The Origins of Christian Demons

If you enjoy this episode, we’re sure you will enjoy more content like this on The Occult Rejects.  In fact, we have curated playlists on occult topics like grimoires, esoteric concepts and phenomena, occult history, analyzing true crime and cults with an occult lens, Para politics, and occultism in music. Whether you enjoy consuming your content visually or via audio, we’ve got you covered - and it will always be provided free of charge.  So, if you enjoy what we do and want to support our work of providing accessible, free content on various platforms, please consider making a donation to the links provided below.  
Thank you and enjoy the episode!

Links For The Occult Rejects
https://linktr.ee/theoccultrejects

Occult Research Institute
https://www.occultresearchinstitute.org/

Cash App
https://cash.app/$theoccultrejects

Venmo
@TheOccultRejects

Buy Me A Coffee
buymeacoffee.com/TheOccultRejects

Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/TheOccultRejects

Primary textsHebrew Bible / Old Testament:

• Genesis 6:1–4
• Leviticus 16
• Deuteronomy 32:17
• Psalm 91
• Psalm 106:37
• Isaiah 34:14–15
• Job 1–2
• Zechariah 3

Second Temple Jewish texts:

• Tobit
• 1 Enoch, especially the Book of the Watchers
• Jubilees
• Dead Sea Scrolls / Qumran texts, especially 1QS 3–4 and the War Scroll

New Testament texts:

• Mark 1
• Mark 5
• Matthew 8:29
• Matthew 12
• Luke 8
• Luke 11
• 1 Corinthians 10:20
• 2 Corinthians 4:4
• Colossians 2:15
• Ephesians 6:12

Patristic / late antique texts:

• Justin Martyr, First Apology
• Athenagoras, Plea for the Christians
• Origen
• Augustine
• Evagrius Ponticus
• Testament of Solomon
• Aramaic incantation bowls

Selected scholarship

• Annette Yoshiko Reed, “When Did Daimones Become Demons? Revisiting Septuagintal Data for Ancient Jewish Demonology,” Harvard Theological Review 116.3 (2023).
• Eibert J. C. Tigchelaar, “Evil Spirits in the Dead Sea Scrolls: A Brief Survey and Some Perspectives.”
• John J. Collins, “The Two Spirits and the Origin of Evil,” in Understanding Texts in Early Judaism (2022).
• James C. VanderKam, “Mastema in the Qumran Literature and the Book of Jubilees.”
• Graham H. Twelftree, In the Name of Jesus: Exorcism among Early Christians (Baker Academic, 2007).
• Ky Heinze, Origen on Demonic Executioners and the Problem of Evil (Cambridge University Press).
• Andrew Crislip, “The Sin of Sloth or the Illness of the Demons? The Demon of Acedia in Early Christian Monasticism,” Harvard Theological Review 98.2 (2005).
• Robin M. Jensen, From Idols to Icons: The Emergence of Christian Devotional Images in Late Antiquity (University of California Press, 2022).
• Gary B. Ferngren, Medicine and Health Care in Early Christianity (Johns Hopkins University Press).

Useful bridge / reference sources

• Bible Odyssey, especially the entries on Demons and Unclean Spirits, Nephilim, Satan, and Exorcism in the Gospels.
• Britannica, especially the entries on Tobit, Asmodeus, First Book of Enoch, Satan, the devil, and Paul. 

Also want to remind people about the website, if you're into reading we have tons of information by multiple contributors, and we got t-shirts up on the site if you're interested. Fun fact, the art is all based on the eyeball.