Through out history the Catholic Church has played a major role in the development and history of demonology. It’s more than a belief system; it’s a field of work and study too. Now as far as trying to give it an official start date, the closest date that could be used would be around 590 A.D. It was in the mid to late 600’s A.D. that the church began to actually assign demons their ranks and names. It is important to remember that when the church first began to develop and expand this field that many of the church leaders had varying ideas and beliefs about demons.

The one thing that they all could agree on however was that Satan was indeed a fallen angel. It was from there that they continued to assign other demons their names and ranks. Many of these names were gathered from Biblical text as well as other ancient scriptures. It is important to note however that the other ancient scriptures that they received information from were actually from books which were omitted from the Bible itself. It is important to remember this because over half of the known names of demons originated from these scriptures and not the Bible. Unfortunately a lot of individuals believe that those names represent real demons but they do not.

From 600 to 1200 A.D. many Popes, Archbishops, and bishops contributed their own knowledge and experiences to the field. Through out the centuries many people have taken an interest in Demonology but it slowly became better known as a subject of interest than a religious one. Demonology originated from the church and is actually a religious position. The only reason why more churches do not have the position of a Religious Demonologist like they would ministers, deacons, etc. is because most churches simply do not have the time or knowledge to train Christians.

Interest in the subject of Demonology is also why there are so many self proclaimed Demonologist everywhere. It is that type of people that hurt this field so very much. They do not have the proper training, information, or knowledge to do this work so they become a real danger to themselves and anyone they may “try” to help. Most of the books written about demons are not even accurate. Trust me when I say that the local library is not the place to go to get a book about demons or learn about them. To really learn about demons you need to go through a Bible college or the seminary to get the proper information. Most of the books that you read about demons are based on pagan myths and century’s old folk tales.

It wasn’t until the 1970’s when Demonology was really put on the map with the now famous Amityville case headed up by Religious Demonologist Ed Warren and his wife Lorraine Warren. Contrary to what some people want to claim or believe, this was a very real demonic haunt, only 12 or so people ever went into that house for the investigation with the Warrens, and no money was ever made by anyone involved in this case except for Hollywood when they made the movies.