Demonology in early Christianity

Much scholarship has recently been done on the Satanology (Satan-concept) of New Testament books or writers. This study attends to the Satanology of early "non-canonical" Christian writings, which have been comparatively under-researched. The literature examined includes the so-called Apostolic Fathers and other texts that can be reliably dated to c. 100-150 C.E., namely Ascension of Isaiah, Apocalypse of Peter, Odes of Solomon, Gospel of Truth, Ptolemy's Letter to Flora and Justin Martyr's writings. Over 160 certain or probable references to Satan, under various designations, are identified. Analysis of this data set proceeds in two directions. The first looks at the concept's explanatory power: for what kinds of evil did Satanology help to account? The discussion traverses various loci of perceived satanic activity, from the human heart to community boundaries to earthly political authorities to a dualistic cosmos to the abstract realm of ideas. The second analytical section explores ways that Christian writers and communities incorporated Satanology into their religious life through liturgical forms, hermeneutics for reading the Jewish Scriptures, and theological debates about the nature of God and evil. Satanology is found to have been a pervasive and distinctive feature of Christianity in the early subapostolic period.

Lupta Credinciosului - Un studiu neterminat despre Demonologie
Aşa cum scrie şi în Cuvântul DOMNULUI Dumnezeu, în Sfintele Scripturi, oamenii s-au confruntat încă de la începutul creaţiei cu Satana. Acest vrăşmaş se împotriveşte lucrării lui Dumnezeu din care cel mai important momentan este omul. Cine este acest şarpe a cărui ocrotitor este Heruvimul 1 ce păzea grădina plantată de Dumnezeu în Eden ? În cartea facerii este scris că şarpele era mai şiret decât toate fiarele câmpului pe cari le făcuse Domnul Dumnezeu (Geneza 3:1). Aşadar este o specie dintre fiarele făcute de Dumnezeu. Cuvântul "şarpe" folosit aici nu se referă literar la forma unui animal care trăieşte în locuri mlăştinoase din apropierea râurilor, lacurilor şi bălţilor cum e şarpele ori broasca, ci cuvântul pentru şarpe în limba ebraică este ‫נחש‬ "NÂCHAŞ". Ca substantiv "NÂCHAŞ "înseamnă şarpe, ca verb "NÂCHAŞ" înseamnă 'A Păcăli' (şiret, viclean). Rădăcina Cuvântului "NÂCHAŞ" este în termenul Asirian "NEŞU" (înşela) iar rădăcina cuvântului "NEŞU" înseamnă "SUBSTITUIRE" sau "Schimbare a Formei". Şarpele avea capacitate să vorbească cu Eva şi să urmărească ce îi zicea Dumnezeu, şi avea după blestem capacitate să mănânce ţărână (cu ce nu se poate hrănii omul) şi să se târască;-Geneza 3:14; Şarpele are capacitatea să se reproducă, seminţiei şarpelui i s-a dat autoritate asupra călcâiului femeii care se ştie că e foarte sensibil la "gâdilat" (adică la himisme).-Geneza 3:15; Numele patronului (căpeteniei) şarpelui îl găsim în cartea lui Enoh. Este o luptă continuă în care credincioşii celui trimis de Dumnezeu au primit autoritate ‚peste şerpi şi peste scorpii, şi peste toată puterea vrăjmaşului".-Luca 10:19; Dacă la început din zilele lui Enoh până în zilele profetului Zaharia, Dumnezeu îşi alegea profeţi prin care să le vorbească oamenilor, din zilele lui Ioan Botezătorul, cei chemaţi de Dumnezeu ca lucrători sunt emisarii, de la apostoli la prooroci, bătrâni (preoţi ori prezbiteri), misionari (păstori ori episcopi). Lucrătorii pot ajuta chiar şi persoane necredincioase grav afectate, cum au făcut şi apostolii mustrând duhurile rele în Numele lui Iisus Ḥ ristos cu autoritate. În a doua carte a doctorului Luca, este relatat un astfel de caz. După ce în Filipi 2 s-a botezat o femeie credincioasă din cetatea Tiatirelor 3 , apostolul Pavel a fost invitat de cei din casa ei ca să facă o adunare de rugăciune. Astfel doctorul relatează: Dar odată, pe când ne duceam la rugăciune, ne-a întâmpinat o slujnică, care avea duh pitonicesc 4 şi care aducea mult câştig stăpânilor ei, ghicind. Aceasta, ţinându-se după Pavel şi după noi, striga, zicând: Aceşti oameni sunt robi ai Dumnezeului celui Preaînalt, care vă vestesc vouă calea mântuirii. Şi aceasta o făcea timp de multe zile. Iar Pavel mâniindu-se şi întorcându-se, a zis duhului: În numele lui Iisus Ḥ ristos îţi poruncesc să ieşi din ea. Şi în acel ceas a ieşit.-Fapte 16:16-18; 1 Heruvimul ocrotitor este descris ca păzitor al muntelui lui Dumnezeu în paralelă cu păzitorul Edenului, de către profetul Ezechiel în cap. 28:13-18. 2 în greacă: Φίλιπποι, localitatea tracică a izvoarelor Κρην δες ori "Chrenides", re-denumită după regele Filip II, tatăl lui ἱ Alexandru Makedon; 3 în greacă: Θυάτειρα ori "Thyatira" o cetate situată lângă localitatea turcă Akhisar "castelul alb", unde mai târziu s-a format biserica Apostolului Ioan cu acelaşi nume, la circa 80 km de marea Mediteraniană; 4 Πυθων = PUTHON (numele regiunii unde era faimosul oracol Delphi); un Piton, un şarpe, (aici numele zeităţii în analogie cu divinitatea), ori şarpele Python peste care are stăpânire zeitatea Olimpică: Apollo, 'AΠΌΛΛΩΝ-APÓLLŌN ori 'AΠΈΛΛΩΝ-APELLŌN

