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Books > Religion & Spirituality > Alternative belief systems > Occult studies
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Demoniality
(Hardcover)
Ludovico Maria Sinistrari, Montague Summers
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R484
Discovery Miles 4 840
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Ships in 10 - 15 working days
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Magic is usually defined as a non-modern phenomenon, contrasted
with modern rationalism and science. However, the idea of magic has
remained persistent in scholarly discourse throughout history from
the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment and beyond. This volume
explores how the notion of magic is articulated and theorised in
the writing of history. Departing from writing "about" magic in
history, this volume addresses magic as it relates to the
trajectories of intellectual history as a whole, with particular
reference to a diverse series of case studies in thought about
magic. The author also engages with the history and philosophy of
science; operating within this framework, the author argues that
magic has always been figured as "medieval" in the formulation of
the discourses of modernity, and that thinking or writing about
magic has engendered multiple epistemological crises. Through these
controversies, the idea of magic and the occult has profoundly
unsettled the understanding of history in Western culture. The
resulting study is an investigation of the implications of magic
(and the study of magic) for intellectual history.
The Malleus Maleficarum is a seminal treatise regarding witchcraft
and demons, presented here complete with an authoritative
translation to modern English by Montague Summers. At the time this
book was published in 1487, the Christian church had considered
witchcraft a dangerous affront to the faith for many centuries.
Executions of suspected witches were intermittent, and various
explanations of behaviors deemed suspect were thought to be caused
by possession, either by the devil or demon such as an incubus or
succubus. Kramer wrote this book after he had tried and failed to
have a woman executed for witchcraft. Unhappy at the verdict of the
court, he authored the Malleus Maleficarum as a manual for other
witch seekers to refer to. For centuries the text was used by
Christians as a reference source on matters of demonology, although
it was not used directly by the Inquisition who became notorious
for their tortures and murders.
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