Description
Book SynopsisDrawing on an impressive array of sources from popular religion, art, literature, and drama, as well as from scholastic philosophy, mystical theology, homiletics, and hagiography, Russell provides a detailed treatment of Christian diabology in the Middle Ages.
Trade ReviewAn attractively written survey of the way the devil appears in art, literature and treatise, during the medieval period, with many signs of an engaging sense of personal commitment to the subject, and an attempt to show its contemporary relevance.
-- John O. Ward * Journal of Religious History *
If, as Chesterton claimed, the devil's greatest triumph was convincing the modern world that he doesn't exist, Jeffrey Burton Russell means to rob him of his victory. Lucifer is both a scholarly assessment of the development of diabology in the Middle Ages and an impassioned plea to the 20th century to recognize and acknowledge the existence of real, objective evil. The third in a series of works tracing the history of the devil... it represents a formidable undertaking: the devil's history is integrally related to the problem of evil, which is in turn at the heart of Western religious thought. Each of the volumes comprises, in essence, a judicious and able tour of Christian theology from the villain's point of view.... In Lucifer, Russell provides a wealth of documentatlon on the extent to which the devil is simply the projection onto a living being of our fears and hostilities about the universe, our neighbors, and ourselves.... A pleasure to read.
-- John Boswell * The New Republic *
Russell shows an admirable mastery of a vast and varied array of sources, and an equally admirable skill in summarizing them.
-- Norman Cohn * New York Times Book Review *
Table of ContentsPrefaceI. The Life of Lucifer2. The Devil in Byzantium3. The Muslim Devil4. Folklore5. Early Medieval Diabology6. Lucifer in Early Medieval Art and Literature7. The Devil and the Scholars8. Lucifer in High Medieval Art and Literature9. Lucifer on the Stage10. Nominalists, Mystics, and Witches11. The Existence of the DevilEssay on the Sources
Bibliography
Index