This collection of essays originates from the 2014 Evil in Second Temple Judaism and Early Christianity conference hosted by the Centre for the Social-Scientific Study of the Bible at St Mary's University, Twickenham. Featuring an international collection of senior and junior scholars, it represents the cutting edge of scholarship on portrayals of evil in the Second Temple period and the earliest centuries of Christianity. The individual essays consider the significance of “evil” as it relates to a diverse set of topics, including Qumran and its texts, images of disability in 2 Maccabees, dissociations of Jesus from evil in early Christian manuscripts, the “apocalyptic Paul,” Jesus' exorcisms, Gospel cosmologies, the epistle of James, 4 Ezra, the Ascension of Isaiah, Marcion, John Chrysostom, and the Acts of the Martyrs. Contents Christopher A. Rollston: An Ur-History of the New Testament Devil: The Celestial שׂטן (śāṭān) in Zechariah and Job – Jutta Leonhardt-Balzer: Evil at Qumran – Benjamin Wold: Demonizing Sin? The Evil Inclination in 4QInstruction – Louise J. Lawrence: Evil and the Body of Antiochus IV Epiphanes: Disability, Disgust and Tropes of Monstrosity in 2 Maccabees 9:1–12 – Tommy Wasserman: Variants of Evil: The Disassociation of Jesus from Evil in the Text of the New Testament – James G. Crossley: Jesus, Healings and Mark 2:1–12: Forgiveness, a Release, or Bound Again to the Great Satan? – Christopher W. Skinner: Overcoming Satan, Overcoming the World: Exploring the Cosmologies of Mark and John – Jonathan A. Draper: Darkness as Non-Being and the Origin of Evil in John's Gospel – Loren T. Stuckenbruck: How Much Evil Does the Christ Event Solve? Jesus and Paul in Relation to Jewish “Apocalyptic” Thought – James P. Davies: Evil's Aetiology and False Dichotomies in Jewish Apocalyptic and Paul – Chris Tilling: Paul, Evil, and Justification Debates – Steve Walton: Evil in Ephesus: Acts 19:8–40 – Lloyd K. Pietersen: Artemis, Demons, Mammon and Satan: The Construal of Evil in First Timothy – Susanne Luther: The Evil of the Tongue: Evil and the Ethics of Speech in the Letter of James – Nicholas J. Ellis: A Theology of Evil in the Epistle of James: Cosmic Trials and the Dramatis Personae of Evil – Robbie Griggs: Apocalyptic Experience in the Theodicy of 4 Ezra – Jonathan Knight: The Portrayal of Evil in the Ascension of Isaiah – Chris Keith: “The Scriptures are Divine Charms”: Evil, Books, and Textuality in Early Christianity – Dieter T. Roth: Evil in Marcion's Conception of the Old Testament God – Paul Middleton: Overcoming the Devil in the Acts of the Martyrs

