Belief in demons is not connected with any particular view of the cosmos. Demons have a very wide geographical and lengthy historical role as spiritual beings influencing humans in their relationship to the sacred or holy. They may be semihuman, nonhuman, or ghostly human beings who, for various reasons, generally attempt to coerce humans into not attaining their higher spiritual aspirations or not performing activities necessary for their well-being in the normal course of living. The ancient Assyrian demon rabiṣu apparently is a classic prototype of a supernatural being that instilled such a fear in humans that their hair literally raised from their bodies when confronted with knowledge of the rabiṣu’s presence.
In 17th-century Europe, various demons were cataloged according to their powers to entice people to indulge in what were called their basic instincts or desires. Included in such lists were nightmare demons, demons formed from the semen of copulation, and demons who deceived persons into believing that they could perform transvections (nocturnal flights to sites of sabbats, alleged rites of witchcraft). According to some authorities in the 20th century (as well as early Christian polemicists), the alleged demons noted by the prevailing religions of the world are the former gods or spiritual beings that succumbed to or were overpowered by the dominant doctrinal views of a conquering people. Thus, the Teutonic, Slavic, Celtic, or Roman gods either were reduced to demonic antagonists of Christ, his saints, or his angels or were absorbed by the cults of Christian saint figures. Followers of the ancient but no longer influential deities were often subjected to persecution as advocates of witchcraft, especially in Christian Europe. Types of angels and demons
Angels and demons, as noted earlier, have been categorized as benevolent, malevolent, or ambivalent or neutral beings that mediate between the sacred and profane realms. Benevolent beings
Benevolent beings, usually angels but sometimes ghosts of ancestors or other spiritual beings that have been placated by sacrifices or other rituals, assist humans in achieving a proper rapport with God, other spiritual beings, or humans’ life situations. Angels, for example, not only act as revealers of divine truths but also are believed to be efficacious in helping people to attain salvation or special graces or favours. Their primary function is to praise and serve God and do his will. This is true of angels in both Christianity and Zoroastrianism as well as in Judaism and Islam. As functional extensions of the divine will, they sometimes intervene in human affairs by rewarding the faithful and punishing the unjust or by saving the weak, who are in need of help, and destroying the wicked, who unjustly persecute their fellow creatures. In the intertestamental book of Tobit (an apocryphal, or “hidden,” book that is not accepted as canonical by Jews and Protestants), the archangel Raphael (“God Heals”), for example, helps the hero Tobias, the son of Tobit, on a journey and also reveals to him magic formulas to cure his father’s blindness and to counteract the power of the demon Asmodeus.
The Annunciation, fresco by Fra Angelico, 1438-45; in the Museum of San Marco, FlorenceSCALA/Art Resource, New York
Angels have been described as participants in the creation and providential continuance of the cosmos. Clement of Alexandria, influenced by Hellenistic cosmology, stated that they function as the movers of the stars and control the four elements—earth, air, fire, and water. Many angels are believed to be guardians over individuals and nations. The view that there are guardian angels watching over children has been a significant belief in the popular piety of Roman Catholicism. Angels are also regarded as the conductors of the souls of the dead to the supraterrestrial world. In the procreation of humans, angels are believed to perform various services. This is especially noticeable in the instances of angels announcing the births of divine figures or special religious personages, such as Jesus and John the Baptist in the New Testament.
Though the function of angels is of primary significance, theological reflection and popular piety have placed much emphasis on the nature of angels. In early Judaism angels were conceived as beings in human form: the angel who wrestled with the patriarch Jacob, as recorded in the book of Genesis, was in the form of a man. In Judaism of the Hellenistic period (3rd century bce to 3rd century ce), however, angels were viewed as noncorporeal spiritual beings who appeared to humans in an apparitional fashion. Their spiritual nature had been emphasized earlier by Hebrew prophets, such as Ezekiel and Isaiah, in their visionary descriptions. The cherubim and seraphim, two superior orders of angels, are described as winged creatures that guard the throne of God. The use of wings attached to various beings symbolizes their invisible and spiritual nature, a practice that can be traced back to the ancient Egyptians, who represented the battling sun-god Horus of Edfu as a winged disk. In Christian iconography the spiritual nature of angels has been almost universally represented—until the 20th century—by winged human figures. Their spirituality and, therefore, their noncorporeality led to various kinds of speculation among theologians and common people about the nature of the appearances of angels, which has been recorded in both Scripture and legends based on popular piety. Some theologians, such as St. Augustine in the 4th–5th century, stated that angels, who have ethereal bodies, may be able to assume material bodies. This problem, however, has not been solved to the satisfaction of later theologians. Malevolent beings
Malevolent beings—demons, fallen angels, ghosts, goblins, evil spirits in nature, hybrid creatures, the daevas of Zoroastrianism, the narakas (creatures of hell) of Jainism, the oni (attendants of the gods of the underworld) in Japanese religions, and other such beings—hinder humans in achieving a proper relation with God, the spiritual realm, or human life situations. Some angels are believed to have fallen from a position of proximity to God—such as Lucifer (after his fall called Satan by early Church Fathers) in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—because of pride or for attempts to usurp the position of the Supreme Being. In their fallen condition they attempt to keep humans from gaining a right relationship with God by provoking them to sin. Some medieval scholars of demonology ascribed to a hierarchy of seven archdemons the seven deadly sins: Lucifer (Pride); Mammon (Avarice); Asmodeus (Lechery); Satan (Anger); Beelzebub (Gluttony); Leviathan (Envy); and Belphegor (Sloth). Besides tempting humans to sin, the fallen angels, or devils, were believed to cause various types of calamities, both natural and accidental. Like the demons and evil spirits of nature in nonliterate religions, the fallen angels were viewed as the agents of famine, disease, war, earthquakes, accidental deaths, and various mental or emotional disorders. Persons afflicted with mental diseases were considered to be “demon possessed.”
Though the functions of demonic figures, like those of fallen angels, is of major significance, the nature of demons has been of concern to theologians and persons infused with popular piety. Like angels, demons are regarded as spiritual, noncorporeal beings, but they have been depicted in religious iconography as hybrid creatures with horrifying characteristics or as caricatures of idols of an opposing religion. In the early church, for example, there was a belief that pagan idols were inhabited by demons. The horrifying aspects of demons have been represented in the woodcuts of medieval and Reformation artists and in the masks of shamans, medicine men, and priests of nonliterate religions—either to frighten the believer into behaving according to accepted norms or to ward off ritualistically the power of the demonic forces loose in the terrestrial or profane realm. Ambivalent or neutral beings