Demons and ghosts have specific, sometimes ambiguous places in the modern imagination.

Demons tempt people to wickedness, but their incredible power can be harnessed by someone brave or stupid enough to bargain with them.

Ghosts envy the living and can haunt and harm you, but can also be the comforting presence of a long dead loved one.

What role, though, did demons and ghosts take in early Christianity,

and are those roles linked at all to our modern understandings of them?

When you get right down to it, just who is Satan?

And is God's adversary really a fallen angel?

Dr. Travis Proctor joins me today to talk about all of this and so much more.

Welcome to misquoting Jesus with Bart Ehrman. The only show where a six-time New York Times

bestselling author and world-renowned Bible scholar uncovers the many fascinating, little-known facts about the

New Testament, the historical Jesus, and the rise of Christianity. I'm your host, Megan Lewis. Let's

begin. Hello everybody and welcome back to the misquoting Jesus podcast. Today I am joined by Dr. Travis Proctor,

Associate Professor of Religion at Wittenberg University. Dr. Proctor received his MA and PhD

from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and specializes in the religions of the

ancient Mediterranean with a focus on histories of Christian cultures in the ancient world. His research

draws on perspectives from cultural studies, gender studies, and the environmental humanities

to demonstrate how the histories of religious cultures have continuing significance for societies today.

His work has appeared in academic journals such as the Journal of Early Christian Studies, Harvard Theological Review, Studies in Late Antiquity, and the Journal of Ecclesiastical History.

His recently published book, Demonic Bodies and the Dark Ecologies of Early Christian Culture, explores how early Christian theorizations of demonic bodies influence ancient understandings of cosmic ecosystems

and how such historical perspectives may inform contemporary environmental ethics.

Dr. Proctor, thank you so much for joining me today.

Yeah, Megan, thanks so much for having me. I'm really looking forward to our conversation.

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