This article responds to a previous study in the same journal by Jonathan Burke, who argues “that certain texts among the Apostolic Fathers corpus exhibit a significant marginalization of Satan and demons.” Burke regards this as evidence for “a first century demythological Christianity which survived well into the second century though only as a minority report.” This marginalising or demythologising phenomenon, he believes, is efficiently explained by “non-belief in Satan and demons” on the part of the authors of these works. This response article contends that Burke’s study is flawed both in its methodology and its exegetical results. Burke’s methodology is shown to rely heavily on false dichotomies and negative evidence. His analysis understates the extent of references to mythological evil in several of the Apostolic Fathers, and his conclusions are thus invalid. A more accurate assessment is that the Apostolic Fathers, like the NT writings, consistently reflect theologies of evil that incorporate both anthropological and cosmological elements. There is diversity between individual writers and documents in the level of emphasis on anthropological and cosmological evil respectively.

There was no intrinsic reason for angels to survive in early Christian thought: Their mediatorial role was played by Christ; they were also not needed as opponents of demons and demonic magic, as Christ filled that role too. They were, thus, peripheral to mainstream Christian thought in the ante-Nicene period. We do not, therefore, find much discussion of their nature in early Christian writings, and no genuine angelologies before the fourth century. The descriptions of angels which we find are generally couched in the symbolic language of clothing imagery, which was derived from Jewish sources. Yet Christians were interested in lesser heavenly beings, and they survived in popular devotion, until in the fourth century (after Arianism and Nicaea) they became a recognized part of Christian philosophic discourse.Why then did a belief in angels survive at all in Christian thought?Christians remained interested in angels, not primarily as mediators or as demon-fighters, but as models for emulation. This emulation of angels was primarily expressed in Christian ascetic celibacy, in imitation of the angels mentioned by Christ in the synoptic Gospels (Mt 20:30, Mk 12:25, Lk 20:35-6). Angels were models of perfection, they were beings who personified the state of being that many early Christians aspired to. Implicit in this emulation of angelic behaviour is the notion that acting in a particular manner (i.e. imitating heavenly beings) meant something - that it had a result - thus it gave ordinary people some agency, some control over their spiritual state.

A detailed discussion is presented highlighting the most common characteristic of the reptilians and their hybrid cohorts. It is elucidated that the negative aliens are highly, violent, warring, separatist, disconnected, narcissistic, selfish, egotistical, psychopathic and sociopathic form of beings with strong proclivity to anger and apathy for others who are utterly void of compassion, empathy, or love or emotions for that matter except anger. They also highly venerate physical strength above anything else and use it effectively to wage wars against others, conquer them and putting them in bondage for free labor. Being energetically parasitic-vampiric, not being able to sustain themselves against inevitable self-consumption, they use the same motivation and disposition with utter cunningness and deceptiveness in search of the conquest of solar organic sentient consciousness beings in order to siphon, harvest, and prey upon their energies as a food source in which they feel they need to keep them in a state of unconsciousness enslavement so they do not know what is happening to them. Being void of solar organic consciousness and unable to consciously vibrate, they are often very afraid of solar light or sunshine. They are soulless and void of any organic consciousness embodiment and are non-sentient beings unable to 'sense' the progression of time whatsoever. Thus, evolution is not a factor in their question of artificial existence nor is multidimensionality living multiple lives at the same time, being robots, cyborgs, automatons, and a form of dead energy. They exist as automatons surviving within a hive organization or society and they strictly adhere to a pyramidal hierarchical structure in which those deemed as stronger and superiors reside on progressively the higher pyramidal scale. They are also a highly envious, greedy, avaricious group of beings who perceive themselves as superior to others and entitled to pillage and plunder others' belongings and energetic resources including their consciousness energies upon which they are dependent to survive. This has made them essentially a glutinous lustful group of beings also prone to sloth, reaping the benefit of hard labor of the others. Also being such narcissists, self-supremacists, and elitists, they have digressed to believe in racial and other forms of prejudices including the repugnant dogma of eugenics. Finally, a most distasteful trait that they are associated with is that of delusional sense of male-supremacy giving rise to a patriarchal domination dogma of existence as well as misogyny, viewing the female as weak and "worthless" unlike their males as the epitome of physical strength, forever in search of hunting-gathering, war and conquest, as a means for distinction and veneration.

