Curse and mark of Cain
Encyclopedia
In Christianity
and Judaism
, the curse of Cain and the mark of Cain refer to the passages in the Biblical Book of Genesis where God declared that Cain, the firstborn son of Adam and Eve
, was cursed for murdering his brother, and placed a mark upon him to warn others that killing Cain would provoke the vengeance of God. An alternate interpretation of the text sees the "mark" rather as a sign, one which would not have actually been a physical marking of Cain, himself. Though the text of the King James Version reads, "...set a mark upon Cain...", the New American Standard reads, "... appointed a sign for Cain ..."
. Cain, the older, "was a tiller of the ground", while Abel "was a keeper of sheep" (Gen. 4:2). Eventually, each of the brothers performed a sacrifice to God; Cain sacrificed some of his crops to God, while Abel sacrificed "of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof" (Gen. 4:3–4). When God accepted Abel's offering, but not Cain's, Cain's "countenance fell" (Gen. 4:5), and he "rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him" (Gen. 4:8).
When God confronted Cain about Abel's death, God cursed him, saying:
As an act of irony, the curse by God focused strictly on neutralizing the benefits of Cain's primary skill, cultivating crops. When Cain complained that the curse was too strong, and that anyone who found him would kill him, God responded, "Not so; if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over", and God "set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him" (Gen. 4:15).
(also qayin in Hebrew), some scholars speculate that the curse of Cain may have arisen as a condemnation of the Kenites. In the Bible, however, the Kenites are generally described favorably, and may have had an important influence on the early Hebrew religion.
There is also no clear consensus as to what Cain's mark would be. The word translated as "mark" in Gen. 4:15 is 'owth, which could mean a sign, an omen, a warning, or a remembrance. In the Torah
, the same word is used to describe the stars as signs or omens, the rainbow as the sign of the flood (Gen. 9:12), circumcision
as a token of God's covenant with Abraham
, and the miracles performed by Moses
before the Pharaoh
. Thus, the text of the Bible only explicitly describes how the mark was to function as a sign or warning, not what form the mark took.
Cain's curse and mark have been interpreted in several ways. Following the literal Biblical text, most scholars interpret the "curse" as Cain's inability to cultivate crops and his necessity to lead a nomadic lifestyle. They interpret the "mark" as a warning to others, but are unable to determine the form of the mark from the Biblical text.
Historically, some Christian
s have interpreted the Biblical passages so that the "mark" is thought to be part of the "curse". In the 19th century Latter Day Saints (known as 'Mormons') commonly assumed that Cain's "mark" was black skin, and that Cain's descendants were black and still under Cain's curse.
, wife of Ham (son of Noah). The Book of Abraham
, accepted by Mormons as part of their canon, is the source of the story of this Egyptus who preserves "the curse.... as pertaining to the Priesthood" by surviving the flood as Ham's wife. One must note, however, that in this canonized source no connection is made between her and Cain (her lineage is not given), nor is anything mentioned concerning her skin color. Thus, though Mormons combined the widespread belief that Cain's curse was a blackness of skin with another idea common in Europe and America (that the curse of Ham
for seeing his father's nakedness was black skin), the idea that Ham's wife preserved a curse of black skin inherited from Cain that was passed on is not canonized doctrine. This interpretation is now generally rejected by mainstream Mormons.
From Brigham Young:
Let this Church which is called the Kingdom of God on the earth; we will summons the First Presidency, the Twelve, the High Council, the Bishopric, and all the Elders of Israel, suppose we summons them and appear here, and here declare that it is right to mingle our seed with the black race of Cain, that they shall come in with us and be partakers with us of all the blessings God has given to us. On that very day and hour we should do so, the Priesthood is taken from this Church and Kingdom and God leaves us to our fate. The moment we consent to mingle with the seed of Cain, the Church must go to destruction--we should receive the curse which has been placed upon the seed of Cain, and never more be numbered with the children of Adam who are heirs to the Priesthood until that curse be removed. (Speech by Gov. Brigham Young in Joint Session of the Legislature, giving his views on slavery, Feb. 5, 1852)
That curse was apparently removed in 1978 according to a Doctrine and Covenants revelation.
.
, a Kabbalistic
text, states that the mark of Cain was one of the twenty-two Hebrew letters
of the Torah
, although the Zohar's native Aramaic
doesn't actually tell us which of the letters it was.
Some commentators, such as Rabbi Michael Berg
in his English commentary on the Zohar, suggest that the mark of Cain was the letter vav
.
combined the "curse" with the "mark", and interpreted the curse of Cain as black skin. Some argue that this may have originated from rabbinic texts, which interpreted a passage in the Book of Genesis ("And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell") as implying that Cain underwent a permanent change in skin color.
Origen
, however, states that all the descendants of Cain perished in the Flood, and that all humankind therefore descends from Seth
.
The Church Father Ephrem the Syrian
(306-378): “Abel was bright as the light, / but the murderer (Cain) was dark as the darkness".
In an Eastern Christian (Armenian) Adam-book (5th or 6th century) it is written: “And the Lord was wroth with Cain. . . He beat Cain’s face with hail, which blackened like coal, and thus he remained with a black face".
The Irish Saltair na Rann (The Versified Psalter, AD 988), records Gabriel announcing to Adam: "Dark rough senseless Cain is going to kill Abel".
congregations in the southern United States
taught that there were two separate heavens; one for blacks, and one for whites.
The doctrine was used to support a ban on ordaining blacks to most Protestant clergies until the 1960s in both the U.S. and Europe. The majority of Christian Churches in the world, the ancient churches, including the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox churches, Anglican churches, and Oriental Orthodox churches, did not recognize these interpretations and did not participate in the religious movement to support them. Certain Catholic Diocese
in the Southern United States did adopt a policy of not ordaining blacks to oversee, administer the Sacraments to, or accept confessions from white parishioners. This policy was not based on a Curse of Cain teaching, but was justified by any possible perceptions of having slaves rule over their masters. However, this was not approved of by the Pope
or any papal teaching.
