The Theology of Lycanthropy:

“Even a man who is pure of heart,
And says his prayers at night;
Can become a wolf,
When the wolf-bane blooms,
And the full moon shines out its light”
(The Wolf-Man-Universal Studios)

Far too many moderns lack a sense of history; and not knowing where they came from, inevitably are confused about where they are going,- both individually, and culturally. For example, it was little more than two decades ago that the wolf in American culture underwent a massive PR campaign, giving him a new image. You can revel in his adventures in films and documentaries, use his image to advertise various products and even purchase his face for t-shirts. And all the time you can bewail this noble beast’s persecution at the hand of evil men. Pardon me, if I have another opinion.

Canus Lupus is a pack animal that in earlier days, especially in Europe, was a real life monster, reliably reputed to have decimated whole villages (and for the record, I am using the word “decimate” correctly here as “killing one in ten” and not in its more popular and erroneous usage meaning “totally devastate”). As late as the last few decades of the twentieth century, packs of wolves were documented attacking armed guards at border crossings in Eastern Europe, being driven off only by hand-grenades and automatic weapons fire.

In the Middle Ages, when much of Europe was still forested, large roaming packs of wolves seemed to be more than just an unstoppable force of nature, devastating whole herds of domestic animals and eating more than their fair share of the local peasantry. There is a reason why those of us from European stock have vivid cultural memories of wolves as evil, cunning predators battling for first place on the food chain. Little Red Riding Hood may be a fairy tale to us; but to our ancestors, grannies and little girls being eaten by wolves was an all too common occurrence.

Granted, American wolves, though genetically identical to their European cousins, seemed to have avoided the “old country” customs, but still suffer from their bad reputation. Supposedly, there are NO verified reports of attacks on people from wolves; but one never knows how to evaluate these kinds of statistics since Native Americans were not known for keeping detailed diaries of which animal posed the greatest threat to their safety. And it is always good to remember that the ancestors of Native Americans, armed with primitive bows and spears, pretty much introduced the word “extinction” to dire wolves, wooly mammoths, cave bears, saber-toothed “tigers” and other much larger and more fearsome predators (though of course our evolutionary friends might dispute this). It could be that wolves in America were just a little bit smarter than their European kin and learned to avoid man, while he was busy exterminating the more dangerous types of animals

By the time Europeans arrived in North American in force, they brought with them gunpowder technology- and everyone can agree that wolves are smart enough to realize when they are out-gunned. Unlike Europeans, Americans have always been a well-armed people and wolves would have been seen as a threat to be dealt with immediately. It is possible that Americans never suffered the depredations the Europeans did because we could shoot further and faster; so the lessons that wolves began to learn from the Indians, was given its final, graduate degree by European settlers. American wolves might have discovered fairly quickly that we took a dim view of them eating our grandmothers, or little girls, no matter how bad the eye-sight or how gullible the females of our species might have been.

Of course that didn’t keep wolves from preying on our life-stock as often as they could. But traps, poison and a bounty on their pelts kept their numbers down so that they never had the opportunity to develop a taste for human flesh. However, now that we have foundations, federal grants, and tree-huggers reintroducing them into the wild, we just might find that the latest generation has forgotten the lessons of their great-great-grand-parents. Coyotes and cougars are already well known for eating family pets and even attacking little children and the occasional country jogger. Who knows, maybe the combination of the modern wolf and unarmed citizens might teach a whole new kind of lesson?

Regardless of the status of North American wolves in modern culture, in Europe he WAS the most feared predator for well over a thousand years. Thanks to the climate and Roman circuses, all the other large predators had been become virtually extinct by the fourth century, leaving an ecological niche for wolves to fill as chief predator. Because they are intelligent creatures; just below apes but apparently above dolphins, and because they hunted in packs; they proved to be deadly opponents before the age of gun powder (and to be honest, European urbanization helped since it destroyed their habitat).

Somewhere during the time period after the fall of the Empire and the rise of the modern state, the were-wolf legend became a staple of European mythology. There have always been stories of humans being raised by wolves; the best known probably is the myth of Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, who were raised by a she-wolf. Of course most of us know the legend of Mowgli from India that eventually became the basis for Kipling’s “Jungle Book” stories. In this period, the close relationship with wolves did not make them the fearsome creatures that they would later assume in Western mythology.

However, lycanthropy, the idea that certain men can turn into animals that prey on humans, is another one of those universal myths (like ghosts, vampires, etc.). The only difference is the form of animal that the humans transform into; it appears to depend upon whatever is the dominant predator in the area. In South America, it was the were-jaguar; in Africa it was the were-lion, India had its were-tigers and Europe had its were-wolves. (By the way, the term “were,” is a corruption of the Latin word “vir” or “man.” For example, we use the same root for our English word “virile” which means “manly.” In classic Latin pronunciation, the “v” sound is a “w” thus “vir” becomes “wir” or “were.” Thus a “were-wolf” is literally a “man-wolf” which doesn’t sound half as neat as “Wolf-man”).

