The Origin of Evil Spirits

How do we account for the explosion of demonic activity in the New Testament? Archie Wright's work traces the development of the concept of evil spirits from the Hebrew Bible (Genesis 6) through post biblical Jewish literature. The author is concerned with the reception history of Genesis 6:1-4 in early Enochic and Philonic Judaism during the Second Temple Period. He suggests that the non-specificity inherent in the biblical text of Genesis 6:1-4 opened the basis for the later emergence of an aetiology of evil spirits as Jewish authors engaged with the text. As a result, Genesis 6:1-4 played an important part in the development of demonology in Second Temple Period Judaism.