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Understanding the Dark Side
This lecture discusses personifications of evil in the Hebrew Bible and in early Christian belief, showing how Jewish apocalyptic demonology shaped Western thought in this area. It then considers the depiction of the malevolent alien in both popular culture and in UFO religions, showing how both owe much to the history of Christian demonology, despite the origins of much of the latter in theosophical thought, and concludes with a discussion of the reptilian agendas of certain other contemporary belief systems.
- GenresReligion
70 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
36 people want to read
About the author
Christopher Partridge
41 books17 followersDr Christopher Hugh Partridge is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Lancaster, Lancashire, England.
Partridge (born 1961) is an author, editor, professor, and founding Co-director of the Centre for the Study of Religion and Popular Culture. According to Gordon Lynch, Partridge is a leading scholar of topics in popular culture.
Partridge (born 1961) is an author, editor, professor, and founding Co-director of the Centre for the Study of Religion and Popular Culture. According to Gordon Lynch, Partridge is a leading scholar of topics in popular culture.
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June 5, 2010
Cross posted at http://nicodemist.wordpress.com/2010/...
In 2003 Michael Barkun published A Culture of Conspiracy. Barkun has established a career looking at the fringes of American life with its often religious underpinnings. For example, the work for which Barkun is best known, Religion and the Racist Right is an investigation of the racist theology and politics of the Christian Identity movement (which is, in turn, an extreme (per)version of British-Israelism which was popular in some church circles in the middle of the twentieth century). Understanding the Dark Side is similar to Barkun’s work (on whom Partridge often relies) in two respects.
The first area of similarity is the emphasis on the eclecticism of its subject. Where Barkun’s improvisational millenarianism was predominately within the nexus of political and religious apocalypticism the demonology of UFO religions that Partridge presents is more overtly reliant on Judaeo-Christian demonologies and popular culture. Secondly, like Barkun I feel there areas (more on this later) where there was scope for a more overtly multidisciplinary analysis. Although the subtitle promises to be a survey of western demonology, Satanic panics, and alien abduction Partridge’s survey is more a deconstruction of UFO religion and the eclecticism of its sources. The extra-terrestrial religious ideas may have had their origin in theosophical strains of Eastern thought but the religion of groups such as Heaven’s Gate is in fact more rooted in western demonology, specifically the adaptation in popular culture of the idea of the nephilim (Gen 6: 1-4). In the space of a short lecture Partridge has done a good job at delineating the dialectic between theory and popular culture and so, from the perspective of those interested in alternative and fringe religions the author has done a good job in charting the field. However, for those like my self who do not spend much time thinking about the theology of the Raelians a more interesting phenomenon – why as the stranglehold of ‘Christian’ understandings of the world been dissipated have these religions relied on parodies of Christian demonologies. I understand that popular culture is tapping into a latent understanding in invoking such ideas from Christian sources – however, the fact that the UFO religions have followed suit strikes me as a far more interesting question both theologically and sociologically.
In 2003 Michael Barkun published A Culture of Conspiracy. Barkun has established a career looking at the fringes of American life with its often religious underpinnings. For example, the work for which Barkun is best known, Religion and the Racist Right is an investigation of the racist theology and politics of the Christian Identity movement (which is, in turn, an extreme (per)version of British-Israelism which was popular in some church circles in the middle of the twentieth century). Understanding the Dark Side is similar to Barkun’s work (on whom Partridge often relies) in two respects.
The first area of similarity is the emphasis on the eclecticism of its subject. Where Barkun’s improvisational millenarianism was predominately within the nexus of political and religious apocalypticism the demonology of UFO religions that Partridge presents is more overtly reliant on Judaeo-Christian demonologies and popular culture. Secondly, like Barkun I feel there areas (more on this later) where there was scope for a more overtly multidisciplinary analysis. Although the subtitle promises to be a survey of western demonology, Satanic panics, and alien abduction Partridge’s survey is more a deconstruction of UFO religion and the eclecticism of its sources. The extra-terrestrial religious ideas may have had their origin in theosophical strains of Eastern thought but the religion of groups such as Heaven’s Gate is in fact more rooted in western demonology, specifically the adaptation in popular culture of the idea of the nephilim (Gen 6: 1-4). In the space of a short lecture Partridge has done a good job at delineating the dialectic between theory and popular culture and so, from the perspective of those interested in alternative and fringe religions the author has done a good job in charting the field. However, for those like my self who do not spend much time thinking about the theology of the Raelians a more interesting phenomenon – why as the stranglehold of ‘Christian’ understandings of the world been dissipated have these religions relied on parodies of Christian demonologies. I understand that popular culture is tapping into a latent understanding in invoking such ideas from Christian sources – however, the fact that the UFO religions have followed suit strikes me as a far more interesting question both theologically and sociologically.
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