This study aims to systematize St. Basil the Great's view of the evil and set it into the larger framework covering similar concerns within the field of religious studies. The permanent reference to the broader scope of this research subject matter has the advantage of highlighting more suitably the merits of Basil's thinking pattern. The metaphysical, personal and moral aspects of the evil are dwelt upon, and projected on the background of the intellectual tensions of the time, while their benchmark value for the Eastern Christianity is emphasized up until today. From the point of view of the history of religions, understanding Basils's view of the evil is an endeavour that is both necessary and useful to its own inherent academic discourse.

This article tries to identify and analyse the demonological elements contained in the text" On the Belly-Myther" of St. Eustathius of Antioch. St. Eustathius demonology is primarily based on Bible and is developed mainly as a consequence of his exege-sis on 1 Kingdoms 28. Apart from the Bible, Eustathius appeals massively to logic while formulating statements about the demon and his power over human beings, the relationship between demons power in the world and God's power, the possibility for demons to express the truth etc. St. Eustathius demonology is rather "intellectu-al" and might be different in its approach from the so-called "monastic demonology" which can be found by St. Athanasius of Alexandria or EvagriusPonticus.

A discussion of the iconography of Satan, devils and demoniacs in Santa Maria Antiqua,  Sacra Parallela, Books of Job, Heavenly Ladder, Physiologus once in Smyrna, Prudentius' Psychomachia, Chludov Psalter. Summary: No comprehensive history of the devil’s iconography in Early Christian and Byzantine art has hitherto appeared. The paper analyses the representations of Satan, minor devils and demoniacs in particular in Eastern Christian art, focusing on the rare pictures of Anthony’s life that have survived in Santa Maria Antiquam and the later pictures of hermits who resist the devil’s temptations. As for the New Testament, the manuscript of the Sacra Parallela in Paris provides images for Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness, the Gadarene demoniacs, and the episode of the Canaanite woman. The oldest images of flying devils we have are found in the Murano Diptych and the Rabbula Gospels, where the exorcism of the Gadarene demoniacs is represented. Most of the paper concerns the devil’s image in Byzantine Psalters and in the Book of Job. It is suggested that the iconography of Satan and devils originated in different realm: satyrs from Dionysiac thiasos, athletic jesters, and the winged Eros.

In the 1690s, a series of enthusiastic episodes rocked Pietist circles. Scholars have often pointed to Pietism's "heart religion" to explain these events. This essay demonstrates, however, that such experiences belonged to an older, firmly established cultural pattern in an Early Modern Europe in which a magical world view prevailed. Martin draws on dozens of texts, most previously overlooked by historians of Pietism, that document the continuity of this tradition from the sixteenth century into the Pietist era . She traces the integration of ecstatic events into Pietist conventicles and shows how Pietists adapted and transformed these older patterns to fit the new context of Pietism.

In Mark chapter 5 we read the unusual story of an exorcism by Jesus. In every exorcism Jesus had done he had simply exorcised the demons out of someone. There was never a case of the demon being exorcised out of someone and into something else. But in this narrative the demons ask Jesus to be sent to the pigs and Jesus does exactly as they requested. The immediate result is that the pigs die and the final result is that Jesus is asked to leave that area. This is striking because the demons actually asked Jesus not to be sent out of the country (5.10). But now he is forced to leave the country. At surface level it appears that the demons actually managed to drive Jesus out of Gerasenes and stop him from ministering to the people in that area-thereby keeping the area in their control spiritually. This article takes a narrative approach to this story as explained in the gospel of Mark and argues that although it appears like a temporary defeat eventually Jesus succeeds and is able to minister to the people in that region.

