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Demonology
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'''Demonology''' is the systematic
study of
demons. Insofar as it involves
exegesis, demonology is an orthodox branch of
theology.
Christian demonology
Christians consider all the gods of other religions to be demons, along with the tradition-named demons, such as Azazel. The most extensive exposition of
Christian demonology are
Heinrich Kramer's ''
Malleus Maleficarum''—once thought to have been co-written by
Jacob Sprenger— and
Nicholas Remy's
Demonolatry, both assuming the reality of
witchcraft and its capability of posing a threat to the
Roman Catholic church.
Demonology refers to catalogues that attempt to name and set a hierarchy to demons and spirits thought to be malignant.
In this sense, demonology can be seen as the mirror image of
angelology, which attempts to compile the same information for good spirits.
In Christian tradition, demons are
fallen angels, so demonology could be considered a branch of
angelology.
The
grimoires of
magic (paranormal) occult magic are the tomes that contain the lore of this version of demonology, containing instructions on how to summon them and (hopefully) bend them to the
conjuror's will, yet not all occultists modern and ancient necessarily invoked demons.
It is somewhat unclear how many angels were actually engaged in the war in Heaven and the exact number of the host is open to conjecture for many.
In the 15th century though it was estimated that 133,306,668 angels fell from the Heavens in a total of 9 days according to the Bishop of Tusculum (c. 1273), and this was reaffirmed by Alphonso de Spina (c. 1460).
''I am sure that this number astounds even the most open minded. I my self was not surprised by the total figure of the fallen angels, I expected the number to be very big for the simple reason that it is reported that the number of angels is very big and that one third of them fell, so this third should be a very large figure also, but I was and still am very skeptic about the accuracy of this number when I first came upon it''
On another note,
The Book of Enoch tells of 200 "sons of God" (angels) who became enamored with "daughters of men", and coupled with them, and were therefore banished from Heaven.
Hence, it can be assumed that the amount of demons number between those two, at least in some Christian traditions.
On the other hand, the Talmud declares that there are 7,405,926 demons. Pre-Biblical Judaism knew nothing of evil or fallen angels. Indeed, Satan was in early Judaism a prosecutor for God and a somewhat minor angel at that.
While most people believe that ''
Lucifer'' and ''
Satan'' are different names for the same being, not all scholars subscribe to this view.
There is more than one instance where demons are said to have come to be, as seen by the sins of the Watchers and the
Grigori, of
Lilith leaving
Adam and Eve Adam, of demons such as
vampires, the demon-locusts from the
Book of Revelation, impure spirits in Jewish folklore such as the
dybbuk and of humans that have become demons as well.
Also, many Jewish legends tell that when God first created the angels, he gave them a choice of whether or not to follow him, and that those who denied were sent to the earth and became demons, though these are not fallen angels.
Islam, Judaism and Zoroastrianism
The existence of a malevolent supernatural personality who works to thwart the will of a good
God is a central tenet of both
Christianity and
Islam.
Many scholars believe that
Judaism originally received the concepts of eschatology, angelology, and demonology from
Zoroastrianism. In the Zoroastrian tradition,
Ahura Mazda, as the force of good
Spenta Mainyu, will eventually be victorious in a cosmic battle with an evil force known as
Angra Mainyu or
Ahriman.
The
New Testament explicitly affirms the existence of lesser adversary spirits, as does the
Qur'an. In
Christianity,
Satan is the leader of a force of evil opposing the all-good God.
Ayyavazhi, Buddhism and Hinduism
Ayyavazhi says about a series of demons, but all as the descendants of
Kroni, a primordial manifestation of evil. Though it was monistic there are signs of hell according to this belief. Some branches of
Buddhism affirm the existence of
Hell Hells peopled by demons who torment sinners and tempt mortals to sin, or who seek to thwart their
Enlightenment (Buddhism) enlightenment, with a demon named Mara as chief tempter.
Hinduism contains traditions of combats between its gods and various adversaries, such as the combat of
Indra and
Vritra.
External links
-
''Dictionary of the History of Ideas'': Demonology
-
Grimoires - A collection of Grimoires from the [http://www.sacred-texts.com/ Internet Sacred Text Archive]
Category:Demons
Category:Mythology
Category:Charismatic and Pentecostal Christianity
bg:ДемонологиÑ?
de:Dämonologie
et:Demonoloogia
es:DemonologÃa
fr:Démonologie
ja:悪é”å¦
no:Demonologi
pl:Demonologia
pt:Demonologia
ru:ДемонологиÑ?
sv:Demonologi
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