Baptists officially taught or practiced various forms of racial segregation well into the mid-to-late-20th century, though members of all races were accepted at worship services after the 1970s and 1980s when many official policies were changed. In fact, it was not until 1995 that the Southern Baptist Convention officially renounced its "racist roots."
Pentecostals
In the earliest years of the Pentecostal revivals, notably Azusa Street in Los Angeles, 1906-09 the mixing of the races was encouraged, and Jim Crow laws were defied. This was radical and broke new ground. It continued until 1924 when an official new Pentecostal denomination emerged, but many Pentecostal groups continued to allow mixing of the races in their services. (see articles on Azusa Street Revival). There had been an earlier tradition of encouraging the races to mix in revival meetings going back to the Cane Ridge revival of 1801, and Methodist preachers often continued this approach.(See Robert S. Ellwood Jr. One Way: The Jesus movement and its meaning. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc.) 1973, pg. 40-42).
Many Protestant groups in America had supported the notion that black slavery, oppression, and African colonization was the result of God's curse on people with black skin or people of African descent through Cain or through the curse of Ham, and some churches practiced racial segregation as late as the 1990s. Today, however, official acceptance and practice of the doctrine among "Protestant" organizations is limited almost exclusively to churches connected to white supremacy
, such as the Aryan World Church and the New Christian Crusade Church.
According to Moses 7:5-8
According to modern interpretations of LDS theology, the curse of blackness does not refer to skin color, but generally refers to those who lack the enlightenment of the gospel in their lives (Alma 32:35). The curse of blackness is removed when unbelieving people accept the light of the gospel (Alma 23:18). This particular teaching—that the curse of dark skin came upon the children of Cain because they practiced genocide on the people of Shum, rather than it being the result of the mark placed upon Cain by God—was radically different from the views widely held by most Evangelical Protestant groups in the U.S. during and before the life of Joseph Smith.
Statements concerning the curse of Cain clearly identify both the mark and curse with the "Negro" race, in Latter Day Saint writings and lectures. Joseph Smith and Brigham Young both identify the Black people of African descent as descendants of Cain. The Latter Day Saint movement
was founded during the height of white Protestant acceptance of the curse of Cain doctrine in America, as well as the even more popular curse of Ham
doctrine, which was even held by many abolitionists
of the time. While Joseph Smith, Jr. indicated his belief in the curse of Ham theory in a parenthetical reference as early as 1831 (Manuscript History 19 June 1831), the only early reference to the curse or mark of Cain was in his translation of the Bible, which included the following statement:
Despite Smith’s idea that the descendants of Cain did not “mix” with the descendants of Adam, one of Smith’s associates later argued that Cain’s descendants did indeed survive the flood via the wife of Ham, son of Noah
. On February 6, 1835, Smith's associate William Wines Phelps wrote a letter theorizing that the curse of Cain might have survived the deluge by passing through the wife of Ham, who according to Phelps must have been a descendant of Cain. (Messenger and Advocate 1:82) In effect, Phelps was attempting to provide a rational link between the curse of Cain and the curse of Ham. There is no clear indication that Smith agreed with Phelps on this idea; in 1842, however, he did write parenthetically in his notes the following:
Although Phelps's interpretation found substantial general support within some Latter Day Saint denominations, none of the major denominations of Mormonism embrace the idea or consider it relevant. There is evidence that Joseph Smith did not consider the restriction between blacks and the priesthood to be relevant in modern times, since he himself (and other Church leaders close to him) did ordain black men to the priesthood. However, the doctrine is an element of Mormon fundamentalism, which constitutes a small percentage of the overall Latter-day Saint movement.
Nevertheless, the lack of formal repudiation of LDS teachings regarding the Children of Cain, and the continual association with curses and marks with black skin, has continued to recall Mormonism's unique doctrines concerning race.
, the second President of the Church
believed that people of African ancestry were generally under the curse of Cain. In 1852, he reportedly stated:
These beliefs were used to justify a ban on ordaining Blacks to the LDS priesthood, although founder Joseph Smith, Jr. did himself ordain Blacks to the priesthood
. However, this belief was never used as a reason for segregation of or within congregations. Segregation of congregations was common in churches in the southern United States during this time period.
Similar beliefs were taught by Young’s successors until the 1978 revelation from President of the Church
Spencer W Kimball
, however, it was never canonized doctrine, but was instead a widely held and widely taught belief.
In 1954, Church President David O. McKay
taught: “There is not now, and there never has been a doctrine in this church that the negroes are under a divine curse. There is no doctrine in the church of any kind pertaining to the negro. ‘We believe’ that we have a scriptural precedent for withholding the priesthood from the negro. It is a practice, not a doctrine, and the practice someday will be changed. And that’s all there is to it.”
from God officially ending its policy of excluding Hamites
from the priesthood.
that the church leadership was considering an official repudiation of the curse of Cain and curse of Ham
doctrines, to mark the 20th anniversary of the 1978 revelation. This, however, was quickly denied by the LDS spokesman Don LeFevre. The Times later suggested that the publicity generated by its article may have caused the Church to put an official disavowal on hold.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie
of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
stated:
:
Other Christian arguments include the following:
who killed in a manner similar to Cain.
In the same way, the teaching goes that Born Again believers are often cursed because of some of their struggles or sins, and they should work to overcome them, or the curses will be passed on to either their children or their descendants. If they do so, their curses will not be propagated to their posterity.
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
and Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
, the curse of Cain and the mark of Cain refer to the passages in the Biblical Book of Genesis where God declared that Cain, the firstborn son of Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve were, according to the Genesis creation narratives, the first human couple to inhabit Earth, created by YHWH, the God of the ancient Hebrews...