In this article, the passages about demon-possession in John (7:20; 8:44, 48; 10:19-21) are considered from an anthropological perspective. Scholars often interpret these passages by referring to Johannine theology. Yet, the anthropological theories of possession show that the notion of possession has sociological aspects as well. To be possessed by a demon and be filled with a spirit can be regarded as two dimensions of possession, and they serve to enhance social status. Viewed in this light, by accusing Jesus of being demon-possessed, Jesus' opponents reinforce their established status. On the other hand, John depicts Jesus as being possessed by the Holy Spirit. Similarly, Jesus' followers have enhanced their social status by claiming to be possessed by the same spirit and identifying themselves as a spirit-possessed community. The article concludes that the Johannine notion of possession is not simply a description but much more than that, it is a language of identification.

The oldest known record of the word δαίμων (daimon) appears in the first book of Homer's Iliad. In verse 222, when the poet says that Athena "returned to Olympus to the palace of aegis-bearing Zeus, to join the company of the other gods" 1 , the gods in the verse are called "δαίμονας" (daimonas), plural form of δαίμων. The study of the etymology of the word reveals roots, however, much older, deep into the Indo-European culture, from which the syllable *da(i) brought with it the meanings of "dividing, distributing, giving lots", making the Greek daimon originally a divinity which distributes to men the lot that belongs to each one, which, by extension, defines the destiny of each one. So we have Achilles, in the Iliad, and Telemachos, in the Odyssey, describing Zeus as the Supreme Distributor: The immortals know no care, yet the lot they spin for man is full of sorrow; on the floor of Zeus' palace there stand two urns, the one filled with evil gifts, and the other with good ones. He for whom Zeus the lord of thunder mixes the gifts he sends, will meet now with good and now with evil fortune; but he to whom Zeus sends none but evil gifts will be pointed at by the finger of scorn, the hand of famine will pursue him to the ends of the world, and he will go up and down the face of the earth, respected neither by gods nor men. 2 Zeus is who gives to each mortal who eats bread as he wills. 3 Although in the Indo-European culture the word might have a more positive meaning, focused on the distribution of blessings and riches that had its parallel in the distribution of food and gifts made by the tribal chief, over time also the misfortunes of life came to be represented in the lot that the gods distribute to every human being. "Distributor," as well as "immortal," for example, evolves from an adjective into a term appropriate to divinity. Already in Hesiod a major change takes place. First, it is important to know that Hesiod did not use the word " daimon " to address the deities; when referring to them he

The figure of Socrates features prominently in the works of earliest Christian authors and their attempts to negotiate a viable relation between pagan intellectual tradition and the exigencies of a newly founded religion. The analysis of all relevant ante-Nicene Greek and Latin texts shows that early Christian writers reconstruct "Socrates" with a striking degree of interpretative freedom. Although it is impossible to establish a unified perspective on Socrates in these texts – let alone a positive one, as many previous commentators thought –, the interpretations of the Athenian sage are not entirely haphazard. I argue that they are heavily constrained by apologetic aims of early Christian authors and closely connected to epistemic justification of faith by means of miracles, superior moral behaviour, divine inspiration and prophecy, and, finally, the emphasis that is placed on the limitations of human, all too human, wisdom.

The identification of deviant burials as those of ‘vampires’ is a feature of excavated skeletons from sites across Eastern, Central and Southern Europe as well as the Balkans. Based on a close reading of historic and folkloric sources researchers have sought to match features of excavated sites with narrative descriptions drawn from vampire legend and myth. This study critically reviews the recent claims based on sites in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Greece, Italy, Poland and Slovakia. Whilst it is found that there was a widespread belief in vampires across Europe, it is argued that it is difficult to make absolute claims for ‘vampire’ burials on archaeological grounds as in most cases there are alternate and equally compelling interpretations of the data.

