Seven Heads, Ten Horns: The History of the Devil

the trailer

This episode 7H,10H is honored to welcome Louis Römer, ethnographer extraordinaire of the Caribbean and the Netherlands, to discuss Santa's demonic entourage in the Netherlands and Germany, namely Zwarte Piet (Black Pete) and Krampus. We discuss the way these Santa-demons and their re-invented traditions matter for racial politics in Europe, the Caribbean, and Upstate New York. And why, in Italy, Santa is Black.Follow Louis on Twitter: @lromeranthSources:Sacha Hilhorst and Joke Hermes “‘We have given up so much’: Passion and denial in the Dutch Zwarte Piet (Black Pete) controversy”Yannick Coenders and Sébastien Chauvin, “Race and the Pitfalls of Emotional Democracy: Primary Schools and the Critique of Black Pete in the Netherlands”Nicole Römer (Louis’s cousin): “Ik Heb Een Naam” (I have a name) (English language piece on responding to racism in the Netherlands and how Zwarte Piet factors in.)Magdalena Berger, “Warum sich immer mehr junge Männer als Krampusse verkleiden”Eva Reisinger, “Dumme österreichische Bräuche: Warum ich den Krampus hasse”

This episode we discuss a recent article in the religion/media/culture magazine The Revealer by Klaus about police procedural television and its obsession with Catholicism and Catholic priests in particular. What does this have to do with the devil you ask? Nothing! Nothing at all, I tell you... Wait. Perhaps it has something to do with how these shows represent Black nationalists? Don't be ridiculous. Klaus's article: "Cops and Clergy on TV" An episode of @NoChorus' podcast that helped inspired this researchTrevor Strunk's Patreon for Homicide: Life on the Streets content, video games, and so much more.

A quick look at one of the weirdest traditions from Genesis, the Curse of Ham, and how it factored into patristic demonology as well as white supremacist Christianity of the 19th century antebellum South.Thanks to Ernest Mitchell for the Zora Neale Hurston assist. Sources:Stephen B. Haynes, Noah’s Curse: The Biblical Justifications of American Slavery : https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/0195142799.001.0001/acprof-9780195142792David M. Goldenberg, Curse of Ham: Race and Slavery in Early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam: https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691123707/the-curse-of-hamAugustine, City of God Book XVI: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/120116.htmOrigen, Homily XVI, Homilies on Genesis and Exodus: Homilies on Genesis and Exodus. Catholic University of America Press, 1982, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt32b3pv.Pseudo-Clement, Recognitions: http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/03d/0050-0150,_Pseudo_Clemens,_Recognitions_[Schaff],_EN.pdf

This week: Return of the Hippo--Augustine's Revenge!A classic, super-helpful source:Peter Brown, Augustine: A Biography

This episode we look the hippo in the eye and dive into the treacherous, chilly waters of St. Augustine's demonology. Please remember to rate, review, and wait for the signs. Some Augustine Sources:Tractate in John 8: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1701042.htmCity of God Bk XI: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/120111.htmOn the Trinity (De Trinitate Bk XIII)Chronology of Works: https://exploringaugustine.weebly.com/chronological-list.htmlOthers:Neil Forsyth, The Old EnemyJeffery Burton Russel, Satan: The Early Christian TraditionCristina Richie, "THE AUGUSTINIAN PERSPECTIVE ON THE TRANSMISSION OF ORIGINAL SIN AND ASSISTED REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGIES" Religious Studies and Theology; London Vol. 37, Iss. 1,  (2018): 79-91. DOI:10.1558/rsth.31054

We're re-releasing this history of Halloween we recorded last year to keep up with the trick-or-treat vibes.Please remember to leave a review--it really helps. Thanks!A really useful source for this week's material is Nicholas Rogers' Halloween : From Pagan Ritual to Party Night.

To celebrate the witching season we devote our annual Halloween-horror-film episode to the 1970 folk horror classic, The Blood on Satan’s Claw, (dir. Piers Haggard). Watch it here, courtesy of New Castle After Dark, for free.Other things we mentioned:Penda’s Fen (1974) (again, watch it for free.)A great podcast episode from Live at the Death Factory (second half) that covers Penda’ Fenn.Andrew Michael Hurley, Devils and debauchery: why we love to be scared by folk horror

This episode we unleash the takes upon some actually recent pop culture, viz. Netflix's Midnight Mass, and discuss its strengths, weaknesses, and broader relevance for representing the aging, decrepit, and vampiric institutions that feed on our collective life force.Stuff mentioned in the episode:Noroi: The Curse (dir. Kōji Shiraish 2005) can be watched in its creepy entirety on YouTube here.The short story about brain electricity at the moment of death is Tobias Wolf's, “Bullet in the Brain”

Lightning strikes twice in one week. It's a short solo episode from Klaus about Athanasius of Alexandria, how the devil might live in the air, and how Christian theology conceptualizes both the human body of Jesus and the airy bodies of demons as instruments of the Lord.Sources:Athanasius, On the Incarnation of the WordAthanasius, Life of AntonyGay Byron, Symbolic Blackness and Ethnic Difference in Early Christian LiteratureGiorgio Agamben, Opus Dei: An Archaeology of Duty