Customer Reviews

The History of the Devil and the Idea of Evil: From the Earliest Times to the Present Day (Open Court paperback)

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This book isn't exactly your classic bedtime reading. It's a great book, no doubt about that. But the book tells fact after fact after fact. It reads like an encyclopedia, which is why I find it difficult to doubt anything the author is stating. But again, it's a great book if your just wanting the facts. It vary rarely contains personal thoughts and feelings about the subjects. I recommend it for anyone just wanting the facts, then wanting to base their own opinions.

I have read many books on the devil over the years, and this is by far the best.

It belongs in every library, Christian and Satanist alike!

This book has been around for a long time, and it has been republished several times. It is an excellent work on just what the complete title says. It provides a bonus: a number of small line drawings that illustrate works of art from antiquity and bring an extra dimension to the text.

The author of this history is an avid proponent of what he regards to be "true religion": in this case, "the religion of science," in which the devil and his legions are regarded as mere symbols and in which belief in literal demons is labeled a base superstition, a sort of primitive dualism, and the springboard for all manner of evil (witch hunts, inquisitions, etc.). The author seems to regard himself as the herald of a new age of scientific objectivism.

The book outlines the history of man's perception of evil, presenting it as a sort of progressive evolution from superstition to reason, assisted by the "divine light of science." In deifying science, however, the author seems to forget that science is likely to be as false as religion (what is held as scientific truth in one generation may be the laughingstock of the next); it can be as dogmatic as religion (take the modern rigid stance on evolution, for example); and it can be a source of as great an evil (consider the Nazi's eugenics program).

The author often asserts as fact matters that would more accurately be termed hypothesis. But whether or not one agrees with his interpretations of religious history, or with his questionable definition of true religion, "The History of the Devil" is a fascinating book. It teaches many interesting--and rarely emphasized--components of Christian history, introducing to us a large cast of historical figures. These men and women the author judges according to their degree of enlightenment, that is, according to how literally they regard the devil. Luther, however, receives much praise, despite his strong belief in a literal devil, because in his lifetime he ensured that none of his followers ever burned a human soul for a witch. Calvin, on the other hand, the instigator of numerous executions, is offered no such kindness.

The book is not solely the story of the Christian view of the devil. It begins with the most primitive views of good and evil, passing through Ancient Egypt, the early Semites, Persian Dualism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and other religions. The book is replete with eye-catching illustrations, and it is spattered with fascinating quotations from literature and historical and theological sources. Whatever your theological objections, The History of the Devil is worth reading.

Paul Carus's classic treatise, writ and published to great occult acclaim circa 1900, remains a much deserved classic; 350 illustrations carefully chosen alone warrant applause, but it is his highly focused text that deserves scholars' attentions and demands republication. Foremost of importance for current day readers is the extent to which the work delves far beyond the pulpish, tho non-fictive, profit-orientated goals of the majority of the Devil's historians making a buck and a name out there today (Jeffrey B. Russell, whose depictions of the late eliphas Levi as a mere flop Satanist---of which as a devout Catholic Abbe' he was strictly railing against the entirety of his miraculous life---exemplifies such). None such opinionations are within carus's exemplar work. Crucial to this review is coneying the standard of success he reaches in establishing his goal of a thorough, precise and organized historiography mapping and dilineating the crucial developments and differences amidst the varied beliefs and ideas concerning evil and its dominions and servitors, on a level worldwide in conception. Cultural relativity is and remains established throughout; no opinions are broached to instead focus strictly upon orientating the reader with The History Of The Devil And The Idea Of Evil ( the book's subtitle) with little sensationalism besides the already stranger than fiction truth of the matter.

As a Romantic debauchee lusting for poetic description with the kind of wit that bites its object of desire in the middle of the back, my only complaint of such a work as Carus's lies here. Those searching for the blasphemous variety need not turn to necromancy to evoke such animated literature as some precious few remain miraculously in print ( Eliphas Levi, Montague Summers,and Grillot de Givry, respectively, all relative contemporaries of Carus---1860, 1926 & 1931---serve excellent examples). Carus however was unconcerned with novelistic delights and concentrated upon discovering underlying formations of principles and morality within a cultural context; his establishing of historical factual sources, verifiable and in most cases evident, posits him upon a high mount of scholarly regard in the lands of comparative religions.

A wonderfully written and illustrated book takes you through the concept of devil from the ancient egypt to modern times. Paul ideas on the demonology of the christendom will keep you on the edge of your seat. A must buy classic!

Mr Paul Carus comes at the problems of evil in society with a refreshing,albeit strained, neutrality. I think that Mr. Carus seriously digs Satan and this comes through in the background of his writing, especially when he came no longer hold his tongue in the witchcraft sections. He is a mighty scholar, tis true, but I wonder, Mr. Paul Carus, where is the discussion of our present understanding of evil? The Chapter "In Verse and Fable," was a move in the right direction, but sadly, the book dries up before Carus can point to any application of his fine scholarship to our present existance, so it becomes simply a fine reproduction of the endless parade of devil literature...