KEYWORDS
ARCHAEOLOGY, HISTORY, SIXTEENTH CENTURY, SEVENTEENTH CENTURY, VAMPIRE, DEVIANT BURIAL, PLAGUE, BLACK DEATH, FOLKLORE, PAGAN, BURIAL, WITCH, BALKANS, EASTERN EUROPE, CENTRAL EUROPE, SOUTHERN EUROPE, BULGARIA, CZECH REPUBLIC, POLAND, GREECE, ITALY, SLOVAKIA, LESBOS, VENICE, APOTROPAIC, VAMPIRIDZHIJA, PERPERIKON, SOZOPOL, PROSTEJOV, CELAKOVICE, DRAWSKO, GLIWICI, SOUTHWELL, KILTEASHEEN, LAZZARETTO NUOVO, NACHTZEHRER, KAMIEN POMORSKI

Na passagem de tempo de conversão dos pagãos pelos cristãos, ocorreram modificações muito importantes nas estruturas de pensamento e na mundividência medievais. O que se pretende demonstrar neste estudo é como as figuras dos deuses pagãos em contato com a religião monoteísta tornaram-se criaturas mágicas e/ou demónios. Não obstante de um ponto de vista histórico, alguns exemplos serão tirados de obras literárias portuguesas medievais, para também comprovar que a literatura não fica num patamar longínquo da realidade e que pode demonstrar fenómenos pertencentes ao pensamento socio-histórico coevo.

Salvation is often thought to be an all-or-nothing matter: you are either saved or damned.  Paul the Apostle, John of Patmos, Hermas, the Sethians, and the Valentinians did not think this way.  For them, there were multiple levels of salvation.  By examining the reasons and implications for why these important thinkers believed that salvation comes in degrees, this book offers a fresh perspective on ancient thinking about responsibility, especially as it intersects with concerns such as genealogy and determinism.  It shows why Jews and Christians of various kinds – some eventually declared orthodox, others heretical – correlated ethics and soteriology, and argued over how this should be done.

Does God test His people? Nicholas Ellis examines the interplay between theological conviction and biblical hermeneutic, starting from the Epistle of James, and opening into a wide-ranging study of ancient convictions and hermeneutics in Jewish and Christian literature.

Since the dawn of human civilization, mankind has attempted to rationalize its primeval fear of the unseen by creating order out of chaos and by categorizing its understanding of the concept of this unseen world. And together we will uncover the underworld's darkness that goes unseen by the almost eight billion men, women, and children upon this spear that God placed perfectly in the universe among the trillions of stars, planets, and galaxies called earth.

We will also talk about the study of demonology and how important it is for a complete rounded Christian lifestyle, and for its ability to help us in missions and evangelism and dive into the time of the ancient ones who warned us of demons who began to mount increasingly malicious intentions for our destruction leading us to become a people of a gospel having no power, no power to change, no power to convict and no power to deliver and yet we claim to believe but how can we believe in what we do not know.

Studiul de față își propune să sistematizeze concepția Sf. Vasile cel Mare asupra răului și să o încadreze în ansamblul preocupărilor de profil din cadrul istoriei și filozofiei religiilor. Trimiterea permanentă la cadrul mai larg al acestei discipline de cercetare are darul de a evidenția mai bine meritele gândirii vasilie-ne. Sunt elaborate aspectele metafizic, personal și moral ale răului, proiectate pe fundalul tensiunilor intelectuale ale epocii, în același timp este scoasă în evidență și valoarea lor de reper pentru creștinismul răsăritean până astăzi. Și din punctul de vedere al istoriei religiilor, înțelegerea concepției vasiliene asupra răului repre-zintă un demers necesar și util propriului ductus intelectual.

