“As If by Love Possessed”

Abstract

Abstract In the Acts of Thomas the portrayal of the demons encountered by the apostle Thomas on his missionary travels through India is quite unusual among those preserved in apocryphal acts of the early centuries. The text seems to have a particular interest in the personality of these demons and in their ambiguous interactions with humanity. Special attention is given to the portrayal of demons in both the Greek and Syriac versions of the text, and to the significance of how the Acts of Thomas attests to a trajectory of transformation in early Christian demonology from Jewish concepts of the Second Temple period to Late Antique systematizations.