, was cursed for murdering his brother, and placed a mark upon him to warn others that killing Cain would provoke the vengeance of God. An alternate interpretation of the text sees the "mark" rather as a sign, one which would not have actually been a physical marking of Cain, himself. Though the text of the King James Version reads, "...set a mark upon Cain...", the New American Standard reads, "... appointed a sign for Cain ..."
Biblical reference
The Bible refers to the curse of Cain in the fourth chapter of the Book of Genesis. This passage describes two brothers, Cain and AbelCain and Abel
In the Hebrew Bible, Cain and Abel are two sons of Adam and Eve. The Qur'an mentions the story, calling them the two sons of Adam only....
. Cain, the older, "was a tiller of the ground", while Abel "was a keeper of sheep" (Gen. 4:2). Eventually, each of the brothers performed a sacrifice to God; Cain sacrificed some of his crops to God, while Abel sacrificed "of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof" (Gen. 4:3–4). When God accepted Abel's offering, but not Cain's, Cain's "countenance fell" (Gen. 4:5), and he "rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him" (Gen. 4:8).
When God confronted Cain about Abel's death, God cursed him, saying:
- "What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth." (Gen. 4:10–12)
As an act of irony, the curse by God focused strictly on neutralizing the benefits of Cain's primary skill, cultivating crops. When Cain complained that the curse was too strong, and that anyone who found him would kill him, God responded, "Not so; if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over", and God "set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him" (Gen. 4:15).
Modern
There is no scholarly consensus as to the original meaning and significance of the curse and mark of Cain. Because the name Cain (or qayin in Hebrew, meaning spear), is identical with the name KeniteKenite
Kenites or Cinites , according to the Hebrew Bible, were a nomadic clan in the ancient Levant, sent under Jethro a priest in the land of Midian. They played an important role in the history of ancient Israel. The Kenites were coppersmiths and metalworkers. Moses' father-in-law, Jethro, was a...
(also qayin in Hebrew), some scholars speculate that the curse of Cain may have arisen as a condemnation of the Kenites. In the Bible, however, the Kenites are generally described favorably, and may have had an important influence on the early Hebrew religion.
There is also no clear consensus as to what Cain's mark would be. The word translated as "mark" in Gen. 4:15 is 'owth, which could mean a sign, an omen, a warning, or a remembrance. In the Torah
Torah
Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
, the same word is used to describe the stars as signs or omens, the rainbow as the sign of the flood (Gen. 9:12), circumcision
Circumcision
Male circumcision is the surgical removal of some or all of the foreskin from the penis. The word "circumcision" comes from Latin and ....
as a token of God's covenant with Abraham
Abraham
Abraham , whose birth name was Abram, is the eponym of the Abrahamic religions, among which are Judaism, Christianity and Islam...
, and the miracles performed by Moses
Moses
Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...
before the Pharaoh
Pharaoh
Pharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. The title originates in the term "pr-aa" which means "great house" and describes the royal palace...
. Thus, the text of the Bible only explicitly describes how the mark was to function as a sign or warning, not what form the mark took.
Cain's curse and mark have been interpreted in several ways. Following the literal Biblical text, most scholars interpret the "curse" as Cain's inability to cultivate crops and his necessity to lead a nomadic lifestyle. They interpret the "mark" as a warning to others, but are unable to determine the form of the mark from the Biblical text.
Historically, some Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
s have interpreted the Biblical passages so that the "mark" is thought to be part of the "curse". In the 19th century Latter Day Saints (known as 'Mormons') commonly assumed that Cain's "mark" was black skin, and that Cain's descendants were black and still under Cain's curse.
Mormon
While the majority, if not all, of Cain's descendants would have been killed in the great flood, according to Mormons from the late 19th to mid 20th century, Cain's bloodline was preserved on the ark through EgyptusEgyptus
In Latter-day Saint theology , Egyptus is the name of two women in the Book of Abraham in the Pearl of Great Price. One is the wife of Ham, son of Noah, who bears his children. The other is their daughter, who discovers Egypt while "it was under water"...
, wife of Ham (son of Noah). The Book of Abraham
Book of Abraham
The Book of Abraham is a 1835 work by Joseph Smith, Jr. that he said was based on Egyptian papyri purchased from a traveling mummy exhibition. According to Smith, the book was "a translation of some ancient records....purporting to be the writings of Abraham, while he was in Egypt, called the Book...
, accepted by Mormons as part of their canon, is the source of the story of this Egyptus who preserves "the curse.... as pertaining to the Priesthood" by surviving the flood as Ham's wife. One must note, however, that in this canonized source no connection is made between her and Cain (her lineage is not given), nor is anything mentioned concerning her skin color. Thus, though Mormons combined the widespread belief that Cain's curse was a blackness of skin with another idea common in Europe and America (that the curse of Ham
Curse of Ham
The Curse of Ham is a possible misnomer, for the Curse of Canaan. The curse refers to Noah cursing Ham's offspring Canaan, for Ham's own transgression against his father, according to Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. The debate regarding upon whom the curse fell has raged for at least two thousand...
for seeing his father's nakedness was black skin), the idea that Ham's wife preserved a curse of black skin inherited from Cain that was passed on is not canonized doctrine. This interpretation is now generally rejected by mainstream Mormons.
From Brigham Young:
Let this Church which is called the Kingdom of God on the earth; we will summons the First Presidency, the Twelve, the High Council, the Bishopric, and all the Elders of Israel, suppose we summons them and appear here, and here declare that it is right to mingle our seed with the black race of Cain, that they shall come in with us and be partakers with us of all the blessings God has given to us. On that very day and hour we should do so, the Priesthood is taken from this Church and Kingdom and God leaves us to our fate. The moment we consent to mingle with the seed of Cain, the Church must go to destruction--we should receive the curse which has been placed upon the seed of Cain, and never more be numbered with the children of Adam who are heirs to the Priesthood until that curse be removed. (Speech by Gov. Brigham Young in Joint Session of the Legislature, giving his views on slavery, Feb. 5, 1852)
That curse was apparently removed in 1978 according to a Doctrine and Covenants revelation.
