Demonology and Devil-Lore

A two-volume work, first published in 1879, examining the origins and decline of belief in demons across the world.

Moncure Daniel Conway (Author)

9781108044158, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 2 February 2012

490 pages, 33 b/w illus.
21.6 x 2.8 x 14 cm, 0.62 kg

Moncure Daniel Conway (1832–1907), the son of a Virginian plantation-owner, became a Unitarian minister but his anti-slavery views made him controversial. He later became a freethinker, and following the outbreak of the Civil War, which deeply divided his own family, he left the United States for England in 1863. He gained a reputation for being the 'least orthodox preacher in London', and was acquainted with many figures in the literary and scientific world, including Charles Dickens and Charles Darwin. In this two-volume work, first published in 1879, Conway draws from examples across the world to discuss the origins and decline of beliefs in demons. In Volume 2, he discusses the role that the Devil plays in Christianity (including analysis of the story of the Fall of Man), and that similar figures play in other religions, offering the view that such figures are personifications of certain human attributes.

Part IV: 1. Diabolism
2. The second best
3. Ahriman, the divine devil
4. Viswámitra, the theocratic devil
5. Elohim and Jehovah
6. The consuming fire
7. Paradise and the serpent
8. Eve
9. Lilith
10. War in heaven
11. War on earth
12. Strife
13. Barbaric aristocracy
14. Job and the divider
15. Satan
16. Religious despotism
17. The prince of this world
18. Trial of the great
19. The man of sin
20. The Holy Ghost
21. Antichrist
22. The pride of life
23. The curse of knowledge
24. Witchcraft
25. Faust and Mephistopheles
26. The wild huntsman
27. Le bon diable
28. Animalism
29. Thoughts and interpretations
Index.

Subject Areas: History of ideas [JFCX]