Demonology

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Demonology is the theory of demons , i.e. H. of the evil spirits, as they can be reconstructed in the history of religion or as explicitly formulated in cultural-historical documents. Systematic representations of Christian theology at times contained a doctrine of demons as an appendix to angelology , since the demons are conceptualized as fallen angels , the treatment of which is in turn subordinate to the theology of creation , whereby the dogmatic treatment of material usually extends to other treatises such as soteriology or Christology. Treatments of demons that are more likely to be located in the field of magic , popular piety or theurgy (in contrast to religious cult), in addition to cataloging, often lead to B. also techniques of influence and defense.

Concept history

While the Greek expressions δαίμων (daimon) or δαιμόνιον (daimonion) initially denoted both good and evil divine or numenal beings, since the demonology of Xenocrates the word meaning in the sense of an evil spirit has predominated .

The term “demons” is used inconsistently, for example for “former gods”, “beings who embody threatening counterworlds or cause diseases”, for “supernatural communicators” or “border crossers between gods and humans”.

History of ideas

Antiquity

In different cultures there is the idea that various kinds of harm occurring to humans are caused by evil spirits. A systematization of these harmful spirits can take place according to a typology of these effects: Sex demons cause z. B. Infertility, etc.

Bible

Given the vague use of the term "demons" and the lack of any exact equivalent in Semitic languages, it is more difficult to diagnose the Old Testament. In many cases, among the widely pronounced ideas of ghosts that cause disaster, in particular, parallel ideas to close cultures such as the Iranian religion have been shown, for example for Lilith ( Isa 34:14  ELB ) and the Babylonian Lilitu.

In ancient Judaism (as in the New Testament) the events in heaven are not attributed to gods but to demons.

In the New Testament text corpus there are various references to the common property of the ideas of demons, especially with ancient Judaism. Sometimes attempts were also made to connect to Middle Platonic, Stoic or other Hellenistic demonological assumptions. Peter Busch, for example, saw in the Letter to the Hebrews a transformation of elements of Middle Platonic demonology into Christological attributes: "Gone through the heavens" ( Heb 4:14  EU ) refers to the dwelling place of the demons; these have priestly traits (according to Plutarch ) and human affects (Middle Platonism, Stoa ); for v. 15 he points to a Middle Platonic debate about the sinlessness of demons.

In Pauline texts accepting demons is formulated, but v. a. declared theologically meaningless.

Christian patristic

Hieronymus Bosch  : The Temptation of St. Anthony , around 1500.

The patristic theologians discuss the demons v. a. with regard to the soteriological question of what we are saved from.

Latin Middle Ages

Medieval theologians continue the questions handed down from patristicism and the transition period and also include the christological question of how Christ overcomes the devil and the anthropological question of how original sin is to be understood. Augustine did not question the real existence of the demons. He represented the teaching of the fallen angels. Isidore of Seville essentially followed him in his Etymologiae . Rabanus Maurus stood in this tradition with his treatise De magicis artibus , where both De divinatione daemonum of Augustine and Isidore's Etymologiae are received. The statements of Rabanus Maurus were included in the Decretum Gratiani in the 12th century . Augustine had also represented the doctrine of the demon pact, which thus became an integral part of the scholastic theology of the High Middle Ages and was also included in the Decretum Gratiani (cf. C.26 q.2 c.6 §5).

European modern times and modernity

Nikolaj Abraham Abildgaard : Nightmare , 1800.

The British historian Stuart Clark has shown in a highly regarded book that belief in demons was an important part of the understanding of nature in the early modern period. According to Clark, demonology was a "physics" that offered generally accepted explanations for natural phenomena. With this assessment, Stuart Clark turned against the older science of history, which viewed the belief in demons primarily as something opposite to natural science. Since Clark's study, the similarity of the explanatory models with different basic assumptions has been emphasized rather than their differences. The belief in demons is of particular importance in connection with the persecution of witches . The pact with the devil was a prerequisite for acquiring magical abilities, which in turn were a form of influencing nature. According to church teaching, devils and demons had no supernatural abilities. Since the condemnation of the dualistic heresy by the fourth Lateran Council, only God could have such a thing .

Authors of the 19th century have often tried to classify belief in demons in a historical-philosophical or religious-historical-evolutionist way and to interpret it in relation to preliminary stages or subsequent stages and categories such as animism , polytheism , monotheism . According to today's historical view, these attempts at interpretation hardly do justice to the abundance of evidence.