Racial interpretation
Accepting the theory that God had cursed black people, some have used the curse as a Biblical justification for racism, though it was more common to find the so-called "curse on Ham's descendants" (Genesis 9:25) used for that purpose. These racial and ethnic interpretations of the curse and the mark lost ground in the 19th century, and were abandoned by theologians by the mid-20th century, although the theory still has some following, especially among white supremacistsWhite supremacy
White supremacy is the belief, and promotion of the belief, that white people are superior to people of other racial backgrounds. The term is sometimes used specifically to describe a political ideology that advocates the social and political dominance by whites.White supremacy, as with racial...
.
Zohar
The ZoharZohar
The Zohar is the foundational work in the literature of Jewish mystical thought known as Kabbalah. It is a group of books including commentary on the mystical aspects of the Torah and scriptural interpretations as well as material on Mysticism, mythical cosmogony, and mystical psychology...
, a Kabbalistic
Kabbalah
Kabbalah/Kabala is a discipline and school of thought concerned with the esoteric aspect of Rabbinic Judaism. It was systematized in 11th-13th century Hachmei Provence and Spain, and again after the Expulsion from Spain, in 16th century Ottoman Palestine...
text, states that the mark of Cain was one of the twenty-two Hebrew letters
Hebrew alphabet
The Hebrew alphabet , known variously by scholars as the Jewish script, square script, block script, or more historically, the Assyrian script, is used in the writing of the Hebrew language, as well as other Jewish languages, most notably Yiddish, Ladino, and Judeo-Arabic. There have been two...
of the Torah
Torah
Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
, although the Zohar's native Aramaic
Aramaic language
Aramaic is a group of languages belonging to the Afroasiatic language phylum. The name of the language is based on the name of Aram, an ancient region in central Syria. Within this family, Aramaic belongs to the Semitic family, and more specifically, is a part of the Northwest Semitic subfamily,...
doesn't actually tell us which of the letters it was.
Some commentators, such as Rabbi Michael Berg
Michael Berg (Kabbalah Centre)
Michael Berg is Co-Director of the Kabbalah Centre alongside his mother Karen Berg and older brother Yehuda Berg. He is the son of Philip Berg, the founder of the Kabbalah Centre. Michael edited an unabridged English translation of The Zohar. He is also a cofounder of Raising Malawi.Michael Berg...
in his English commentary on the Zohar, suggest that the mark of Cain was the letter vav
Waw (letter)
Waw is the sixth letter of the Northwest Semitic family of scripts, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, and Arabic ....
.
Early and modern Christian
According to scholars, early interpretations of the Bible in Syriac ChristianitySyriac Christianity
Syriac or Syrian Christianity , the Syriac-speaking Christians of Mesopotamia, comprises multiple Christian traditions of Eastern Christianity. With a history going back to the 1st Century AD, in modern times it is represented by denominations primarily in the Middle East and in Kerala, India....
combined the "curse" with the "mark", and interpreted the curse of Cain as black skin. Some argue that this may have originated from rabbinic texts, which interpreted a passage in the Book of Genesis ("And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell") as implying that Cain underwent a permanent change in skin color.
Origen
Origen
Origen , or Origen Adamantius, 184/5–253/4, was an early Christian Alexandrian scholar and theologian, and one of the most distinguished writers of the early Church. As early as the fourth century, his orthodoxy was suspect, in part because he believed in the pre-existence of souls...
, however, states that all the descendants of Cain perished in the Flood, and that all humankind therefore descends from Seth
Seth
Seth , in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, is the third listed son of Adam and Eve and brother of Cain and Abel, who are the only other of their children mentioned by name...
.
The Church Father Ephrem the Syrian
Ephrem the Syrian
Ephrem the Syrian was a Syriac and a prolific Syriac-language hymnographer and theologian of the 4th century. He is venerated by Christians throughout the world, and especially in the Syriac Orthodox Church, as a saint.Ephrem wrote a wide variety of hymns, poems, and sermons in verse, as well as...
(306-378): “Abel was bright as the light, / but the murderer (Cain) was dark as the darkness".
In an Eastern Christian (Armenian) Adam-book (5th or 6th century) it is written: “And the Lord was wroth with Cain. . . He beat Cain’s face with hail, which blackened like coal, and thus he remained with a black face".
The Irish Saltair na Rann (The Versified Psalter, AD 988), records Gabriel announcing to Adam: "Dark rough senseless Cain is going to kill Abel".
Adoption by Protestant groups
The split between the Northern and Southern Baptist organizations arose over slavery and the education of slaves. At the time of the split, the Southern Baptist group used the curse of Cain as a justification for the practice. In fact, most 19th and early 20th century Southern BaptistSouthern Baptist Convention
The Southern Baptist Convention is a United States-based Christian denomination. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination and the largest Protestant body in the United States, with over 16 million members...
congregations in the southern United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
taught that there were two separate heavens; one for blacks, and one for whites.
The doctrine was used to support a ban on ordaining blacks to most Protestant clergies until the 1960s in both the U.S. and Europe. The majority of Christian Churches in the world, the ancient churches, including the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox churches, Anglican churches, and Oriental Orthodox churches, did not recognize these interpretations and did not participate in the religious movement to support them. Certain Catholic Diocese
Diocese
A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...
in the Southern United States did adopt a policy of not ordaining blacks to oversee, administer the Sacraments to, or accept confessions from white parishioners. This policy was not based on a Curse of Cain teaching, but was justified by any possible perceptions of having slaves rule over their masters. However, this was not approved of by the Pope
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
or any papal teaching.
