Demons. Spirituality – Manifestation – Materiality
Lecture series at the Cluster of Excellence "Religion and Politics" in the winter term 2024/25
The lecture series is dedicated to the subject of ‘demons’, elusive entities that have haunted people since antiquity and are still present even in the discourse of the modern period. In ancient Greece, the broad term ‘daimon’ could be used as a synonym for ‘theos’ (God), but more often referred to divine power in general. In ancient thought, demons were mediators between God and human beings; they represented, as it were, the bond between the sensual and the supernatural world. In Christian philosophy, demons serve as anchor points for discussions about the origin of evil and its status in the world.
Demons were a reality for people in the early modern period. In principle, it was conceivable for every person to come into contact with demons. After the belief in demons declined in the course of the ‘scientific revolution’, there emerged more abstract concepts of the demonic, as well as the idea of the demonic human. Though often understood metaphorically in modern times, demons have lost none of their power of fascination in art and literature.
In discussing theories and concepts of the demonic and focusing on the changing nature of demonic beings through history, scholars from literary studies, history and art history will shed light on the subject of ‘demons’. Taking an interdisciplinary perspective, the lectures will show how people from the Middle Ages to the present day have dealt in their respective cultural media with the idea that a latently threatening ‘other’ exists that is neither human nor divine. This will be explored in stories of relationships that people enter into with devils, demons, fairies and witches, in the dramaturgical staging of the demonic in the theatre, and in examples of late medieval architecture. A common point of departure is the question of how historical conceptions of the nature of the human being are reflected in the respective notions of the demonic.