The Harrowing of Hell: When Demons Chat

Harrowing of Hell

Prose of Merlin opens with Merlin’s genealogy and a piece of early Christian theology. The narrative tells us his father was a demon, born of an unwilling maiden.  Then the author uses renders a narrative describing a portion of a Christian creed, or confession of faith called “The Apostle’s Creed.” The creed is one of the earliest Christian confessions of faith. The author’s intended audience would be familiar with the doctrine of the creed. 

Originally the “Apostle’s Creed” was used for teaching and to preparation for baptism.  The creed briefly outlines basic beliefs that various factions Christians could agree to in the 4^th century.  This particular confession of faith continues to be used by Catholic and assorted Protestant denominations.  One section of the creed addresses Jesus death stating, “He was crucified, dead, and buried.  He descended into hell.” Sometimes it is worded as “He descended to the dead.”  In iconography and other religious art this particular scene is often called the “Harrowing of Hell” or the “Harrowing of Hades.”  This You Tube video from Smarhistory of the Kahn Academy describing an alabaster relief of the "Harrowing of Hell.".

Our anonymous author of The Prose of Merlin does a creative, concise, and nicely unpacked exposition of the Christian doctrine of redemption, salvation, and grace.  We hear a demon lament “we have lost them all!” (The Romance of Arthur).  Using dialog, our author explains what happened between Jesus death and his resurrection.  Lord over all time and space, Christ’s descends to Hell and offers salvation to all who are captive, or who will be captive. The Prose of Merlin’s author has done a quick exposition of doctrine that theologians continue to wrestle with today.

One example theological wrangling happened within the past few years. Former Mars Hill mega church pastor Rob Bell wrote a book titled Love Wins. Coming from an evangelical tradition Bell’s book caused a theological firestorm in evangelical Christian circles—some called him a heretic for not completely rejecting universal salvation. The controversy played out in book reviews, interviews, and magazine articles.  People do not want to see blanket forgiveness and salvation; they want winners and losers.  A demon in The Prose of Merlin tells us that since the “harrowing” things aren't like the good old days.  The demon indicates the idea of free will.  People have redemption “unless they choose to come back to us” (Romance of Arthur).   The Prose of Merlin demon conversation reminded me another piece of fiction that features demons chatting as a literary device.

The book is by novelist and Christian apologist C.S. Lewis.  Lewis wrote a piece of “satirical Christian apologetics” called The Screwtape Letters.  It features a conversation between the senior demon, Screwtape and his nephew the demon Wormwood.  In both The Prose of Merlin and The Screwtape Letters demons are concerned with improving recruitment strategies.  Readers of Lewis often forget that Lewis was an Oxford University don of medieval literature and eventually became the chair of Medieval and Renaissance literature at Cambridge.  I've provided a clip of a dramatic rendition of a short section of The Screwtape Letters. If viewing the video, remember it is a conversation between two demons about their enlistment tactics.

Any Hood College students that are fans of CS Lewis might consider Dr. David Hein’s class “CS Lewis and Friends.”  I took the class as a small seminar that was held before the publication of his book by the same title.  It’s a great class, lots of thought provoking topics, but only offered every two or three years.