A University of Worcester historian will be focusing on the history of the relationship between the Devil and sex in a free public talk on Halloween night.
Professor of Early Modern History, Darren Oldridge, will be speaking on the topic, ‘Sex and the Devil’, at The Hive on Thursday, October 31, at 7pm.
“Halloween is a good time to think about evil spirits”, said Professor Oldridge. “This year I want to reflect on their relationship with human sexual desire. The Devil has long been associated with dangerous sexual passions, and in this talk I’ll explore the history of this complicated relationship. I’ll show how the prince of darkness has been imagined as ‘the spirit of lust’ – yet at the same time the punisher of sexual transgressions.”
Professor Oldridge says his talk, which focuses primarily on 16th and 17th century history, will range from the imagined torments of fornicators in hell to the supposed excesses of the witches’ ‘Sabbath’, in which witches – alleged to be the Devil’s servants – were believed to indulge in shocking sexual acts. He will also consider the relationship between these imaginary transgressions and modern-day attitudes towards sex.
“While I’ll be talking about old ideas, some of them may strike chords today,” he said. “In the age of witch trials, many people imagined the Devil as a powerful force in the mind that lured people to dangerous excesses. We may not believe in the Devil in the same way, but we sometimes see sexual impulses in a similar fashion. Intense desire can feel a bit like demonic possession.”
“The demonologists of the past saw sexual passion as an unruly and perilous force. At the same time, their readers may well have been titillated, secretly, by lurid tales of the abandoned behaviour of witches. Are we very different?”
Professor Oldridge is a specialist in 16th and 17th-century religious history, with interests including demonology, the supernatural, and religion in the English Civil Wars. He has published extensively on these topics, including several books.
Places for the talk must be booked. The talk will include some graphic material that makes it unsuitable for children.
Book your place by visiting the ‘Talks and Lectures’ section of The Hive’s what’s on webpage: https://www.thehiveworcester.org/whats-on.html