The highest of the self-chosen titles ring with deliverance. Jesus calls Himself the Good Shep- herd, who will even give His life for the sheep (Jn 10") ; He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (14"'), leading from earth and time to heaven and eter- nity ; He is the Light of the World (8'-), to bring all wanderers safely from darkness and danger to light and safety. The Christian Church has always read in His titles, His words, and His actions this moral and spiritual significance. ClirLst has been, and is, the Saviour of men from sin and evil rather than from pain and suffering. See FoEGiVEXESS. E. D.^plyn.
A TAN. c --M1I0N, DEMONIACAL POSSESSION, DEMO-
NIACS.-1. The denionology of tlie Gospels is based upon beliefs which were oirrent among the Jews preWous to the time of Christ ; these beliefs arose gradually, and were ultimately stereotyped in tlic Talmud. For the proper understanding of Gospel demonology some insight into these Jewish beliefs is indispensable. But the demonology of the Jews •was profoundly influenced and coloured, at differ- ent times, by Babylonian, Egyptian, Persian, and Greek teaching on the subject, while the beliefs of these highly cultured peojjles were developments of
the nmch earlier conceptions of man in a very nmch lower stage of civilization, — conceptions which are practically universally prevalent among savage races at the present day. To deal with the subject, therefore, in all its bearings would be impossible liere ; it must sutfice to give references to a few of the many works which deal with the different branches' of tliis vast subject. Details of Jewish demonology must, however, be given, for it will be seen that they are necessary for a proper under- standing of Gospel demonology ; added to these will be found some few references to the earlier beliefs upon which they are based. For the beliefs of primitive man—
Maurj-, La Magie et I'Asirolo'jie dans I'antiqttite et ow moyen- dge, Paris, 1857 ; Frazer, The Gohlcii Viiugh 'J, ch. iii. passhn. LoiidOD, 1900 ; Lant^, The Making vj Jieligion-, ch. viL, London, 1900; Tyler, Fruuiliit- Culiurf, ch. xiv. etc., but the whole work should be studied. Cf. Rtville's Hist, of Religions, chs. iii.-W., London, 1564.^ For Assyro-Babylonian beliefs- Budge, Assyrian Incantations to Fire and Water, London, 1S83 ; Hommel, Gesch. Bab. uyui Ass. pp. 237-269, 388 ff., Berlin, 1885 ; Jastrow, Die Rel. Bab. u)id Ass. ch. xvi., Giessen, 1902 ff. [this is enlar^'ed from the Eiilt. tr.] ; k. 3GX&xaas, Das AT im
Lick
: des
King, Babi; Religiu
IL. London, 1S99 ; Lenormont, ,^ origines accadiennes, Paris, i5(i); Hayce, // , London, 18S7;Stiibe, »/«dwcA-
babylonische Aanotriexur, iiaiie, 1&95. Many indirect points of importance will be found in Balls Light from the £os(, London, 1899 ; Morgenstern, ' Doctr. of Sin in the Bab. Rel." in MittheiL der vorderasiat, Gesettsch. iii., 1905; Weber, * Damonenbesch- worung bei den Bab. und Assyr.' in Der Alte Orient, vii. 4, Leipzig, 1906. Forcgyptian beliefs- Budge, Egiiptian ilagic, ch. vii., London, 1899; Ed. Meyer, Gesch. des alteii Aegyptens, ch. iii., Berlin, 1887 ; Wiedemann,
* Magie und Zauberei ira alten Aegypten," in Der alte Orient, vi. 4, Leipzig, 1905, cf. also, by same author, and in same series, iii. 4, • Die Unterhaltungslit. der alten Aegypter."
For Persian beliefs—
Darmesteter, The Zf m(..l ifsta (Part i. 'The Vendidid'), Far- gard xix., xxi. ; Geiger, Ostiranische Kiiltur im Alterlhnm, 5 38, Erlangen, 1SS2; Haug, A\s><(,/^ t^/t th>: . barred Langua'te, Writings and ReWJionof the farsiy- (ti. by E. H. Wtst), London, 1SS4; Spiegel, Eranische Attrrt/n' n'.^\-ini<i, , \oi, ii., Leij-zii;, 1S71-1S78; Stave, Ueberden Eiiijliisi d.s /■a.^"nn,.a'i/dasJtidenthum, Haarlem, 1898 [sec especially thi' thint division, §54, 6. A most helpful book on this particular branch of the subject J ; Windisch- mann, Zoroastrische Studien, pp. 138-148, Berlin, 1863.
For Greek beliefs—
Gruppe, Die Griechischen Cidte und Jlgthen . . ., i. pp. 184- 196, Leipzig, 1887; Maury, Bist. des Religions de la Grice antifiue, i. pp. 665-5S1, ii. pp. 91-93, ill. pp. 419-443, Paris, 1S57; Preller, Griechische Mythologies under 'Daemonen,* Berlin, 18^7; Roscher, Lexikon der Gr. und Rom. ilythologic, art.
* Daimon ' [where full literature on the subject Is givenl.Leipzig, 1SS4, etc. See also Lobeck, A'd::aphaniiis, pp. 695, 696, 1092, Berlin, 1829.
For a resume of Babylonian, Egyptian, Persian, and Greek influence on Jewish demonology, see the remarkably able series of articles by K. C. Conybcare in JQR viii. ix. (1896, 1897). See also Encyc. Bibl. art. ' Demons,' §§ 7, 11.
2. The Old Testa.ment.— The demonology of the OT is probably somewhat more complex than is sometimes assumed.t The analogy of other races ■v:o\x\d prima facie support the inference that the Israelites also had their beliefs in demons (see Literature below). Much weight cannot be laid on the (not frequent) occurrence of da.l)j.uv and 5ai- /lAwoc in the LXX, as they stand for varying words in the original ; but there are a number of Hebrew expressions which must be connected with demons, at all events as far as the popular imagination Avas concerned ; these are : n^jT nn ' e\Tl spirit, Jg 9^, 1 S 16'*; C'viy nn 'spirit of perver.seness,' Is ig'-"; cn» ' demons',' Dt 32", Ps 106" ; Dl'y?- ' satyrs,' Lv 17', Is 13=' 34'*; aajj 'destruction,' conceived of as due to demoniac power, see the whole verse, Ps 91''; "iT^K; 'female blood-sucker,' Pr 30"; n-S-S ' night-hag,' Is 34'»- '■* ; hm]s.,, Lv 1&«- ' Azazel,' a desert spirit. This last instance clearly shows