Abraxas

In the Gnostic system, the Devil plays an indispensable role as destroyer, an organic part of the One, necessary to a polymorphous cosmos. There is no “accidental lack of perfection,” no flaw in his being. Medieval demonologists often mention a demon called Abraxas. They represent him as a fat-bellied character with the head of a … Read more

Gnostism

Based on  the « Pistis Sofia », written by Philippe the Apostle  on Jesus’ order, the Gnostics dispensed with the infamous contradictions in mainstream Christian theodicy by dropping the assumption that the Ultimate God must also be the Ultimate Good. Essentially, the Gnostics returned to polytheistic monism, but retained certain aspects of Christian doctrine, such as the … Read more

Privatio Boni

The orthodox tactic regarding the problem of evil was the concept of privatio boni, which claims that evil was not part of God’s creation at first. Evil comes about later, from the the voluntary actions of free-willed beings. Humans are mutable (changeable) because they are made out of nothing – they are contingent creatures that … Read more

The Books of Enoch

The Book of Enoch (also 1 Enoch, Ge’ez: መጽሐፈ ሄኖክ, maṣḥafa hēnok) is an ancient Hebrew apocalyptic religious text, ascribed by tradition to Enoch, the great-grandfather of Noah. Enoch contains unique material on the origins of demons and Nephilim, why some angels fell from heaven, an explanation of why the Genesis flood was morally necessary, … Read more

The Bible

Satan and the Bible There is no full account of Satan given in any one place, and the Scripture teaching on this topic can only be ascertained by combining a number of scattered notices from Genesis to Apocalypse, and reading them in the light of patristic and theological tradition. Almost absent in the Old Testament, … Read more

Tibetan demonology

Often misunderstood or misinterpreted, Tibetan demonology is tightly integrated into boudhism and the main local branches. Nevertheless, the richness and scope of the still-know iconography is a living proof that it was the pre-boudhist Bön-Po tradition who gave birth to all those terrifying monsters. Today considered as “angry” form of divinities and pure emptiness, they … Read more

Greek demonology

Greek demonology bears a huge heritage to the former civilizations of the Indus. Despite being fully polytheist, the greek mythology introduces many myths and monsters that will be integrated into the late Jewish and Christian demonology: the Titans, Pan, the Hydra, Mermaids …. Orphism which supports the idea that men are born from the ashes … Read more

Christian demonology

Whatever may be said of this theory of the Rabbis, that the air is full of demons, and that men are in danger of receiving them into their systems it may certainly be said that in the days of the early Christians the air was dangerously full of demonologies, and that men were in peculiar … Read more