- Go to the discussion notes for this course
- Go to map of the Ancient Near East
- Go to the Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire
General Information:
- Philip Harland: pharland – at – yorku – dot – ca
- Zoom meetings Mondays 11:30am-2:20pm: https://yorku.zoom.us/j/92070904400
- Office hours: Mondays 2:30-3:30, or by appointment: https://yorku.zoom.us/j/92070904400
Course description
This course investigates the origins, development and significance of personified evil (Satan and his demons) in early Judean (Jewish) culture and in the history of Christianity. We will consider some of the most important depictions of this figure (and his story) from the ancient world, but we will also observe developments through the middle ages to our own day. In the process, we will shed light on how intellectuals thought of this figure, but also on how Satan came to play an important role in popular culture into the modern era (when this devilish character often makes an appearance in movies). Throughout we will be concerned with the social and other functions of Satan and his demons within social and cultural life in various eras.
Required readings
- Linked pdf readings in outline below
- Bible in a modern English translation (e.g. RSV, NRSV, Jerusalem, Lexham, NIV, New Jewish Publication Society), also freely available online https://www.biblegateway.com/ or https://www.sefaria.org/texts/Tanakh
Films with Satan as a key player
- List of films with Satan on Wikipedia (link)
Evaluation (see end of syllabus for full assignment descriptions)
- Attendance at zoom meetings and regular weekly participation in discussions: 15%
- Quizzes at 11:35am sharp on readings and audio materials, with three questions that you answer via an email to me immediately (approximately x 10, with 2 worst performances ignored; each quiz is pass or fail): 20%
- Fishbowl participation for 15 minutes of class (about 6 students per fishbowl; students are marked individually): 10%
- Essay 1: Analysis of primary source, 5 pages double-spaced, due Week 6 (
Week 5) before the beginning of class (as pdf email attachment by email) – 25%- Academic integrity quiz (link) – 100% results must be submitted with assignment 1
- Essay 2: Analysis of primary source, 8 pages, due Week 10 before the beginning of class (as pdf email attachment) – 30%
Important things to know:
- Readings and participation: Read and study materials BEFORE meetings.
- Penalties for lateness: Assignments are due at the beginning of class (by email attachment). Late submissions will be penalized by one full grade (e.g. from a B to a C) and a further grade for each additional day beyond the due date.
- Academic honesty and plagiarism policies: Absolutely no form of plagiarism will be tolerated. Study York’s policies here and here. Any use of AI (Artificial Intelligence) to produce or modify text for an assignment is plagiarism and will not be tolerated. All cases of using AI will be treated as plagiarism. NOTE: Each essay must be submitted with a statement by the student author clarifying that the student has not used any form of AI in preparing or producing the essay.
- Camera on: The default for all class meetings on zoom is camera on, so that we can interact and discuss in a natural and human manner.
- Password-protected files for the course, which are used under fair dealing provisions for the purpose of education, are for course use only and should not be redistributed in any form.
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Discussion schedule:
Introduction
Week 1 (Jan 5): Introduction to the academic study of Satan and personified evil – Where in hell did Satan come from, and what functions does he serve?
- Prelude: Timi Yuro, “Satan Never Sleeps (1966)” (link)
- Reading distributed in class zoom meeting: Revelation 12-13 (link): What assumptions does the author of this material make about personified evil forces? In what forms do the opponents of God and opponents of good appear in these visions? What stories are associated with the opponents of God? Who is the dragon? How is this depiction of evil connected with earlier traditions?
- Media (shown during meeting): “The Devil and Homer Simpson” from Treehouse of Horror IV (link)
Unit 1: Ancient Origins of Personified Evil – Mesopotamia, Persia and Israel (from 3000 B.C.E.)
