Date of Award
Fall 2022
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Religious Studies
First Advisor
Eire, Carlos
Abstract
This dissertation reconstructs patristic narratives of the angelic fall while historically contextualizing these literary projects and evaluating their theological ramifications. The project shows that patristic authors rehearsed diverse versions of events for the fall of the angels in response to exigencies of their own unique historical settings. Adapting Jewish narratives, some authors (e.g. Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian) recounted that the primal sin of the angels was “lust” prompted by a desire for human women. Others (e.g. Irenaeus and Tertullian) focused on the specific character of the Devil by relating that Satan’s fall occurred when he tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden out of malice toward humanity. At the heart of the dissertation stands the thought of Augustine of Hippo. Augustine explicitly rejected these prior accounts, instead reusing concepts originating with Origen and learned though Ambrose, to argue that the fall of the angels resulted from “pride” when the devil desired to exalt himself above God near the beginning of time. Augustine’s version of events became normative in Latin Christianity, so that it was his version of events (or rather, his “versions” of events, because Augustine’s corpus contains multiple, sometimes conflicting, accounts) which became common in the medieval West.
Recommended Citation
West, Christopher T.M., "The Fall of the Angels in Western Patristic Thought" (2022). Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations. 776.
https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/gsas_dissertations/776