Southern Demonology

Send us Fan Mail For thousands of years, the demonic has refused to remain the same. Ancient Zoroastrianism envisioned a cosmic struggle in which Ahriman and the daēvas invaded and corrupted the good creation. Centuries later, Second Temple Jewish writers described rebellious angels, hostile spirits, Mastema, Belial, and eventually Satan within an increasingly organized landscape of supernatural evil. Christianity inherited that world, but also inherited a problem: if Satan rules a kingdom op...

Send us Fan Mail What if Satan was not always the Devil? In the final installment of Southern Demonology’s four-part exploration of the development of supernatural evil, JJ turns to the figure who would eventually overshadow nearly every other adversary in Western demonology: Satan. But the story does not begin with a fallen angel ruling a kingdom of demons. The Hebrew word satan originally described an adversary or opponent, and the Hebrew Bible could apply the term to human beings, angels, ...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when supernatural evil acquires more than a leader? What happens when wickedness acquires a kingdom? In the third installment of Southern Demonology’s four-part exploration of the development of supernatural evil during the Second Temple period, JJ turns to Belial and the remarkable demonology preserved among the Dead Sea Scrolls. Belial did not begin as the proper name of a demon. The Hebrew term beliyya'al originally conveyed ideas such as wickedness, worthless...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when supernatural hostility stops being just a force and becomes a prince? In the second episode of Southern Demonology’s four-part arc on the development of evil in Second Temple Judaism, JJ turns to Mastema, one of the most fascinating and misunderstood figures in ancient Jewish demonology. We begin with the word itself. Mastema originally means hostility or enmity, but over time that abstract idea becomes increasingly personified until Jubilees presents Mastem...

Send us Fan Mail What exactly is a demon? It sounds like a simple question, especially for a podcast called Southern Demonology. But the further back we travel into the ancient world, the harder that question becomes to answer. In this episode, JJ traces the concept of the demon from the dangerous spirits and numinous powers of ancient Mesopotamia through the Hebrew Bible and into the dramatically changing supernatural landscape of Second Temple Judaism. Along the way, we explore why a destru...