Baptists officially taught or practiced various forms of racial segregation well into the mid-to-late-20th century, though members of all races were accepted at worship services after the 1970s and 1980s when many official policies were changed. In fact, it was not until 1995 that the Southern Baptist Convention officially renounced its "racist roots."
Pentecostals
Pentecostalism
Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...
In the earliest years of the Pentecostal revivals, notably Azusa Street in Los Angeles, 1906-09 the mixing of the races was encouraged, and Jim Crow laws were defied. This was radical and broke new ground. It continued until 1924 when an official new Pentecostal denomination emerged, but many Pentecostal groups continued to allow mixing of the races in their services. (see articles on Azusa Street Revival). There had been an earlier tradition of encouraging the races to mix in revival meetings going back to the Cane Ridge revival of 1801, and Methodist preachers often continued this approach.(See Robert S. Ellwood Jr. One Way: The Jesus movement and its meaning. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc.) 1973, pg. 40-42).
Many Protestant groups in America had supported the notion that black slavery, oppression, and African colonization was the result of God's curse on people with black skin or people of African descent through Cain or through the curse of Ham, and some churches practiced racial segregation as late as the 1990s. Today, however, official acceptance and practice of the doctrine among "Protestant" organizations is limited almost exclusively to churches connected to white supremacy
White supremacy
White supremacy is the belief, and promotion of the belief, that white people are superior to people of other racial backgrounds. The term is sometimes used specifically to describe a political ideology that advocates the social and political dominance by whites.White supremacy, as with racial...
, such as the Aryan World Church and the New Christian Crusade Church.
Mormonism
The Mormon interpretation of "the curse of Cain", or the curse of black skin that befell Cain's descendants, is not the same as the "mark of Cain" set upon Cain himself by God.According to Moses 7:5-8
- And the Lord said unto me: Prophesy; and I prophesied, saying: Behold the people of Canaan, which are numerous, shall go forth in battle array against the people of Shum, and shall slay them that they shall utterly be destroyed; and the people of Canaan shall divide themselves in the land, and the land shall be barren and unfruitful, and none other people shall dwell there but the people of Canaan; for behold, the Lord shall curse the land with much heat, and the barrenness thereof shall go forth forever; and there was a blackness came upon all the children of Canaan, that they were despised among all people.
According to modern interpretations of LDS theology, the curse of blackness does not refer to skin color, but generally refers to those who lack the enlightenment of the gospel in their lives (Alma 32:35). The curse of blackness is removed when unbelieving people accept the light of the gospel (Alma 23:18). This particular teaching—that the curse of dark skin came upon the children of Cain because they practiced genocide on the people of Shum, rather than it being the result of the mark placed upon Cain by God—was radically different from the views widely held by most Evangelical Protestant groups in the U.S. during and before the life of Joseph Smith.
Statements concerning the curse of Cain clearly identify both the mark and curse with the "Negro" race, in Latter Day Saint writings and lectures. Joseph Smith and Brigham Young both identify the Black people of African descent as descendants of Cain. The Latter Day Saint movement
Latter Day Saint movement
The Latter Day Saint movement is a group of independent churches tracing their origin to a Christian primitivist movement founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. in the late 1820s. Collectively, these churches have over 14 million members...
was founded during the height of white Protestant acceptance of the curse of Cain doctrine in America, as well as the even more popular curse of Ham
Curse of Ham
The Curse of Ham is a possible misnomer, for the Curse of Canaan. The curse refers to Noah cursing Ham's offspring Canaan, for Ham's own transgression against his father, according to Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. The debate regarding upon whom the curse fell has raged for at least two thousand...
doctrine, which was even held by many abolitionists
Abolitionism
Abolitionism is a movement to end slavery.In western Europe and the Americas abolitionism was a movement to end the slave trade and set slaves free. At the behest of Dominican priest Bartolomé de las Casas who was shocked at the treatment of natives in the New World, Spain enacted the first...
of the time. While Joseph Smith, Jr. indicated his belief in the curse of Ham theory in a parenthetical reference as early as 1831 (Manuscript History 19 June 1831), the only early reference to the curse or mark of Cain was in his translation of the Bible, which included the following statement:
- And Enoch also beheld the residue of the people which were the sons of Adam; and they were a mixture of all the seed of Adam save it was the seed of Cain, for the seed of Cain were black, and had not place among them.
Despite Smith’s idea that the descendants of Cain did not “mix” with the descendants of Adam, one of Smith’s associates later argued that Cain’s descendants did indeed survive the flood via the wife of Ham, son of Noah
Ham, son of Noah
Ham , according to the Table of Nations in the Book of Genesis, was a son of Noah and the father of Cush, Mizraim, Phut and Canaan.- Hebrew Bible :The story of Ham is related in , King James Version:...
. On February 6, 1835, Smith's associate William Wines Phelps wrote a letter theorizing that the curse of Cain might have survived the deluge by passing through the wife of Ham, who according to Phelps must have been a descendant of Cain. (Messenger and Advocate 1:82) In effect, Phelps was attempting to provide a rational link between the curse of Cain and the curse of Ham. There is no clear indication that Smith agreed with Phelps on this idea; in 1842, however, he did write parenthetically in his notes the following:
- In the evening debated with John C. BennettJohn C. BennettJohn Cook Bennett was an American physician and a ranking and influential—but short-lived—leader of the Latter Day Saint movement, who acted as second-in-command to Joseph Smith, Jr., for a brief period in the early 1840s....
and others to show that the Indians have greater cause to complain of the treatment of the whites, than the negroes or sons of Cain.
