summoning
demons to build the temple at Jerusalem. The tale contains a list of
demons including Asmodeus and Ornias. Butler points out that even this
text, one of the oldest remaining to us, already contains signs of
cultural mixing and overlapping: the names of Mesopotamian deities and
spirits pop up along with Hebrew names. The later books of "Solomonic"
magic that appear during the middle ages and renaissance come from this
folkloric tradition, or at least purport to.

The early Christian contribution took the neutral spirits of the
Greeks and the lively usual suspects of Jewish mythology and placed them
in the cosmic context of a war between good and evil. As Walzel points
out, Christians explained demons as the fallen angels from the Bible and
saw them as their enemies. As a way of distancing themselves from their
non-believing counterparts, early Christians quickly identified the gods
of Rome as demons. This doctrine became solidified in Augustine's City of
God, when Christianity had become more accepted and widespread. Augustine
clearly identified the gods of Rome as demons who had deceived men into
worshipping them, and he carefully refuted Apuleis's claim that demons
were neutral.

Walzel is less clear about the contribution of celtic or germanic
mythology to medieval demon-lore. One might imagine that as Christianity
spread throughout northern europe, the rich and imaginative depictions of
monsters and fairies of non-Roman culture shaped people's idea of what a
demon might look like. A good example of this unstable mix of
german-tribal-monster and Christian demon is Beowulf's Grendel: a giant
worthy of myth who in the poem is called a descendant of Cain.

These traditions mixed to create the medieval conception of demons
that was further elaborated in theological and legal texts, and described
in the magical grimoires that circulated in the period.

Works Cited: Butler, Elizabeth M. Ritual Magic. Reprint. University Park: Penn State
UP, 1998.

Kors, Alan Charles and Edward Peters. Witchcraft in Europe: 400-1700, A
Documentary History. 2nd edition. Philadelphia: Penn UP, 2001.

Walzel, Diana Lynn. "Sources of Medieval Demonology" repr. in Witchcraft
in the Ancient World and the Middle Ages ed. Brian P. Levack. New York:
Garland, 1992.

-Jim Parker

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