The Dark Side of the Preternatural World. A Suggestion to the Theological Approach of the Religious Experience

There is today an optimistic approach, on a widespread scale, to every issue of life, which in appearance seems good and commendable. This is a result of a general secular mindset that reinterprets love and empathy unsuccessfully, and that is the case even when dealing with the religious experience. But the Apostle Paul challenged the first century’s Greek and Roman polytheism in a way that should challenge our twenty-first century’s approach to religious experience. For him, the demons were real, and they were powerful and fearful. Augustine of Hippo, in De civitate Dei contra paganos, was thinking alike, and this was the general view during the most part of history. This paper aimed to reclaim into the taxonomy of the religious experience the place rightly owned by the actors of the dark side.