In the theology of the 20th century, in response to efforts to “ demythologize ” traditional goods, demons are rarely dealt with explicitly. It is discussed, for example, to what extent the traditional ideas are to be reinterpreted in terms of “demonic structures”, or to what extent a “personal” point of view is to be maintained.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See the brief overview in Christoph Riedweg: Art. Daimon , in: Christoph Horn , Christof Rapp (ed.): Dictionary of ancient philosophy , CH Beck, Munich 2008, p. 95f.
  2. ↑ Frey-Anthes, Section 1
  3. ↑ Böcher 1981, 271.
  4. ↑ See the overview in Frey-Anthes; Wobble; Kirchschläger; H. Ringgren: Israelitische Religion , Stuttgart 1963, pp. 89-91.
  5. ↑ Cf. Anders Hultgard: Judaism in the Hellenistic-Roman period and the Iranian religion - a problem of the history of religion , in: ANRW II 19.1 (1979), 512-590, here 547 (and ff).
  6. ↑ See Böcher 1981, 271f.
  7. ↑ Peter Busch: The Compassionate High Priest , On the Reception of Middle Platonic Demonology in Hebr 4,14f, in: Klaus Berger (ed.): Religionsgeschichte des Neues Testaments, Francke, Tübingen 2000, pp. 19-30.
  8. ↑ See for example the overall presentation with research overview by Johannes Woyke : Götter, "Götzen", Götterbilder : Aspects of a Pauline "Theology of Religions", supplements to the journal for New Testament science and the news of the older church 132, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 2005 , ISBN 311018396X .
  9. ↑ Tavard, 294
  10. ↑ See Tavard, 294.
  11. ↑ Etymologiae VIII, 9-35.
  12. ↑ Hersperger p. 172 with further references.
  13. ↑ http://www.juvenileinstructor.org/book-review-stuart-clark-thinking-with-demons/
  14. ^ Clark: Thinking, p. 160.
  15. ↑ Böcher 1981, 273 with reference a. a. on Colpe, 48-551.
  16. ↑ See for example Leo Scheffczyk : Art. Demonology , in: LThK Bd. 3, 6f.

literature

  • Otto Böcher , Gunther Wanke, Günter Stemberger , Georges Tavard: Art. Demons. I. Religious history. II. Old Testament. III. Judaism. IV. New Testament. V. Church history. In: Theologische Realenzyklopädie 8 (1981), pp. 270-300.
  • Otto Böcher: fear of demons and defense against demons. A contribution to the prehistory of Christian baptism. (= Contributions to the science of the OT and NT, 5th F., H. 10). Stuttgart 1. A. 1970.
  • FE Brenk: In the Light of the Moon. Demonology in the Early Imperial Period. In: ANRW II 16.3, (1986), 2068-2145; Index in Vol. II 36, 1283-1299.
  • Emil Brunner : The Christian doctrine of creation and redemption . In: Ders .: Dogmatik, Vol. 2, Zurich 1950, pp. 153–172.
  • Stuart Clark: Thinking with Demons. The Idea of ​​Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe. Clarendon, Oxford 1997, ISBN 0198200013 .
  • Stuart Clark: Demonology , in: Bengt Ankarloo, Stuart Clark (Eds.): The Period of the Witch Trials, The Athlone History of Witchcraft and Magic in Europe Vol. 4, Athlone and University of Pennsylvania Press, London-Philadelphia 2002, ISBN 0485891042 , pp. 122-146.
  • Stuart Clark: Art. Demonology . In: Richard M. Golden (Ed.): Encyclopedia of Witchcraft, The Western Tradition, Vol. 1 (A – D), ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara, California 2006, ISBN 9781576072431 , pp. 259-263.
  • Carsten Colpe , J. Maier, J. Vrugt-Lentz, C. Zintzen: Art. Geister [demons] . In: RAC 9 : 546-797 (1976).
  • Dieter Harmening: Art. Demonology , in: Dictionary of Superstition , Reclam, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-15-010553-6 .
  • Patrick Hersperger: Church, Magic and 'Superstition'. Superstitio in canons of the 12th and 13th centuries (= research on ecclesiastical legal history and canon law, vol. 31). Böhlau Verlag Cologne 2010. ISBN 978-3-412-20397-9 .
  • Walter Kirchschläger , Leo Scheffczyk , Christoph Daxelmüller , Dieter Harmening: Art. Demon . In: Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche , Vol. 3 (1995), pp. 1-6.
  • Armin Lange, Hermann Lichtenberger , KF Diethard Römheld: The demons - demons. The demonology of the Israelite-Jewish and early Christian literature in the context of their environment. Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2003, ISBN 978-3-16-147955-7 .
  • Brian P. Levack (Ed.): The Literature of Witchcraft , Articles on Witchcraft, Magic and Demonology Vol. 4, Garland, New York-London 1992, ISBN 0815310269 .
  • Armando Maggi: Satan's Rhetoric : A Study of Renaissance Demonology, University of Chicago Press, Chicago-London 2001, ISBN 0226501329 .
  • Thomas Hilarius Meyer: "Rod" of God and "shit" of the devil. Theological theory of magic and witches at the University of Tübingen in the early modern period. Hamburg 2019, ISBN 978-3-7323-5024-7
  • Jonathan Pearl: The Crime of Crimes , Demonology and Politics in France, 1560-1620, Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier University Press, Ontario 1999, ISBN 0889202966 .
  • Jakob Elias Poritzky : Demonic Poets . Verlag Rösl, Munich 1921, online  - Internet Archive
  • Alexander Sand , Christoph Daxelmüller, Ludwig Hödl , HM Biedermann, Raoul Manselli , Johann Maier , F. Meier, D. Kocks, K. Wessel, Konrad Onasch : Art. Demons, Demonology . In: Lexikon des Mittelalters Vol. 3, 1986, pp. 476-487.
  • Walter Stephens: Demon Lovers : Witchcraft, Sex, and the Crisis of Belief, University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London 2002.
  • A. Valensin / P. Messiaen / A. Beguin et al. a .: Satan , in: Etudes carmelitaines 27 (1948), 521-666

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