‘Vivid and fascinating’
‘Philip Almond's new book spans the whole range of time, amounting to two and a half millennia, in which Satan has been a figure in the Western imagination. It is lucid, explaining often quite complex theology in a manner which can be understood by, and makes the material genuinely interesting and exciting to, any readers. This is probably the best scholarly book on the subject currently available to a general audience.’
the de v il
—MARION GIBSON, Associate Professor of Renaissance and Magical Literatures, University of Exeter
‘Let him that hath understanding count the number of the Beast’
JILL PATON WALSH
– Revelation 13.
a new biography
‘Philip Almond's new book is a triumph... With humour and charm, it proceeds accessibly from the earliest Jewish writings on demons to eighteenth-century attempts to challenge the belief that Satan was active in human affairs. Angels, giants, demoniacs, witches and divines fill its pages, and the breadth of research informing the book is impressively broad. Yet the text is informal and readable. Almond has made theology and demonology approachable and his account rips along. This is an entertaining and informative read.’
PHILIP C. ALMOND is Professor Emeritus of Religion at the University of Queensland. His previous books include The Witches of Warboys: An Extraordinary Story of Sorcery, Sadism and Satanic Possession (2007), England’s First Demonologist: Reginald Scot and ‘The Discoverie of Witchcraft’ (2011) and The Lancashire Witches: A Chronicle of Sorcery and Death on Pendle Hill (2012), all published by I.B.Tauris.
—RONALD HUTTON, Professor of History, University of Bristol
the de v il a new biography
—JILL PATON WALSH, author of K nowledge of Angels, shortlisted for the Booker Prize
ISBN 978-1-78076-403-0
Philip C. Almond
www.ibtauris.com
This rich and multi-textured biography follows the history of the Devil from his birth to his ultimate defeat and banishment to Hell after the end of time. In mapping his ‘life’, Philip C. Almond simultaneously explores the complex figure of the Devil from the first centuries of the Christian era to the rise of Western magic, classical demonology and the witchcraft persecutions; and from the golden ages of demonic possession and Christian apocalypticism to the ‘death’ of the Devil during the eighteenth-century Enlightenment. Skilfully deploying a lifetime’s expertise in historical studies, the author shows that the Prince of Darkness, in all his incarnations, and in his many different guises (whether Lord of the Flies or the Great Red Dragon), remains an irresistible subject in history, religion, art, literature and culture.
Philip C. Almond
9 781780 764030 Jacket illustration: The Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun, 1803–5 (w/c on paper, by William Blake [1757–1827 ])/Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York/Gift of William Augustus White/ The Bridgeman Art Library
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‘This fascinating – and tragic – account of his influence through history will be a real eye-opener to anyone who supposes that the inconvenience of his not existing would limit the damage the Devil could do. Following with deep learning a trail of confusion, dogmatism and persecution, Philip Almond in his vivid biography convincingly demonstrates that the Devil was, and is, a very bad idea.’
It is often said that the Devil has the best tunes. He also has as many names as he has guises. Lucifer, Mephistopheles, Beelzebub (in Christian thought), Ha-Satan, Belial or the Adversary (in Jewish scripture) and Iblis or Shaitan (in Islamic tradition) has throughout the ages and across civilizations been a compelling and charismatic presence. The Devil has played a crucial role in Christian cosmic history – from Creation and Fall to Redemption and the Last Things. For the better part of the last two thousand years, belief in the Devil has formed as fundamental a part of Western thought as faith in God. The supposed pre-eminence of the Almighty has been challenged persistently and dangerously by the fiery malice of his opponent, as these contending forces of good and evil between them have weighed human souls in the balance. And the course of history itself has been seen as a desperate struggle between good and evil: a story either of human salvation or damnation in which the Devil is both God’s implacable enemy and at the same time, paradoxically, the enforcer of his justice and his infernal torturer.