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Imagining Demons In Post-Byzantine Jerusalem: John Of Damascus And The Consolidation Of Classical Christian Demonology, Nathaniel Ogden Kidd

Dissertations (1934 -)

This dissertation traces the consolidation of a classical Christian framework for demonology in the theological corpus of John of Damascus (c. 675 – c. 750), an eighth century Greek theologian writing in Jerusalem. When the Damascene sat down to write, I argue, there was a great variety of demonological options available to him, both in the depth of the Christian tradition, and in the ambient local imagination. John’s genius lies first in what he chose not to include, but second in his ability to synthesize a minimalistic demonology out of a complex body of material and integrate it into a …