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Demonology is the study of demons within religious belief and myth.Depending on context, it can refer to studies within theology, religious doctrine, or occultism.In many faiths, it concerns the study of a hierarchy of demons.
The Catholic Encyclopedia says that there is only one apparent case of demonic possession in the Old Testament, of King Saul being tormented by an "evil spirit" (1 Samuel 16:14), but this depends on interpreting the Hebrew word "rûah" as implying a personal influence which it may not; as a result, even this example is described as "not very ...
The incarnation of the demons has been a problem in Christian demonology and theology since early times. A very early form of the incarnation of demons was the idea of demonic possession, trying to explain that a demon entered the body of a person with some purpose or simply to punish that one for some allegedly committed sin.
In 17th century Europe, spirits included angels, demons, and disembodied souls. Dom Calmet, a specialist on the subject, explained that he was writing "on the apparitions of angels, demons and souls separated from the body". [3] The Lalande dictionary follows suit: "God, angels, demons, disembodied souls of people after death are the spirits". [4]
Bronze statue of the Assyro-Babylonian demon king Pazuzu, c. 800–700 BCE, Louvre. A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. [1] Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in folklore, mythology, religion, and literature; these beliefs are reflected in media including comics, fiction, film, television, and video games.
[3] [17] American studies scholar S. Jonathon O'Donnell defines spiritual warfare: "A key idea in spiritual warfare is that demons don’t only attack people, as in depictions of demonic possession, but also take control of places and institutions, such as journalism, academia, and both municipal and federal bureaucracies. By doing so, demons ...
The Testament of Solomon is a pseudepigraphical work, purportedly written by King Solomon, in which the author mostly describes particular demons who he enslaved to help build the temple, the questions he put to them about their deeds and how they could be thwarted, and their answers, which provide a kind of self-help manual against demonic activity.
Jesus drives out a demon or unclean spirit, from the 15th-century Très Riches Heures. In English translations of the Bible, unclean spirit is a common rendering [1] of Greek pneuma akatharton (πνεῦμα ἀκάθαρτον; plural pneumata akatharta (πνεύματα ἀκάθαρτα)), which in its single occurrence in the Septuagint translates Hebrew ruaḥ tum'ah (רוּחַ ...