Seven Heads, Ten Horns: The History of the Devil

Oct 28 2024 80 ep. 56 mins 75
Seven Heads, Ten Horns: The History of the Devil Podcast artwork

A history podcast that explores the origins, development, and continuing influence of the Devil in Western cultures. 

  History  Religion & Spirituality  Arts  TV & Film
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Halloween Special '24: Of Books and Basements

Oct 28 2024 73 mins  
"The only true mystery is that our very lives are governed by dead people." Kazanian, InfernoGreetings from the Beyond. We are back for Halloween, having watched the following in preparation:-Tombs of the Blind Dead (1972)-The Evil (1978)-The Beyond (1981)-City of the Living Dead (1980)-Rosemary's Baby (1968)-Inferno (1980)The Guardian on the Pelicot trial

It's Been A Minute Crossover Episode

Oct 12 2024 5 mins  
Back from the dead to share that we were interviewed on NPR's It's Been A Minute about the devil in cinema.We are also gearing up for a Halloween episode and are assigning the following films as homework (you can find most of these online one way or another...)-Tombs of the Blind Dead (1972)-The Evil (1978)-The Beyond (1981)-City of the Living Dead (1980)-Rosemary's Bab

S 4.8 Hildegard of Bingen with Dr. Beverly Mayne Kienzle

Feb 28 2024 70 mins  
This week we interview Dr. Beverly Mayne Kienzle about the visionary preacher and medieval abbess, Hildegard of Bingen. Join us to learn more about the tone-deaf devil from the 12th century as we explore the sermons, art, and visions of Hildegard.

S 4.7 Adieu, Adrian: Mann's Doktor Faustus, pt. 2

Nov 24 2023 69 mins  
What is the secularized, capitalistic, art-world equivalent to being torn limb-from-limb by the devil? Find out in our concluding episode on Thomas Mann’s Doktor Faustus. -English translation of Mann’s Doktor Faustus-Danny Riley, “Interpreting Joy: A Guide to Interpreting Beethoven’s Ninth”

S 4.6 Catholic Horror with Matthew J. Cressler

Oct 22 2023 110 mins  
In observance of the spooky season we're posting our conversation with historian Matthew J. Cressler on the relationship between Catholicism and horror cinema. We explore the sub-genre of Catholic Horror through our analysis of two recent films centering on the Italian exorcist Father Gabriele Amorth (1925-2016): William Friedkin’s (!) documentary The Devil and Father Amorth

S 4.5 ‘Doktor Faustus, I presume?’ Thomas Mann pt. 1

Oct 11 2023 87 mins  
This episode: we can’t leave well enough alone — another literary elaboration of the Faust legend by a member of the Mann family, Thomas Mann’s Doktor Faustus (1947.) We discuss: why learning is actually interesting to young people, the problems with studying theology and the humanities, why the devil owns music, whether committing yourself to creative excellence always means

S 4.4 Klaus Mann's Mephisto

Sep 02 2023 66 mins  
Three Klauses walk into a bar…This episode centers on literary wunderkind/prodigal son Klaus Mann’s attack on Nazi Germany (and an ex-lover, and possibly his dad, the canonical novelist Thomas Mann), in the form of the 1936 novel Mephisto. We discuss the film adaptation, what it means to compare demons to the Nazis, the book’s relationship to Goethe’s Faust, and the politic

S 4.3 Beyond Black

Aug 16 2023 69 mins  
Hilary Mantel's 2005 novel Beyond Black is the topic of discussion for this episode, continuing our series on devil-themed novels. This one's about psychics and their demons in neo-liberal Britain on the eve of Brexit.-An interview Mantel did on this novel for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.-The Guardian's obituary for Mantel from September 2022.-Etymology of 

S 4.2 The Devil Rides Out!

Jul 28 2023 70 mins  
Summer is for trashy beach novels and Dennis Wheatley's 1934 The Devil Rides Out definitely qualifies. We discuss problematic genre fiction, fake rituals, the rhetorical trap of being asked "do you believe in evil?" and racial demonology of the late British empire.Some useful scholarship: Timothy Jones, "The Black Mass as Play: Dennis Wheatley's The Devil Rides

S 4.1 This Present Snarkiness

Jun 11 2023 67 mins  
The boys are back to discuss Frank E. Peretti's 1986 Christian supernatural thriller This Present Darkness.