"Clement of Alexandria (c.150–215 CE) is one of the most significant theologians of the second-century, and his work is still the subject of intense academic debate. This book provides a new perspective on Clement’s thought, through a critical examination of the work of one of his critics, Photios (c.820–893 CE). Photios, the Patriarch of Constantinople, based his critique on Clement’s (now lost) treatise ‘Hypotyposeis’, claiming the work contained eight ‘heresies’. The book examines each ‘error’ listed in the 109th codex of Photios’ ‘Bibliotheca’ in depth, using evidence from Clement’s existing work to consider the likely accuracy of Photios’ critique. Focusing on these eight ‘heresies’ offers a unique opportunity to illuminate what in terms of post-Nicene orthodoxy are Clement’s most problematic opinions, setting them in the context of their original philosophical and theological frame
"

Представления об экзорцизме в католической традиции XIII−XV века (на основе материалов доминиканского и францисканского орденов)
The movement of any science is carried out in accordance with the logic of development and the challenges of modernity. Now, after a lengthy atheistic view, a scientific interest in the history of religion. Exorcism is a private religious belief, subject exist in our days. In this perspective, the exorcism was never just a theological problem. The practice of exorcism "was socially characterized by processes of introspection and analysis in general, the hidden immediacy of uncertainty and chaos." Exorcism is a complex phenomenon, which fits both the traditional and the latest trends of historical science.

An introduction to exousiology, a subcategory of demonology that studies how structures of human existence become corrupt.  Draws on the work of Walter Wink and others, and argues against Paul as a demythologizer in his use of "powers and principalities" language.

Current scholarship typically treats the wilderness temptation account as a visionary experience, symbolic description, or dramatization, identifying it as haggadic midrash rather than historical narrative.  Absence of Old and New Testament analogs for the temptation prompts a search for parallels in literature of the Second Temple Period and Apostolic Age, and a direct affinity with the psychological dualism within some of these texts is demonstrated. Early Tannaitic descriptions of disputation with a personified ‘evil inclination’ (yetzer ha ra), are shown to be more relevant analogs than later Talmudic accounts of rabbis tempted by Satan. The combination of this socio-historical evidence provides strong support for a reading of the wilderness temptation as an account of Jesus’ internal struggle with his own desires, rather than a battle of will against a supernatural evil being.

The Testament of Solomon is a Greek text that tells the story of Solomon's point of view in the construction of the first temple. Receiving a ring with a seal, by the archangel Michael, he linked demons, including Orias, to this ring in order to ultimately build the temple. The narrative continues with a description of a panoply of demons that demonstrates a great knowledge of demonology by the author of this text as personifications of the decans as well as a knowledge of astronomical correspondences. Through this work, I will elaborate on the origin and the dating of this text, then I will offer a brief description of this manuscript as well as an anthropo- imaginary and astronomico-religious deepening on the demonology structure found in the testament of Solomon as well as some themes of the anthropology of imaginary : the figure of King Solomon and the seal of Solomon

The question of whether one can be truly African and truly Christian has been a subject of concern for both missiologists and African Christians for some decades now. This concern emerged from the recognition that some of the early Christian missionaries demonized the African culture and considered most of the rich heritage of the African people as pagan. Sadly, this understanding has penetrated into the Africans themselves to the extent that some have become very apprehensive of quite a number of practices within their own culture. Although, the situation has improved greatly in contemporary times, one of the key areas of contention within African Christianity, which has persisted to date, is the chieftaincy institution. Many Christians have considered this institution as evil, demonic and incompatible with Christianity. Some Christians will not even be comfortable discussing the subject as a whole. Some of the things that make the chieftaincy institution to be considered as demonic include the pouring of libation, the black stool and traditional oath swearing. This paper is aimed at discussing traditional oath swearing: its meaning, significance and implications. The paper will end by proposing a Christian response to the subject.

The Marcosian ‘redemption’ afterlife practice, described by Irenaeus (Haer. 1.21.5; see also, 1.13.6), exhibits striking similarities with the Bacchic Gold Tablets. This article exploits this largely neglected comparative opportunity to interrogate how the Marcosian redemption would have been recognisable to people in the Greco-Roman Mediterranean, thus bypassing the common focus in our field on ‘origins’ or ‘influences’. The Christians who participated in the Marcosian redemption emerge as people engaged in a broader genre of Greco-Roman religiosity that is associated with independent experts who adapted known mythic resources and offered access to afterlife benefits. This article thus pursues a level of social analysis we often take for granted in Early Christian Studies by attending to the constituent practices of the Marcosian redemption as well as to the social conditions within which it could have been intelligible or compelling. It furthermore leverages this analysis to suggest the fruitfulness of similarly redescribing other, more familiar early Christian materials in terms of practices.