The Devil : a new biography

Summary: "In The Devil, Philip C. Almond explores the figure of evil incarnate from the first centuries of the Christian era. Along the way, he describes the rise of demonology as an intellectual and theological pursuit, the persecution as witches of women believed to consort with the Devil and his minions, and the decline in the belief in Hell and in angels and demons as corporeal beings as a result of the Enlightenment. Almond shows that the Prince of Darkness remains an irresistible subject in history, religion, art, literature, and culture"--

Record details

ISBN: 9780801453373
ISBN: 0801453372
Physical Description: print
xviii, 270 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm
Publisher: Ithaca, NY : Cornell University Press, 2014.
Copyright: ©2014

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Formatted Contents Note:

1. The Devil is born. Angels and demons, sons and lovers ; 'The book of the watchers' ; Angels, arising and falling ; The birth of 'Satan' ; The archdemon Belial ; Satan and Jesus ; The fall of the dragon -- 2. The fall of the Devil. The fall of man ; The Satanic serpent ; Pride cometh before a fall ; Lucifer descending ; The battleground of history -- 3. Hell's angel. Paying off the Devil ; The demonic paradox ; The harrowing of Hades ; In hell, and in the air -- 4. The Devil rides out. A pope bewitched ; Cathars, moderate and extreme ; Angels and demons ; The demonisation of magic ; Magic defined, damned and defended ; Conjuring demons and conversing with angels -- 5. Devilish bodies. The demonisation of popular magic ; Errors not cathartic but Satanic ; The Devil, sex and sexuality ; Embodied demons -- 6. The Devil and the witch. Infanticide and cannibalism ; Travels sabbatical ; The Satanic pact ; The Devil's mark -- 7. A very possessing Devil. The possessed body ; Possession, medicine and sceptics ; Forensic demonology ; Beyond the borders of the human ; Exorcising the Devil -- 8. The Devil defeated. The binding and loosing of Satan ; The Antichrist ; Adso and the Antichrist ; The future binding of Satan ; Apocalypse now ; Satan and the fires of hell -- 9. The 'death' of the Devil. Satan and superstition ; The cessation of miracles ; The devil de-skilled ; The devil disembodied ; Bodies, platonic and demonic ; Disenchanting the world.