Jesus
© WikimediaJesus exorcising a boy possessed by a demon. From Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, 15th century
At a recent Hillary Clinton campaign rally on Tuesday, October 11, President Obama took the opportunity to address some grave accusations waged against both himself and Hillary Clinton as of late, namely that they are demons. In reaction to a comment by radio host Alex Jones, who said the president smelled of sulfur, Obama playfully took a sniff of his own shirt sleeve and declared that he did not, in fact, agree with that assertion.

The accusation of demon possession has a long history within early Christian literature and liturgy - even if demon possession seems only the stuff of horror movies today.

For hundreds of years, demons were seen by early Christians as one of the main causes of disease. Consequently, demon possession and one of its cures, exorcism, were accepted parts of healing in the later Roman empire into the middle ages. A number of early Christian authors point to demons as the spreaders of sickness. In the third century, the writer Tertullian's Apology (22) even notes that such demons inflict "sickness and other grievous calamities upon our bodies." He also alleged that demons specifically taught women to use magical herbs. As Nicole Kelley, a professor of Religion at Florida State University has argued, demons were one way for early Christians to explain epilepsy and other sicknesses. Demonic thoughts could also creep in and cause havoc. The monk Evagrius Ponticus (345-399 CE) proposed eight cardinal demonic thoughts: gluttony, lust, greed, anger, sadness, acedia (sloth), vainglory, and pride. These eight would later be reworked as the seven deadly sins, as further developed by thinkers such as a monk named John Cassian and then Pope Gregory the Great.

Once you had been taken over by a demon (in Greek, δαιμονίζομαι), you needed to be cleansed of this spirit. The term 'exorcism' comes from the Greek word 'ἐξορκισμός,' which means the administration of an oath. Exorcising spirits had been a part of Near Eastern religious traditions and in post-biblical Judaism; however, it gained popularity in early Christianity due in part to reports in the Synoptic Gospels and Acts that Jesus had performed exorcisms with the help of verbal commands (cf. Mk. 1:23-28). Jesus gave the power to cast out demons to his disciples and apostles, 72 in number, and Luke (10:17) states: "The seventy-tworeturned with joy and said, 'Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.'" The Apostle Paul drove out some unclean spirits, and the idea of exorcism was further developed by a Christian apologist named Justin Martyr in the 2nd c. CE. Exorcists eventually became a minor clerical order in the early church in the 3rd century.

Saint Augustine
© Image is via the British Library and is in the Public DomainMiniature of Saint Augustine before a group of demons [15th c., Bruges]
Stories of demon possession in the middle ages often had a focus on women. This may stem from the perceived weakness of women and their susceptibility to temptation (a big thanks from all of us for this one, Eve). In the 13th century, the number of accusations of demonic possessions increased (possessed people were called "demoniacs") and it was often saintly men that came to the rescue to cleanse them. Possessed individuals often had special powers: prophecy, the ability to speak in foreign or unknown tongues, and physical mutations - however both demon possession and exorcism were still not highly common. A number of tests were developed to see if someone was possessed, with the throwing of holy water a common go-to.

That brings us to the notorious smell of sulfur, from the Latin word sulfurium. Why in the world is it associated with demons? Well, mostly because it is associated with the noxious smell of hell. In the book of Revelation (9:17) it states: "The heads of the horses resembled the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke and sulfur." Quite literally fire and brimstone. Because demons are associated with the devil and maleficent acts, the smell of hell is a particularly pungent way to recognize their presence, and means to otherize the possessed from the non-possessed.

Butter churning
© WikimediaButter churning while demons plague you is hard work for any woman, y’all. (13th century Tuse Church in Denmark.
There is a consistent historical tie between weak women and demons. This is particularly where radio host Alex Jones' comments that Hillary is "an abject psychopathic demon from hell" strike a cord of historical misogyny. It also plays on earlier accusations by Donald Trump that Hillary Clinton is physically weak and without the stamina to be president. As JR Thorpe points out over at Bustle, demonic possession was an allegation thrown by American men at British suffragettes in 1913 and 1914 (at this time, women were also blamed for the destruction at Pompeii in 79 CE). The mud slung at both British and American suffragettes often made these women out to be inhuman and unfeminine, whereas men were the angels taking care of the home while suffragettes were away.

The history of demon possession demonstrates that Jones' accusation is nothing new. The idea has indeed been a part of Christianity since very early on, as has the tendency for women and the weak to be cast as the most susceptible to such demons. Like many before him, the radio host used the rhetoric of demon possession as a way to cast his Democratic foes as untrustworthy, un-Christian and - above all - unlike the American people in every way possible - even their smell.