Demons are seldom what you think they are.Bernard J. Bamberger’s Fallen Angels: Soldiers of Satan’s Realm isn’t so much about demons as it is about, well, fallen angels.A classic in the field, it was published in 1952 and has been periodically reissued when interest revives.There are many aspects of this book that deserve development in a place like this blog, but I need to suffice with a few.I won’t take much of your time, I promise.
First and foremost, Bamberger, who was a prominent rabbi, presents the seldom heard Jewish perspective on the topic.The Devil really had more explanatory value for Christians than for Jews, and it is no surprise that he appears rather abruptly in the New Testament.There are, of course, plenty of antecedents for him both in the Hebrew Bible and in Jewish apocrypha and pseudepigrapha, but the idea, and character, grabbed his main hoof-hold in Christianity.This dualism has periodically been a source of embarrassment, but in general it has served the Christian narrative well.We seldom see the Jewish outlook on it.
A second noteworthy feature of this book is its wide survey of these ideas in both what is now termed Second Temple Judaism and that of Late Antiquity.The fallen angels seem to be there in the Good Book, but close reading of the texts suggests other meanings.Judaism has never felt the compulsion that many Christians feel toward having the one, correct outlook.Spend a little time with the Talmud and see how dialogical the search for the truth can be.With no Pope or supreme human authority to declare the rightness of one outlook, the search must remain a process of discussion rather than an ex cathedra pronouncement.
A third, and for now final, observation is the sheer number of characters that pick up the baton of evil in both early Judaism and Christianity.Even Islam.A bewildering number of names for lead fallen angels and other demonically sourced characters populate these pages.Since Judaism tended not to buy the fallen angel narrative, other sources for demons were considered.Few doubted that they existed in the early days, but whence exactly they came was an open question.Bamberger explores the options here and, beyond his book many others also exist.That evil exists in the world seems patently obvious.Religions of all stripes ask what’s to be done about it.Some delve into its origin myths.In the end, however, it is how we choose to respond that matters most.