Week 2 (Jan 12): Satan’s predecessors in the Ancient Near East 1 – Mesopotamian and Ugaritic (Canaanite) personified chaos monsters and the “combat myth”
- Podcast lecture (listen before meeting): Predecessors of Satan from Mesopotamia (link)
- Readings:
Week 3 (Jan 19): Predecessors 2 – Israelite versions of personified chaos-monsters and the “combat myth” // Rebellious fallen kings in Israelite tradition
- Podcast lecture (listen before meeting): Predecessors of Satan from Canaan and Israel (link) and Other Predecessors of Satan from the Hebrew Bible (link)
- Readings:
- Israelite examples of combat myth: Psalm 74 (esp verses 12-17) and Psalm 89 (esp. verses 5-18), with Yahweh vs Leviathan (link); Job 38-42, especially focus on 38:7-11, 40:15-32, and 41:1-26 on Behemoth and Leviathan (link)
- Rebel fallen kings: Ezekiel 28-32, especially 29:1-7 and 32:1-9, and Isaiah 14:1-21 (link)
- Beal, Religion and Its Monsters, chapters 2 and 4 (link)
- Media (during meeting):
Week 4 (Jan 26): Predecessors 3 – Persian-Zoroastrian dualism with Ahura Mazda vs Angra Mainyu
- Podcast lectures (listen before meeting): Predecessors of Satan from Persia (link)
- Readings:
- Media (during meeting):
- Media (during meeting): “Hail Satan? (2019)” parts of documentary, 1-14:50, 15:40-30:00, 47-53, 126-131 minute marks (link)
Unit 2: Satan and Demons among Judeans and early Jesus adherents (origins-312 C.E.)
Week 5 (Feb 2): Satan’s origins in Judean apocalypticism – Fallen angels and evil spirits
- Podcast lectures (listen before meeting): Fallen Angels in First Enoch (ca. 225 BCE) (link); Mastema in Jubilees and Beliar in the Dead Sea Scrolls (ca. 100 BCE) (link)
- Readings:
Week 6 (Feb 9): Satan among Jesus adherents – Biographies of Jesus
- Podcast lectures (listen before meeting): The Devil and Beelzebub in Early Biographies of Jesus (70-100 CE) (link); Internal Functions of the Rhetoric of Satan in Paul and John (ca. 50-110 CE) (link)
- Readings:
- Fishbowl discussion: Shabnam, Kennedy, Addison, Daniel, Gareth, Pavit
- Media (during meeting): The Devil and Robert Johnson, “Cross Road Blues (1936)” (link); Johnson, “Me and the Devil Blues” (link); Eric Clapton cover of Johnson, “Hell Hound on My Trail (2004, original 1937)” (link); Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), “Sold My Soul to the Devil” clip (link)
**Essay 1 due before meeting as pdf email attachment** (NEW DUE DATE – previously was due week before)
*Reading week Feb. 16-20 – no class*
Week 7 (Feb 23): John’s Revelation as an early synthesis and the demonization of external political powers
- Podcast lectures (listen before meeting): A Satanic Empire in John’s Apocalypse (ca. 80-100 CE) (link)
- Readings:
- Fishbowl discussion: Pavanpreet, Harold, Hanna
- Media (during meeting): Media (during meeting): Al Pacino’s speech as the devil in “Devil’s Advocate (1997)” (link to clip from around 2:01:00; link to entire film on York library); “A Thief in the Night (1972)” (link; 1 hour 8 minutes — portions)
Week 8 (March 2): Developments in Satan’s story in the first centuries – Satan (or the demiurge / world-creator) and the serpent
- Podcast lectures (listen before meeting): Jealous Satan, the Image of God, and the Serpent in the Life of Adam and Eve (link); The Jealous Creator and the Serpent of Wisdom in “Gnosticism” (2nd century CE) (link)
- Readings:
- “The Life of Adam and Eve,” especially the Vita version chapters 9-17 and the Apocalypse of Moses version, chapters 15-21, 39 (link)
- Genesis 1-3 (link)
- Anderson, “The Exaltation of Adam and the Fall of Satan” (link)
- Quran 2:30-39 (link)
- “Angels paying homage to Adam watched by Iblis” (16th century Islamic artistic depiction; link)
- Fishbowl discussion: Tak Sing, Brenna M., Zayed, Shermaine, Anjani
- Media (in class): “Satan Wants You” (2023 documentary; link) – first half (1.5 hours total)
Week 9 (March 9): Satan in the “Church Fathers” – Instigator of Idolatry (“Paganism”) and Heresy (150-430 CE and beyond)
- Podcast lectures (listen before meeting): Satan’s Demons and the Greco-Roman Gods in the Church Fathers (2nd-3rd centuries CE) (link); Satan as Father of Lies and Heresy in the Church Fathers (2nd-4th centuries CE) (link)