Although Phelps's interpretation found substantial general support within some Latter Day Saint denominations, none of the major denominations of Mormonism embrace the idea or consider it relevant. There is evidence that Joseph Smith did not consider the restriction between blacks and the priesthood to be relevant in modern times, since he himself (and other Church leaders close to him) did ordain black men to the priesthood. However, the doctrine is an element of Mormon fundamentalism, which constitutes a small percentage of the overall Latter-day Saint movement.
Nevertheless, the lack of formal repudiation of LDS teachings regarding the Children of Cain, and the continual association with curses and marks with black skin, has continued to recall Mormonism's unique doctrines concerning race.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormonism)
After the death of Joseph Smith, Jr., The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was the largest of several organizations claiming succession from Smith’s church. Brigham YoungBrigham Young
Brigham Young was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the Western United States. He was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877, he founded Salt Lake City, and he served as the first governor of the Utah...
, the second President of the Church
President of the Church (Mormonism)
In the Latter Day Saint movement, the President of the Church is generally considered to be the highest office of the church. It was the office held by Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the movement, and the office assumed by many of Smith's claimed successors, such as Brigham Young, Joseph Smith III,...
believed that people of African ancestry were generally under the curse of Cain. In 1852, he reportedly stated:
- [A]ny man having one drop of the seed of [Cain] … in him cannot hold the priesthood and if no other Prophet ever spake it before I will say it now in the name of Jesus Christ….
These beliefs were used to justify a ban on ordaining Blacks to the LDS priesthood, although founder Joseph Smith, Jr. did himself ordain Blacks to the priesthood
Blacks and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
From 1849 to 1978, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had a policy against ordaining black men of African descent to the priesthood. Whereas other churches usually have full-time salaried clergy of whom individual members are often the chief minister to several families, in the LDS...
. However, this belief was never used as a reason for segregation of or within congregations. Segregation of congregations was common in churches in the southern United States during this time period.
Similar beliefs were taught by Young’s successors until the 1978 revelation from President of the Church
President of the Church (Mormonism)
In the Latter Day Saint movement, the President of the Church is generally considered to be the highest office of the church. It was the office held by Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the movement, and the office assumed by many of Smith's claimed successors, such as Brigham Young, Joseph Smith III,...
Spencer W Kimball
Spencer W. Kimball
Spencer Woolley Kimball was the twelfth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1973 until his death in 1985.-Ancestry:...
, however, it was never canonized doctrine, but was instead a widely held and widely taught belief.
In 1954, Church President David O. McKay
David O. McKay
David Oman McKay was the ninth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , serving from 1951 until his death. Ordained an apostle and member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1906, McKay was a general authority for nearly 64 years, longer than anyone else in LDS Church...
taught: “There is not now, and there never has been a doctrine in this church that the negroes are under a divine curse. There is no doctrine in the church of any kind pertaining to the negro. ‘We believe’ that we have a scriptural precedent for withholding the priesthood from the negro. It is a practice, not a doctrine, and the practice someday will be changed. And that’s all there is to it.”
Racial restriction policy ended
In 1978, the church announced a revelation1978 Revelation on Priesthood
The 1978 Revelation on Priesthood was a revelation to the leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints which reversed a long-standing policy excluding men of black African descent from the priesthood.-Background:...
from God officially ending its policy of excluding Hamites
Hamitic
Hamitic is an historical term for the peoples supposedly descended from Noah's son Ham, paralleling Semitic and Japhetic.It was formerly used for grouping the non-Semitic Afroasiatic languages , but since, unlike the Semitic branch, these have not been shown to form a phylogenetic unity, the term...
from the priesthood.
Current status
There has neither been an official and explicit church repudiation of the doctrine nor an admission that it was a mistake. Many black church members think giving an apology would be a "detriment" to church work and a catalyst to further racial misunderstanding. African-American church member Bryan E. Powell says "There is no pleasure in old news, and this news is old." Gladys Newkirk agrees, stating "I've never experienced any problems in this church. I don't need an apology. . . . We're the result of an apology." The large majority of black Mormons say they are willing to look beyond the racist teachings and cleave to the church in part because of its powerful, detailed teachings on life after death. In 1998, there was a report in the Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
that the church leadership was considering an official repudiation of the curse of Cain and curse of Ham
Curse of Ham
The Curse of Ham is a possible misnomer, for the Curse of Canaan. The curse refers to Noah cursing Ham's offspring Canaan, for Ham's own transgression against his father, according to Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. The debate regarding upon whom the curse fell has raged for at least two thousand...
doctrines, to mark the 20th anniversary of the 1978 revelation. This, however, was quickly denied by the LDS spokesman Don LeFevre. The Times later suggested that the publicity generated by its article may have caused the Church to put an official disavowal on hold.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie
Bruce R. McConkie
Bruce Redd McConkie was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1972 until his death...
of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is one of the governing bodies in the church hierarchy...
stated:
- There are statements in our literature by the early Brethren that we have interpreted to mean that the Negroes would not receive the priesthood in mortality. I have said the same things, and people write me letters and say, “You said such and such, and how is it now that we do such and such?” All I can say is that it is time disbelieving people repented and got in line and believed in a living, modern prophet. Forget everything that I have said, or what President Brigham Young or George Q. Cannon or whoever has said in days past that is contrary to the present revelation. We spoke with a limited understanding and without the light and knowledge that now has come into the world. It doesn’t make a particle of difference what anybody ever said about the Negro matter before the first day of June 1978. It is a new day and a new arrangement, and the Lord has now given the revelation that sheds light out into the world on this subject. As to any slivers of light or any particles of darkness of the past, we forget about them. We now do what meridian Israel did when the Lord said the gospel should go to the Gentiles. We forget all the statements that limited the gospel to the house of Israel, and we start going to the Gentiles.
