Ever since my PhD days, I’ve been fascinated by how demons slowly seemed to get linked evil deeds. Spirits in the Hebrew Bible and spirits/demons in the gospels don’t actually seem to ever cause sin. Sometimes they are tricksy, and often they cause illness, death or destruction. But they hardly ever (never?) cause humans to commit evil deeds.
In contemporary Christian and popular circles you see that demons have both functions. Lots of people think of demons in the context demon possession, like in the movies: The Exorcist and the like. Others see demons are tempting influences that whisper in your ear so that you commit horrible deeds.
When Hector Patmore was asking around for people wanting to write about demons for a book he was planning, I jumped on board! I suggested I write about the early Christian shift where demons become associated with vices. Or, to be even more specific, there are three Christian authors from the second century who believe that demons ARE vices and that vices ARE demons. In their mind, these two things are the same thing!
The chapter is out in Hector’s cool book Demons in Early Judaism and Christianity. My chapter is called Demons and Vices in Early Christianity. You can read it on my academia.edu page if you like!
