• Go to the discussion notes for this course

General Information:

• Philip Harland: pharland – at – yorku – dot – ca
• Zoom meetings Tuesdays 11:30am-2:20pm: https://yorku.zoom.us/j/92070904400
• Office hours: TBA 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.

Required readings

• Linked pdf readings in outline below
• Bible in a modern English translation (e.g. RSV, NRSV, Jerusalem, Lexham, NIV), also freely available online https://www.biblegateway.com/.
• Timothy K. Beal, Religion and Its Monsters (New York: Routledge, 2002) (link, to ebook – download as pdf on York library)

Films with Satan as a key player

• List of films with Satan on Wikipedia (link)

Evaluation (see end of syllabus for assignment descriptions)

• Attendance at zoom meetings and regular weekly participation in discussions: 15%
• Quizzes at 11:30am 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 the first 15 minutes of class (about 5 students per fishbowl; students are marked individually): 10%
• Essay 1: Academic book review essay (Beal, Religion and Its Monsters), 5 pages double-spaced, due Week 5 at the beginning of class – 25%
  • Academic integrity quiz (link) – 100% results must be submitted with assignment 1
• Essay 2: Analysis of primary sources, 8 pages, due Week 9 NOW WEEK 10 at the beginning of class – 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 (if in person, hardcopy; if remotely, 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.
• 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:

Unit 1: Ancient Origins of Personified Evil – Mesopotamia, Persia and Israel (from 3000 B.C.E.)

Week 1 (Jan 11): 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: Revelation 12-13 (link): In what forms do the opponents of God and 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)

Week 2 (Jan 18): Satan’s predecessors in the Ancient Near East – Mesopotamian and Israelite chaos-monsters and the “combat myth”

• Podcast lectures (listen before meeting): Predecessors of Satan from Mesopotamia (link); Predecessors of Satan from Canaan and Israel (link)
• Readings: Babylonian “Epic of Creation” (excerpts) with Marduk vs Tiamat (link); Psalm 74, especially verses 12-17 and Psalm 89, especially verses 5-18 with Yahweh vs Leviathan and others (link); Beal, Religion and Its Monsters, chapters 1-2 (link)

Week 3 (Jan 25): Satan’s predecessors in the Ancient Near East – Zoroastrian dualism with Ahura Mazda vs Angra Mainyu and rebellious fallen kings in Israelite tradition

• Podcast lectures (listen before meeting): Predecessors of Satan from Persia (link); Other Predecessors of Satan from the Hebrew Bible (link)
• Readings: Plutarch, Isis and Osiris, section 370 (link); Zoroastrian Hymn / Yasna 30 (link); Cohn, “Zoroastrianism,” pages 77-83, 96-99 (link); Ezekiel 28-29, 32 and Isaiah 14 (link); Beal, Religion and Its Monsters, chapters 3-4 (link)
  • NOTE: Ahura Mazda = Ohrmazd = Oromazes vs. Angra Mainyu = Ahriman = Areimanius

• Media (during meeting):
  • U2, “Until the End of the World” with Judas/Satan vs Jesus/God combat, Boston 2001 Elevation (link); lyrics (link)
    • Satan and Judas in art: Canevesio (1491);  Woodcut of Lucifer chewing Judas printed by Bernardino Stagnino in an edition of Dante’s Inferno (1512); Molin (1880)
  • CBC, “What Was the Satanic Panic?” (link; 8 minutes, pointing to the “Uncover Satanic Panic” podcast)

Week 4 (Feb 1): Israelite predecessors and Satan’s origins in Judean apocalypticism – Fallen angels and evil spirits

• Podcast lectures (listen before meeting): Fallen Angels in 1 Enoch (ca. 225 BCE) (link); Mastema in Jubilees and Beliar in the Dead Sea Scrolls (ca. 100 BCE) (link)
• Readings: Genesis 5:18-24 and 6:1-8 while glancing at the context (link); 1 Enoch chapters 6-11 (link); “The [Dead Sea Sect’s] Rule of the Community,” columns 1-4 (link); Collins, “The Early Enoch Literature” (link)
• Fishbowl discussion (four-five people who begin our discussion for the first 15 minutes of class): Hortense, Mina, Tania, Dylan
  

• 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 8): 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: Gospel of Mark, entire work especially a close reading of chapters 1-3, 5 (link); Gospel of Luke, chapter 4 and chapter 10, verses 1-24 (link); Forsyth, “The Combat [with the Old Enemy] in the Synoptic Gospels” (link)
• Fishbowl discussion: Shwaran, Dana, Matthew, Agata

