These are the kinds of questions that concern me. In what follows, I wish to explore some different ways of demythologizing demon-talk. It may be that these are all valid uses of talk about demons. Certainly, they are all species of the same genus—viz. demon-talk as a form of metaphorical speech. In that sense, these are all reinterpretations of the biblical narrative that differ from the tradition.
1. Demons as the reification of humanity’s disordered being (i.e., sinfulness). Sin is the perversion or distortion of humanity, particularly the distortion of human relationality. Luther captured this well when he spoke of humanity being incurvatus in se—curved in upon itself. Demons are the reification of this being-curved-in-upon-oneself. We see an example of this in Matt. 9:32-33 (cf. Luke 11:14):
While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus. And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute spoke.The demon prevents this man from speaking—i.e., from communicating with others. Being incapable of dialogue is a distortion of human relationality, and hence a mark of creation’s bondage to sin. Jesus interrupts this bondage by bringing liberation to this man. The act of exorcism is thus the act of restoring this man to a world of right relations.
2. Demons as the personification of human illness. Most of the passages about demons in the NT are ancient attempts to deal with illnesses that were outside of their experience or knowledge. Mark 7:25 speaks of an “unclean spirit” in a little girl, and when Jesus heals her, the mother finds her “lying on the bed,” healed. There is no indication that the girl displayed the “classic” examples of demon-possession. Rather, she was, by all indications, sick. In a Jewish world, such sickness would be seen as being “unclean,” hence the unclean spirit. A more obvious example is found in Luke 9. There a man calls out to Jesus and says, “A spirit seizes [my son] and he suddenly screams; it throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It scarcely ever leaves him and is destroying him.” This is a common description of demon possession in the NT, and most likely a description of what we would identify today as epilepsy (one symptom of an epileptic seizure is that the person may cry out or make noise in addition to having convulsions). The most famous example of a reified illness in Scripture is the demon-possessed man in Mark 5:1-20 (cf. Luke 8:26-39). Another perfect example of epilepsy is found in Mark 9:17-18: “Whenever [the demon] seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid.”
None of this should surprise us in the least. Throughout history people have ascribed to some supernatural force things that could not be explained based on the knowledge currently available to them. But there is something especially apt about the NT use of demons, because human illnesses are not just medical problems; rather, they represent a broader cosmic Fall, a distortion of creation as a result of sin. The ancient Greek theologians knew this well, and thus they spoke of Christ’s resurrection as a cosmic act of redemption, in which the cosmos is eschatologically restored to its proper wholeness. When we encounter epilepsy, we should be reminded that all is not yet right with the world. Christ came to restore creation from its bondage, and it is perfectly for the Bible to speak of demons as the reification of this bondage.
3. Demons as the reification of systemic evil. One of the insights gained in modern biblical and theological research is that sin is not only personal but systemic. In other words, sin is not only a personal act but also an institutional reality, perpetuated by structures of sin which hold people in bondage against their will. We see this indirectly throughout the NT: in Jesus’ condemnations of the religious leaders (who perpetuate a system of religious fear), in the early church’s opposition to the Roman government (which perpetuates systems of violence and wealth), in Paul’s criticism of the Corinthians (who perpetuate systems of class division and cultural immorality), in the Johannine condemnation of the Roman empire in the Apocalypse (which is the embodiment of all systemic evil, i.e., Babylon).
Demons are a reification and personification of these sinful human structures. In Mark 1:21-28, Jesus encounters a demon-possessed man after teaching in the synagogue for the first time: “Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an unclean spirit cried out.” The demon represents a direct challenge to Jesus’ authority, and in that sense the demon is a personification of the established religious system. In virtually every case, those possessed by demons are (ironically) part of the dispossessed class in Roman society; they are among the poor and the socially excluded. Demon possession is something that marks their exclusion from society. In that case, possession—like the man born blind (John 9:2)—has nothing to do with individual sin but with a corrupt social system.
4. Demons as the literary foil for Jesus’ self-disclosure. Unlike the previous attempts at demythologization, this fourth possibility looks for literary, rather than strictly metaphorical or symbolical, significance. The role of literary foil is common throughout the Bible, and in the NT, demons serve as the foil for Jesus’ own mission of proclamation. For example, in Mark 1, the possessed man declares: “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” This role is particularly emphasized in Mark’s gospel, which presents Jesus as the bearer of a messianic secret that he intends to keep hidden throughout his ministry. The demons are the literary antagonist to Jesus as the mysterious protagonist.
Questions for discussion:
What do you think is the proper role for demon-talk today?
Is there a need for demythologization? Or is such a notion illegitimate?
How do you see demons functioning in the New Testament?
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