- Readings:
- Fishbowl discussion: Yasmin, Christiana, Auveed, Jordan, Rowan, Asal, Sarina
- Media (in class): “Satan Wants You” (2023 documentary; link) – second half (start at 26 minute mark)
Unit 3: Developments in Satan’s Story in the Middle Ages (312-1500)
Week 10 (March 16): Medieval perceptions of Satan – Popular religion, heresy, witchcraft, and internal battles of the Reformations
- Podcast lectures (listen before meeting): Satan and Demons in Everyday Life in the Middle Ages (link); Witchcraft Accusations and Pacts with the Devil (1400-1600) (link); Satan’s Home in Medieval Depictions and Dante’s Inferno (link)
- Readings:
- Media (during meeting): “Nosferatu (1922)” (Nosferatu’s arrival as seed of Belial and Plague personified at 57-60 minute mark; link to entire public domain film); “Shadow of the Vampire (2000)” (link to full movie on York system; 1 hour 30 minutes)
**Essay 2 due before meeting**
Unit 4: Modern Re-configurations of Personified Evil (ca.1500-present)
Week 11 (Mar 23): From traditional (evil) Satan to modern (Ironic) Mephisto – Milton (1600s) and Goethe (1700s)
- Podcast lectures (listen before meeting): The Devil and Internal Struggles of the Reformation Period (1500s) (link); Milton’s Traditional Satan in Paradise Lost (1600s) (link); Goethe’s Ironic Mephistopheles (1700s-1800s) (link)
- Readings:
- Fishbowl discussion: Athena, Tafari, Chloe, Cameron, Ava, Sofia Z.
- Media (during meeting): Rolling Stones, “Sympathy for the Devil (1968)” (link)
Week 12 (March 30): Modern conceptions of evil – Evil personified in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries
- Podcast lectures (listen before meeting): Satanic Imagery and Conspiracies In Modern Culture (link)
- Readings:
- Frankfurter, “Experts in the Identification of Evil,” excerpts on contemporary examples and the Satanic Ritual Abuse scare (link)
- Film (to watch together in class):
- Media illustrating Satanic panics: “McMartin Preschool: Anatomy of a Panic,” Retro Report, New York Times (link; 13 minutes); “America’s Satanic Panic Returns — This Time Through QAnon (on NPR)” (link; 11 minutes); Example of a program promoting the 1980s Satanic panic: Geraldo Rivera, “Devil Worship: Exposing Satan’s Underground (1988)” (link; 152 minutes); Excerpts from “Coming Home: A Spiritual Recovery from Satanic Ritual Abuse”, an instructional video from 1989 with experts (psychotherapists, social workers) providing guidance for those seeking out SRA (link; 12 minutes)
- Media regarding backmasking: Paul and Jan Crouch show with supposed expert (Paul Crouch junior) on backmasking (ca. 1982) (link); Gary Greenwald sermon on backmasking “Rock A Bye-Bye Baby” (1982) (link); “Satanic Panic: Backwards messages and ’80s hysteria,” Twenty Thousand Hertz podcast (link)
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ASSIGNMENT DESCRIPTIONS
Fishbowl discussion (15 minutes of meeting, students marked individually):
- For most weeks, about five or so students on their own will begin discussion of that weeks main readings in their group with the rest of us observing quietly and, eventually (after 15 minutes), joining the discussion. Our focus questions for the course may be a guide for some issues to explore. You will also want to show how the current week’s readings relate to other things we have been learning in the course.
- There is no need for the group to meet or discuss things in advance. In fact, it is preferred that you don’t since this is not a coordinated presentation but rather a somewhat spontaneous interactive discussion or chat based on your own reading of the materials.
Essay 1: Analysis of primary source (5 pages double-spaced)
- Step one: Reexamine ancient sources from the course regarding predecessors of Satan. Carefully read and study Genesis 6:1-9 in its context (link) and First Enoch 1-16 (link), likely the earliest apocalyptic Judean (Jewish) expansion of a story around “fallen angels” (written around 200 BCE). Also read John Collins’ brief introduction to this part of First Enoch with special attention to the two main traditions incorporated within First Enoch (link).