• Media (during meeting): The Devil and Robert Johnson, “Cross Road Blues (1936)” (link); Johnson, “Me and the Devil Blues” (need 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)
  

Week 6 (Feb 15): Discussion of Beal’s Religion and Its Monsters / Modern fundamentalist uses of Satan and hell

• Readings: Beal, Religion and Its Monsters (link)
• Video (during meeting): “Hell House (2002)” documentary (link — NOT the horror film of the same name)

**Essay 1 (academic book review) due before meeting** (NEW DUE DATE – originally in previous week)

*Reading week Feb. 19-25 – no class*

Week 7 (March 1): 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: John’s Apocalypse (Revelation), especially a close reading of chapters 1-3, 12-19 (link); Yarbro Collins, “The Book of Revelation” excerpts (link); Re-read Beal, Religion and Its Monsters, chapter 6 (link)
• Fishbowl discussion: Felipe, Gill-Akeem, Michelle, Jonas, Tressa, Ael

• 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 8): 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 2-3 (link); Quran 2:30-39 (link) and “Angels paying homage to Adam watched by Iblis” (16th century Islamic artistic depiction; link);  Luttikhuizen, “The Demonic Demiurge in Gnostic Mythology” (link)
• Fishbowl discussion:  *Allison, Sergio, Alyssa*

• Media (during meeting): Clip of Azazel with Denzel Washington from “Fallen” (1998) (link)

Week 9 (March 15): 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: Justin Martyr, First Apology, 1-6, 23-27, 54-59 and Second Apology 4–7 (link); Reed, “The Trickery of the Fallen Angels and the Demonic Mimesis of the Divine,” especially pages 141-155, 168-171 (link)
• Fishbowl discussion:

• Media (during meeting): Roba Stanley “Devilish Mary (1924)” (link); Odetta, “Devilish Mary (1957)” (link); lyrics (link)

*March 18: Last date to drop a course without receiving a grade*

Unit 3: Developments in Satan’s Story in the Middle Ages (312-1500)

Week 10 (March 21): 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: Shinners, “Demons and Spirits,” especially pages 211-228 (link); Briggs, “Myths of the Perfect Witch,” especially pages 17-38 (link)

• 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 (analysis of primary sources on medieval notions of demons) due before meeting**

Unit 4: Modern Re-configurations of Personified Evil (ca.1500-present)

Week 11 (Mar 28): 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: Milton, Paradise Lost, book 1, lines 1-283 and lines 587-612; and book 2, lines 1-485 (link); Russell, “High on a Royal Throne of State” and brief discussion of Faust legend (link)
• Fishbowl discussion:

• Media (during meeting):  Rolling Stones, “Sympathy for the Devil (1968)” (link)

Week 12 (April 5): 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)
• Fishbowl discussion:

• Media : “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)

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ASSIGNMENT DESCRIPTIONS

Fishbowl discussion (first 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 discussion based on your own reading of the materials.

Essay 1: Academic Book Review of Beal, Religion and its Monsters (5 pages double-spaced)

Step 1: In order to thoroughly understand what an academic book review is, read at least ten book reviews in the Journal of Biblical Literature (here – book reviews appear at the end of the volume) and/or in Classical Review here.

Step 2: Carefully read the assigned book, making note of the author’s main argument or arguments. Write a review of the book (in the form of an essay), which entails:

• Explaining the main argument (or point) of the book and how the author builds up this argument throughout the chapters (citing relevant page numbers in parentheses).
• Discussing the author’s methods (or approach) and the types of evidence he uses to support his points.
• Providing an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the book. Does the author achieve what she/he sets out to do? Is the argument convincing or not, and in what ways? Where do you agree or disagree with the author’s assessment of the evidence and why? Be sure to provide concrete examples (citing page numbers in parentheses) of the problems or strengths you discuss.
• Addressing how the book relates to our discussions in class.

The review paper should have a clear thesis statement (concerning your overall evaluation of the book) which is supported throughout the paragraphs. The paper should be clearly written and structured with no spelling or grammatical errors. Be succinct and do not exceed the prescribed length. The purpose of this assignment is to provide you with early feedback concerning your analytical, writing and critical skills so that you can work on problematic areas (in writing labs at the university and on your own).

Essay 2: Analysis of primary sources (8 pages double-spaced; audio recording about this assignment description: link)

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.

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?

Note: Develop a clear thesis statement or argument that directly addresses the question. 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. As usual, the paper will be marked in terms of both form (how well it is written, including proper grammar and spelling) and content (how well it addresses the question and analyzes the primary materials).