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Seven Heads, Ten Horns: The History of the Devil — History
Seven Heads, Ten Horns: The History of the Devil

A history podcast that explores the origins, development, and continuing influence of the Devil in Western cultures.

Copyright: © All rights reserved.

Latest Episodes:

Episode 9: Ancient Iran and the Devil Nov 30, 2020

Show notes

This week 7H10H addresses the big question on everyone's mind: did Jewish and Christian apocalyptic theologians get their best ideas from ancient Iran when it comes to the Devil and cosmic war?

Shout out and thanks to Ernest J. Mitchell and Prods Oktor Skjaervø for help with sources this week.

Talk to us: 7h10hpod@gmail.com

Check out our sources: https://7h10hpod.blogspot.com/2020/11/works-consulted.html

Episode 8: Children of Light and Darkness Nov 16, 2020

Show notes

On offer this week: a short overview of the demonology of the Dead Sea Scrolls. This week Klaus gets into the history of the community that produced the Dead Sea Scrolls and introduces some of the malevolent entities that dwell in those ancient documents.

Email the pod with questions and comments at 7h10hpod@gmail.com

We're gradually posting the books and articles we use to make the pod. Check out the bibliography here: https://7h10hpod.blogspot.com/2020/11/works-consulted.html

Episode 7: Watch out for the Watchers Nov 09, 2020

Show notes

What happens when angels patrolling the newly-created world get a little too randy and start behaving recklessly?

This episode marks our transition to a more chronological attempt at narrating the history of the Devil. We start with an important set of stories about the origins of demons that takes root around the interpretation and retelling of a rather cryptic moment in the book of Genesis, chapter 6. Taking the Genesis version as our starting point, we move on to discuss Second Temple era pseudepigrapha (= non-canonical works that present themselves as having been recorded by major characters from the Hebrew Bible.) We pay special attention to the books of Enoch & Jubilees and the demonologies that result from these dramatic new renditions of the Watchers Story.

Email us with questions and comments at 7h10hpod@gmail.com

Episode 6: Histories of Demonization Nov 02, 2020

Show notes

This week's episode centers on the demonic as a conceptual and cultural tool for imposing or resisting power structures. Demonization has a complicated history in Christianity: it justifies the suppression of many aspects of pre-Christian Roman civilization, provides a key rationale for early-modern European colonization, but also enables a contemporary Womanist critique of white supremacy. Just in time for the US's electoral rituals of inclusion and exclusion from the national community, we delve into the politics of demonization.

Many thanks to Ernest J. Mitchell for the library-access-assist with Delores S. Williams' article "The Color of Feminism: Or, Speaking the Black Woman's Tongue."

Email us with questions and comments at 7h10hpod@gmail.com

The History of Halloween & the Devil Oct 26, 2020

Show notes

This week on the pod we cover the history of Halloween as it is practiced in the USA and intersects with the history of the Devil.

A really useful source for this week's material is Nicholas Rogers' Halloween : From Pagan Ritual to Party Night.

Email us with questions and comments at 7h10hpod@gmail.com

HALLOWEEN MOVIE SPECIAL Oct 19, 2020

Show notes

This week we take a break from excavating ancient accounts of the Devil from the dustbin / slaughter bench of history to talk about some horror movie classics just in time for Halloween season. The films we discuss are Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)& Hereditary (2018). We spoil the hell out of these movies but it's totally worth it for the trick-or-pod thrill!

Email us with questions and comments at 7h10hpod@gmail.com

Episode 5: Milton's Satan, or, How the Devil became a Snake Oct 11, 2020

Show notes

How did the Devil become a snake? In this episode we find out about an odd fashion choice with enormous consequences.

Full disclosure: this is the first thing we ever recorded when we were figuring out what this pod was going to be about back in May 2020. The mics in our conversation aren't great. Unlike the other episodes we've done so far, this is focused on one text, John Milton's Paradise Lost, a 17th century epic poem about the creation of the world and humanity's fall into sin. The reason we focused on this text was largely out of happenstance but we thought it was worth saving because Milton's version of Satan is so influential for modern understandings of Satan as a rebellious anti-hero and because we had fun!

If you want to follow along with a great online version of the text, look here: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~milton/reading_room/pl/book_1/text.shtml

Email us with questions and comments at 7h10hpod@gmail.com

Episode 4: Dualism and the Devil Oct 05, 2020

Show notes

This week: how should we think about the Devil if the universe is divided between good & evil, light & darkness, truth & falsehood? Is the Devil God's equal in these scenarios? And how does dualism live on in Christian thought?

We examine 3 examples of traditions frequently labeled as dualistic: the late-antique Essene community at Qumran in the West Bank as represented in the Dead Sea Scrolls, Manichaean religion of Persia and Babylon from around the same period, and the Cathar heresy of medieval Europe.

Email us with questions and comments at 7h10hpod@gmail.com

Episode 3: Possession & Exorcism Sep 28, 2020

Show notes

What happens when demons or the Devil invade a human body? And how can they be driven out? This week: a look at possession and exorcism in early Christianity, medieval / early-modern Europe, and, of course, the classic 1973 film, The Exorcist.

Email us with questions and comments at 7h10hpod@gmail.com

Episode 2: Satans, Dragons, and Tyrants Sep 21, 2020

Show notes

This week we take a look at some gruesome characters from the Hebrew Bible who influenced later ideas about the Devil.

Email us with questions and comments at 7h10hpod@gmail.com

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