Modern opinion on racial interpretations
In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, a Christian backlash arose against use of the curse of Cain doctrine in racial politics, with the primary Christian denominations flatly rejecting it. Most Christians also point to Biblical references which refute the doctrine, including a reference in the Book of NumbersBook of Numbers
The Book of Numbers is the fourth book of the Hebrew Bible, and the fourth of five books of the Jewish Torah/Pentateuch....
:
Other Christian arguments include the following:
- The passage in Genesis relating to Cain makes no mention of the effects on his descendants.
- All descendents of Cain were destroyed in the global deluge.
- The effect of parts of the curse on the land could have only applied to Cain - and not blacks - who, historically, were unaffected (like all other surviving people) in their ability to cultivate land. If this interpretation held true, then 19th century Americans would not have enslaved them to do agricultural work in the United States.
- Moses' wife Tzipporah, Job, the Queen of Sheba, Ebed-MelechEbed-MelechEbed-Melech is mentioned in the Book of Jeremiah as an official at the Palace of King Zedekiah,of Judah during the Siege of Jerusalem. The name is translated as Servant of the King, and as such may not be his proper name but a hereditary title...
, Tirharkah, the Ethiopian Treasurer of Queen CandaceKandakeKandake or Kentake, also Candace, was the title for queens and queen mothers of the ancient African Kingdom of Kush, also known as Nubia and Ethiopia....
, HagarHagar (Bible)Hagar , according to the Abrahamic faiths, was the second wife of Abraham, and the mother of his first son, Ishmael. Her story is recorded in the Book of Genesis, mentioned in Hadith, and alluded to in the Qur'an...
, some Egyptians, and other black people in the Bible were not mentioned as being partakers of the curse. Had the curse affected black people, at least one instance of it would have been mentioned in the Bible in that context to these people. - Christianity was founded 2000 years ago; early documents do not make any references to blacks being cursed, and no manuscripts have been found in the Middle EastMiddle EastThe Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
that were written by Christian leaders of the period which support the exclusion of or prejudice against blacks, Ethiopians (Greek word for Black) or Kushites (Hebrew word for Black). - The name "Pa-nehesiPanehesyThe Egyptian noble Panehesy was the 'Chief servitor of the Aten in the temple of Aten in Akhetaten' . He was also the 'Seal-bearer of Lower Egypt.'. These titles show how powerful he must have been during the Amarna Period.His house has been located in the ruins of Amarna , lying in the main city...
", a common name for "Nubians" among the Ancient Egyptians during the time of Moses. This name is also given to the third High Priest of Israel, PhinehasPhinehas-Biblical figures:*Phinehas, son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron the High Priest*Phinehas, son of the High Priest Eli. He was a priest at Shiloh, and died when the Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant-Other :*Pinchas, the 41st weekly Torah portion....
, who was the grandson of Aaron. Therefore it is impossible for the Curse of Cain to have any meaning in relation to Black people. At the very least, it makes no sense for the High Priest to have been given a name equivalent to the accursed, in the midst of an era when the books of Genesis and Exodus were being compiled. The NubiaNubiaNubia is a region along the Nile river, which is located in northern Sudan and southern Egypt.There were a number of small Nubian kingdoms throughout the Middle Ages, the last of which collapsed in 1504, when Nubia became divided between Egypt and the Sennar sultanate resulting in the Arabization...
ns were a Kushitic people, and therefore they were black. They were represented as black people in Ancient Egyptian paintings and multiple people named Pa-Nehesi were high priests during the 18th dynasty of Egyptian history, just prior to the Exodus. - The racist interpretations of scripture did not exist before European colonization. These interpretations were most likely introduced by adherents of ethnocentricEthnocentrismEthnocentrism is the tendency to believe that one's ethnic or cultural group is centrally important, and that all other groups are measured in relation to one's own. The ethnocentric individual will judge other groups relative to his or her own particular ethnic group or culture, especially with...
ideologies that were codified into the Western mindset. These ideologies adversely influenced the Protestant ReformationProtestant ReformationThe Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
and EnlightenmentAge of EnlightenmentThe Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
periods. - Objectively interpreting the idea of a mark of Cain to mean a change of skin color would require the existence of Biblical passages to equate the two. In JeremiahBook of JeremiahThe Book of Jeremiah is the second of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, following the book of Isaiah and preceding Ezekiel and the Book of the Twelve....
13:23 there is a distinction made between skin color and marks on the skin, which all but refutes the idea that Cain's mark was black skin: "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?". - One effect of the curse was for Cain to struggle agriculturally, to be "driven" from the face of the Lord and that Cain would not settle in any specific place. For Canaan's curse it was to serve the people of Shem's line. Making the curse a racially based issue ignored the primary issues of the curse and the racial interpretation of the curse was used to justify black servitude to whites. The doctrine became part of the institution of slavery and it also influenced the reasoning of many racist white Christian institutions in the West.
Modern Baptist exegesis
Some Baptist denominations deny that Cain was cursed by God, but rather they believe that Cain brought the curse upon himself. "God does not say, 'Now I curse you.' He simply states the truth, 'Now you are cursed'". In this way, Cain's aggression was the curse, and the outcome was the death of Abel. Because of continued problems with anger and aggression, the curse was handed down to Cain's posterity and even to LamechLamech
Lamech is a character in the genealogies of Adam in the Book of Genesis. He is the sixth generation descendant of Cain ; his father was named Methusael, and he was responsible for the "Song of the Sword." He is also noted as the first polygamist mentioned in the Bible, taking two wives, Ada and...
who killed in a manner similar to Cain.
In the same way, the teaching goes that Born Again believers are often cursed because of some of their struggles or sins, and they should work to overcome them, or the curses will be passed on to either their children or their descendants. If they do so, their curses will not be propagated to their posterity.
