Experts suggest that in modern Western Christianity, demons stopped being a “go-to” explanation for illness and misfortune once science arrived
Demons are all over the Bible, but most Christians today barely mention them. Experts suggest that in modern Western Christianity, demons stopped being a “go-to” explanation for illness and misfortune once science arrived.
Historians argue “there are almost no demons in the Old Testament”, but when you reach the New Testament, they appear instantly. In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus confronts an evil spirit and tells it to “be quiet” before performing something akin to an exorcism.
It says: “Come out of him!” The impure spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.”
Scholars say that ancient beliefs evolved, and while in earlier Hebrew texts misfortune was often pinned directly on God, later versions have modern medicine as a reference point.
“In the Old Testament, it is God who gives life and death and punishes people with illness if they sin,” said Magnar Kartveit, professor emeritus at VID Specialised University.
And in the Old Testament, sometimes the Bible even describes God as sending harmful spirits. But these weren’t seen as rogue beings, Science Norway reported.
“These forces were not independent beings with wills of their own, but carried out God’s will,” Justin David Strong, professor at MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society, said.
Things shifted in the “silent years” between the Old and New Testaments, when Jewish communities lived under heavy Greek and Roman influence; the Old Testament was translated into Greek – and the word daimon took on a new edge.
Kartveit further explained: “The word daimon changed meaning. For them, a daimon was an independent supernatural being that afflicted people with illness.”
That’s when blame moved away from God. “The shift in who is responsible for misfortune and suffering becomes especially clear in two places in the Bible,” Kartveit said.
He points to Isaiah, where an ill servant was seen as “punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted”. When the New Testament repeats the idea, God’s role is removed.
Kartveit shared: “In the New Testament, the understanding of illness and evil has undergone a complete transformation. There are now two forces behind life and death, and it is Satan who makes people ill, including through demonic possession.”
Professor Hugo Lundhaug adds the jump isn’t as sudden as it looks because extra texts filled in the gaps. He said: “These texts contain far more demons and reflect people’s belief in supernatural beings.”
Kartveit added: “There are also several cases of what we today would call psychiatric illness. People needed an explanation, and according to their worldview, such conditions were caused either by God or by demons.
“Even then, Jesus’ exorcisms caused controversy.”
Beliefs kept mutating as Christianity spread.
“Existing local stories were then adapted to fit the new Christian narrative,” Lundhaug explained. “Martin Luther, for example, was a devoted Catholic and a monk who almost certainly believed in the existence of demons.”
Lundhaug continued: “Put simply, you could say that God came closer to humanity again. As a result, the intermediate realm of angels and demons shrank, and Satan became the direct opposite of God.”
Then came reason and medicine. “When people can be treated by a doctor or a psychiatrist, there is no longer any need to explain their condition through demons,” Kartveit said.
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