- Step two: Write an essay on the following: While there were many cultural or mythological traditions that came to play a role in the emergence of a personified evil figure (e.g. Satan) within Judean culture, First Enoch‘s interpretation and expansion of the sons of God (i.e. angels) mating with humans in the Genesis account was fundamental. Your essay will answer the question: In what ways is the material in First Enoch fundamental to the development of the story of Satan as a personified evil figure opposed to God? In order to answer that, you will have to keep in mind questions like the following: How does the author of First Enoch seek to explain the origins and ultimate demise of evil by way of an interpretation of Genesis 6:1-9? What is the significance of the two different traditions of head angels in First Enoch, namely Asael and Shemihazah? What do the two groups of angels do and what do they introduce to humanity? What is the destiny of these groups of angels, according to the author of this writing? How does this fit within a broader Judean apocalyptic worldview about God’s supposed plans to wipe out evil at the end?
- You will be explaining 1 Enoch in your own words (and citing passage numbers to support your explanations: e.g. 1 Enoch 2.11-14; 13:1-3; Gen 6:4) but you will not be quoting 1 Enoch in the essay. Essays will be considered inadequate if they do not consistently provide specific citations from the ancient sources (which can be checked for accuracy by the reader) to support the essay-writer’s points.
- You will need to take an historical approach in this essay, avoiding your own moral or theological judgements. Rather than judging the writer or his views as good or bad, right or wrong, brilliant or silly, you will instead seek to understand and explain the author’s perspectives within an ancient historical context.
- AI (Artificial Intelligence online) is not to be used at any stage of working on this or any other assignment in the course. Each essay must be submitted with a statement by the student author clarifying whether the student has used any form of AI in preparing and producing the essay. Students may be asked to meet with the professor to discuss their preparatory work for the essay and their arguments in the essay.
Essay 2: Analysis of primary sources (8 pages double-spaced; audio recording about this assignment description: link)
- Step one: Carefully read and study the stories and legends in the fourth century Life of Saint Anthony “Christianity in the Desert: St. Anthony the Great” (link) and in the chapter on “Demons and Spirits” (link), which date to the period c. 1000-1500.
- Bibliographical information: Mary-Ann Stouck, ed., Medieval Saints: A Reader (Broadview Press, 1999), and John Shinners, ed., Medieval Popular Religion 1000-1500: A Reader (Broadview Press, 1999).
- Step two: Focus your attention on analyzing specific stories for yourself and write an essay on the following: From the early monks (like Anthony) to popular religion in the middle ages, demons or harmful spirits have played an important role in the world-view and actual lives of Christians. In the process, address issues such as the following: What do these stories reveal about popular beliefs concerning demons, their nature and function? What activities did demons engage in and what were their motivations? How did demons relate to humans and to other beings (e.g. good spirits/angels, Satan)? What methods were available for people to counter the dangers of, or gain assistance from, demons? How were such methods viewed by those who wrote down these stories? What are the commonalities and differences among the perspectives of the various stories you analyze?
- Be sure to deal substantially with the “Life of St. Anthony” and with at least three medieval stories in your analysis, identifying key passages and page numbers in parentheses to support your points.
- You will be explaining these sources (and citing passage page numbers to support your explanations) but you will not be quoting the sources in the essay. Essays will be considered inadequate if they do not consistently provide specific citations from the sources (which can be checked for accuracy by the reader) to support the essay-writer’s points.
- AI (Artificial Intelligence online) is not to be used at any stage of working on this or any other assignment in the course. Each essay must be submitted with a statement by the student author clarifying whether the student has used any form of AI in preparing and producing the essay. Students may be asked to meet with the professor to discuss their preparatory work for the essay and their arguments in the essay.
Please note that within the information for HUMA 3795, the link associated with the Week 6 reading, Gospel of Mark, entire work especially a close reading of chapters 1-3, 5; is not functioning properly. The url associated with this link, https://philipharland.com/Courses/Readings/3795/Marks gospel (RSV).pdf, directs to a landing page indicating ‘403 Forbidden’.
Thanks for letting me know, Angela. It’s fixed now (an apostrophe was screwing things up).