Demonic Bodies and the Dark Ecologies of Early Christian Culture

Travis Proctor's exciting and innovative book shows how early Christians diversely constructed the bodies of demons as a means of defining and limiting their own bodies and the bodies of their worshiping communities. It not only contributes significantly to New Testament and early Christian studies, but it also advances cutting-edge conversations in the humanities concerning religion and posthumanism. * David Brakke, Joe R. Engle Chair in the History of Christianity and Professor of History, The Ohio State University * This theoretically informed treatment of demonic bodies draws our attention to the often-overlooked cosmic ecology in which early Christians were enmeshed. Proctor fleshes out the non-human actors who populated the Christian universe and offers an ecological reading that brims with relevance for our modern environmental thinking. * Candida Moss, Edward Cadbury Professor of Theology, University of Birmingham * Travis Proctor's Demonic Bodies is a fascinating and original work, one that will be of interest to many scholars of early Christian ideas on demons and the body. Its sophisticated analysis of numerous early Christian texts using the lens of disability, ecological, and post-humanist studies makes an important contribution to the field. His overarching argument that regardless of whether ancient thinkers argued for the incorporeality/immateriality of demons or for their embodiment, the development of their arguments were inseparable from their development of early Christian anthropologies is a compelling one. * Heidi Marx, Professor, University of Manitoba *