Those “legends” are still widely believed and taught by shamans in Africa, South America and India who insist that some people have the ability to transform themselves into animals. In fact, there are reliable accounts from some big game hunters that maybe not all the man-eaters they killed over the years were strictly “natural” creatures. Some have even suggested that the “Lions of Tsavo” MIGHT have been were-lions. You might have seen one of the recent film versions called, “Ghost in the Darkness” wherein two lions did their best to help China, India and Africa deal with their over-population problems by dining on rail-road workers. The reason is that these “lions” did not act like normal lions, even man-eaters.

While I am not about to start worrying about full-moons or stocking up on silver bullets any time soon, the rationale BEHIND the “were-wolf” legends is worthy of study and consideration. All of the local legends share the common theme of the descent of man into the bestial; and of the horrible consequences of human-like intelligence being mated with animal ferocity.

I would argue that the theological basis for lycanthropy can be found in the story in Daniel of Nebuchadnezzar who in his pride exalted himself as a god (Dan 4:28ff). The Lord God then struck him down, making him a senseless brute for seven years. The modern psychologist of course will see here some sort of mental disease; a psychotic break that resulted in a man losing his sanity. And though Nebuchadnezzar is never said to actually have BECOME an animal-just lost his reason, therefore denying the glory that he had aspired to, it does provide an understanding of the central fears that the myth itself addresses.

The were-wolf as a figure of horror was well-known throughout Europe. Supposedly, a man consorted with the Devil and as a consequence, he would be given a belt that would transform him into the most fearsome predator then known. Transformation into a wolf was not necessarily associated with full moons, but was a conscious choice that a person could make at ANY time of the month; and any time of the day. There are actual wood-cuts and illustrations from medieval books supposedly showing men turning themselves into wolves.

And yes, again, Hollywood gets it wrong here almost universally. The “wolf-man” is NOT part man and part wolf, as the classic make up would suggest; but that the man literally BECAME a wolf. However, American sensitivities being what they are, it’s kind of hard to be frightened by what looks like on screen, just a big German shepherd. We love dogs too much, and have too closely associated them with pets to really FEAR them as monsters. Unlike our European ancestors who actually had to fight off large packs of wolves ravaging whole towns and cities, we have never seen the wolf that way; and so Hollywood had to change the make-up and the myth in order to convey the terror.

The real horror of the were-wolf is that something once human has now become a ravenous beast. It is the loss of humanity and the adoption of bestial characteristics that makes the were-wolf such a figure of horror. In American films, ever since the first “wolf-man” movie with Lon Chaney Junior, the were-wolf was initially portrayed as both the monster, AND the victim. Chaney’s character is bitten by a were-wolf and then to HIS horror, each full moon, turns into a beastly creature, striking out first at innocent strangers but eventually becoming a danger to his own family and friends. The movie has a powerful climatic scene as his own father beats him to death with a silver-headed cane (from my research, silver being the only effective weapon against were-wolves is another Hollywood invention. Earlier tales have the were-wolves being killed by quite ordinary means; guns, knives, and even, in one instance, by a heavy ring of keys thrown into its face).

There is remarkable Biblical imagery in the original 1930’s film with the father having to kill his own son, to save others. Biblical law required parents to bear witness against their own children who were covenant breakers; as important as the family is, ultimate loyalty belongs only to God. Thus, the father here, by killing his own son, protects the broader community from the evil that is inside him. Furthermore, the evil is something the son cannot control, it is something outside of him that over-powers his will and makes him into a monster. By killing the son, the father is in effect, SAVING the son from the monster inside.

Now, let us compare the medieval version of lycanthropy with its modern incarnation. Originally, a man was thought to deliberately make a covenant with the Devil in order to gain the power to become a ravenous monster. To become a lycanthrope was thus a demonstration of primordial power-a descent into the chaos-a self-conscious attempt to lose one’s humanity for the joys associated with utter savagery and the lack of a moral conscious.

The modern incarnation however saw lycanthropy as a disease; the beast taking over the man from the inside, causing him to lose his rationality and his humanity. He is as much victim, as predator, and sees his condition as a curse to be endured or ended as quickly as possible. What accounts for the different interpretations of lycanthropy?