In popular culture
- In John SteinbeckJohn SteinbeckJohn Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. was an American writer. He is widely known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden and the novella Of Mice and Men...
's novel East of Eden, Charles and Adam are representative of Cain and Abel as are Adam's sons Caleb and Aron. Charles' scar on his forehead is allegorical of the "mark of Cain" and Adam and Charles' father Cyrus prefers Adam's gift over Charles' which leads to Charles beating Adam up (although not murdering him, in contrast to the Biblical story). - Hermann HesseHermann HesseHermann Hesse was a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. In 1946, he received the Nobel Prize in Literature...
uses the Mark of Cain as a motif in his novel DemianDemianDemian: The Story of Emil Sinclair's Youth is a Bildungsroman by Hermann Hesse, first published in 1919; a prologue was added in 1960. Demian was first published under the pseudonym "Emil Sinclair", the name of the narrator of the story, but Hesse was later revealed to be the author.-Plot summary...
, where it symbolizes a person seeking his true self. - The Mark of Cain is a British television film broadcast in 2007.
- Karl Edward WagnerKarl Edward WagnerKarl Edward Wagner was an American writer, editor and publisher of horror, science fiction, and heroic fantasy, who was born in Knoxville, Tennessee and originally trained as a psychiatrist. His disillusionment with the medical profession can be seen in the stories "The Fourth Seal" and "Into...
's character KaneKane (fantasy)Kane is a literary character created by Karl Edward Wagner in a series of sword and sorcery novels and short stories between 1970 and 1985. The stories are set in a grim, pre-medieval world which is nonetheless ancient and rich in history...
is described as one of the first humans, cursed to immortality and wandering after murdering his brother Abel, and to be immediately recognizable by his "murderer's eyes. - In White WolfWhite Wolf, Inc.White Wolf Publishing is an American gaming and book publisher. The company was founded in 1991 as a merger between Lion Rampant and White Wolf Magazine, and was initially led by Mark Rein·Hagen of the former and Steve and Stewart Wieck of the latter. Since White Wolf Publishing, Inc. merged with...
's role-playing game series Vampire: the MasqueradeVampire: The MasqueradeVampire: The Masquerade is a role-playing game. Created by Mark Rein·Hagen, it was the first of White Wolf Game Studio's World of Darkness role-playing games, based on the Storyteller System and centered around vampires in a modern gothic-punk world....
, the curse of Cain (spelled Caine) is that of vampirism. Caine becomes the father of all vampires after being cursed by God, and the mark functions as a game-play mechanic which returns seven times the damage dealt to him. - Neil Gaiman's The Sandman includes the character Cain directly as well as Abel (whom Cain repeatedly kills and who is in turn repeatedly resurrected) as inhabitants of the dream lord's realm. Cain is sent as a messenger to hell in Season of Mists as Lucifer will not kill him due to the mark, which is here a small black circle on his forehead, lest he suffers God's punishment.
- In the Final CrisisFinal CrisisFinal Crisis is a crossover storyline that appeared in comic books published by DC Comics in 2008, primarily the seven-issue miniseries of the same name written by Grant Morrison. Originally DC announced the project as being illustrated solely by J. G. Jones; artists Carlos Pacheco, Marco Rudy and...
event Cain is reborn on Earth in the body of the immortal villain Vandal SavageVandal SavageVandal Savage is a fictional character, a supervillain published by DC Comics. He first appeared in Green Lantern vol. 1 #10 , and was created by Alfred Bester and Martin Nodell....
. Sporting a tattooTattooA tattoo is made by inserting indelible ink into the dermis layer of the skin to change the pigment. Tattoos on humans are a type of body modification, and tattoos on other animals are most commonly used for identification purposes...
-like mark covering his whole face, Cain sets off to take his vengeance on the being who imposed the mark on him: not directly God, but his angel of retribution, the SpectreSpectre (comics)The Spectre is a fictional character and superhero who has appeared in numerous comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in a next issue ad in More Fun Comics #51 and received his first story the following month, #52...
. - In the Spider-ManSpider-ManSpider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15...
comics, KaineKaineKaine is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics supervillain and antihero who serves as both an ally and an enemy of Spider-Man. He first appeared in Web of Spider-Man #119, and is the Jackal's first failed attempt at cloning Peter Parker...
, a flawed clone of Peter Parker, can burn others with the palm of his hand, leaving what is dubbed the Mark of Kaine. - The alternative metal band Avenged SevenfoldAvenged SevenfoldAvenged Sevenfold is an American heavy metal band from Huntington Beach, California. Formed in 1999, the group consists of vocalist M. Shadows, lead guitarist Synyster Gates, rhythm guitarist Zacky Vengeance, bassist Johnny Christ....
took their name from a description of Cain's curse in Genesis 4:24 in the King James Version of the Bible. The song "Chapter Four" off of their album Waking the FallenWaking the FallenWaking the Fallen is the second album by Avenged Sevenfold, released on August 26, 2003 through Hopeless Records. It is the last release by the band to feature their metalcore sound, although more clean vocals are featured on the album than their debut album, Sounding the Seventh Trumpet. It is...
makes several references to the mark, as well as the murder itself. - The album "Crowning of AtlantisCrowning of AtlantisCrowning of Atlantis is the eighth album released by the symphonic metal band Therion. In the beginning it was an EP fleshed out with several covers and live tracks from Vovin Tour '98 that the record label and management insisted be placed on it to make it a full length album.-Track listing:# "The...
" (1998) by the symphonic metal band TherionTherionTherion, Greek for "wild animal" or "beast" , may refer to:* Therion, the name the Greeks gave to the constellation Lupus * Therion , the Swedish symphonic metal band* Therion , a god in Thelema, consort of Babalon...
includes a song titled "Mark of Cain", dealing with the story of Cain's curse and its esoteric meaning in the Dragon Rouge philosophy.