I would argue that at least one possible answer is the theological revolution that has occurred from the Middle Ages to the present. By definition, in the older view, one’s humanity was a gift from God because we are made in the image of God. To lose that humanity, as happened to Nebuchadnezzar, was a curse of God. Thus in an age when demons, witches, vampires and were-wolves were believed prevalent, evil was assumed to be a self-conscious choice; bad things happened because people did bad things. Granted, a simplistic approach, but it provided an answer for the depravity and wickedness that so often haunted medieval society. Remember, this culture was much harsher and more brutal than anything we can realistically imagine today. Executions were public, torture routine and battles often left no survivors as local residents slit the throats of the wounded to pillage their belongings. It was a brutal world, and the assumption was that brutality was a result of an inner moral decision.

Fast forward now to the 20^th century where Sigmund Freud has had decades to make his theories popular. Evil, as a concept is not a result of individual decisions, but rather a product of the environment. The germ theory of disease had finally been understood and therefore evil was something apart from man that infected him. The were-wolf was evil, because he had been infected with something that made him evil. The source of his evil was therefore outside of himself. He was in fact a “good” man until this evil, were-wolf virus entered this body and turned him into a monster!

Furthermore, the were-wolf legend became a reverse apologetic for evolutionary theory; man supposedly had evolved from beasts and achieved consciousness, morality and humanity. The were-wolf as victim saw an unintended descent BACK into the bestial losing man the very things that evolution had given him.

The difference between the medieval and modern myth of lycanthropy lies in the difference between what we think causes human depravity. The modern version wants to make evil, something outside of the human condition. And it is merely a new version of the age old goal of Man since the Garden of Eden; wicked men seek to flee from the responsibility of his own sin. Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the serpent, and all sinful men have attempted throughout history to either deny their sin or blame it on someone, or something else. Modern psychology and psychiatry look for environmental or medical problems to explain the causes of human evil. The modern were-wolf mythology is just the same old story, gussied up by Hollywood, of the ageless attempt of man to blame his bestial nature on something outside of himself rather than acknowledge the true depravity of his own wicked heart.

In the last twenty years or so, the were-wolf has reappeared in modern fiction, especially in several films. And Hollywood, true to form, is reinterpreting the were-wolf mythology again its own image. In “the Howling,” the were-wolf was no longer the innocent victim but an epistemologically self-conscious predator seeing humans as his legitimate prey. The story begins with a journalist receiving an invitation for an exclusive interview with a serial killer/rapist hotly pursued by the police. She meets him in a pornographic book-store, inside one of those little cubicles that show dirty movies. To the accompaniment of a violent rape scene being played out on the screen behind them, the journalist comes face to face with the killer, who transforms into a wolf-like creature. Just as he is about to attack her, he is shot dead by the police. And that is just the beginning of the movie; it gets worse.

However, the film does capture something of the real horror of the modern were-wolf legend in that the monster has now returned to his medieval origins. He is wicked and evil, not because of some gypsy curse, or having survived an attack by another monster, but he is evil because he ENJOYS being the predator. Rape is just an added delicacy to an over-powering hunger to kill. There is even a scene with John Carradine, (he of the awesome voice), who gives a reasonable apologetic for WHY it is perfectly normal and NATURAL for were-wolves to prey on humans.

Perhaps the explanation for the return of the older view is that after two hot wars that killed tens of millions of people, a cold war that threatened to eliminate the entire race and Vietnam that destroyed America’s sense of its own goodness, we in the West are finally dealing with the reality of evil in our midst. Our social planners have promised for over a hundred years that if we can only fund the right program, with the right people, we can end war, famine, starvation, and brutality. But our popular mythology often exposes our secret fears that we will not admit to in our public debates; the evil is within us-and there is nothing we can do about it. Our prisons are full of creatures just as vile, just as monstrous as anything Hollywood has ever created for “entertainment” and we rightly fear these creatures that prey on other humans without a twig of conscience. The real issue of lycanthropy is not men who transform themselves into animals-but rather men who look like men, but have lost the essence of their humanity; the image of God inside.

The ONLY solution for human evil is a radical transformation of the heart. We live in a moral universe, governed by a personal God in whose image we are made. The essence of our life, our humanity is something given to us at creation when God breathed a living soul into the creature he had made from the dust of the earth. When men abandon faith and trust in this sovereign, personal God, they lose contact with the only true source of genuine humanity. And what is left then, is our depraved nature-unrestrained by any of the God-given attributes that makes us human. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the only solution for man’s inner, innate evil.

Thus the theology of the were-wolf is man without God; self-consciously in rebellion to his ethical standards and living life on his own terms according to his own moral standards. And for a hundred and fifty years our philosophers, educators and social commentators have told us that to be free from God, His Law and His morality is to become truly human. What we find instead is that to be “free” from God is to become a monster; the were-wolf is not a myth, but the beast that lives within all of us.