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Jeffrey Burton Russell

Mephistopheles: The Devil in the Modern World Paperback – February 22, 1990

by Jeffrey Burton Russell (Author)

8 customer reviews

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Mephistopheles is the fourth and final volume of a critically acclaimed history of the concept of the Devil. The series constitutes the most complete historical study ever made of the figure that has been called the second most famous personage in Christianity.

In his first three volumes Jeffrey Burton Russell brought the history of Christian diabology to the end of the Middle Ages, showing the development of a degree of consensus, even in detail, on the concept of the Devil. Mephistopheles continues the story from the Reformation to the present, tracing the fragmentation of the tradition. Using examples from theology, philosophy, art, literature, and popular culture, he describes the great changes effected in our idea of the Devil by the intellectual and cultural developments of modem times.

Emphasizing key figures and movements, Russell covers the apogee of the witch craze in the Renaissance and Reformation, the effects of the Enlightenment's rationalist philosophy, the Romantic image of Satan, and the cynical or satirical literary treatments of the Devil in the late nineteenth century. He concludes that although today the Devil may seem an outworn metaphor, the very real horrors of the twentieth century suggest the continuing need for some vital symbol of radical evil.

A work of great insight and learning, Mephistopheles deepens our understanding of the ways in which people in Western societies have dealt with the problem of evil.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Jeffrey Burton Russell is not only a conscientious historian, he is also an introspective essayist who acknowledges his own continuing struggle to understand the nature and the source of evil."―Robert Coles, New York Times Book Review

"It is more than the history of demonological imagination as it has been displayed for half a millennium in theological controversies, in poetry, novels, paintings, and witch trials: it is the history of European man trying to cope with the terrifying riddle of radical evil. . . . Both an extremely rich scholarly work and an exiquisite exercise in a topic that is unlikely ever to die off in our civilization."―Leslek Kolakowski, Journal of Modern History

"This book moves with sustained seriousness and brilliance across five centuries, from Luther's time to our own . . . and, although it has all the virtues of great intellectual history, it is explicitly rooted in a profound moral analysis of our own era."―M. D. Aeschliman, National Review

"No few sentences can adequately convey the book's richness of content and seriousness of purpose. Russell has without doubt bequeathed us a magnificent synthesis of Western culture's modern, tortuous grappling with the ideas of radical evil and the devil."―Brian Easlea, American Historical Review

"An excellent and important intellectual history."―Library Journal

About the Author

Jeffrey Burton Russell is Professor of History Emeritus at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Product details

Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Cornell University Press (February 22, 1990)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0801497183
ISBN-13: 978-0801497186
Product Dimensions: 6.2 x 1 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 8 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #540,878 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #318 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Other Religions, Practices & Sacred Texts > Cults
- #481 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Theology > Angelology & Demonology
- #3548 in Books > History > World > Religious > Christianity

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A good history of how the devil was created and viewed ...

October 30, 2016

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Interesting! A good history of how the devil was created and viewed at different times.

Comment

Clarence Reddick

STILL DIGESTING

March 4, 2016

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Excellent book, great food for the thought pattern.

Comment

November 27, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

ok

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October 12, 2016

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Ok - not as good as his first book

Comment

Matthew S. Schweitzer

The Final Book of the Archfiend

April 5, 2005

Format: Paperback

"Mephistopheles" is the fourth and final volume in Jeffery Russell's excellent series on the history and myth of the Devil. Here Russell examines the contemporary beliefs and myths of the Dark Lord in detail, from the Renaissance to the present day. Russell explorers not only traditional Christian views on the Devil, but also his incarnations in Islam, Judaism, and others.

The idea of the Devil, the very personification of evil, has changed much since the early days of Judaism and Christianity. By the dawn of the Renaissance, the Devil had undergone a kind of "rebirth" himself. Though the onset of the early modern era had seen the beginnings of science and reason, superstition and religious persecution was at an all time high. Russell examines the role of the Devil in the Reformation and during the height of the Witch Craze. Though they differed on many points of theology, Catholics and Protestants definately agreed that Satan continued to be a very real and very dangerous foe. Russell continues his story into the Enlightenment and the Age of Reason, which saw the Devil lose his teeth, followed by his romanticization in the 19th century as a rebellious anti-hero.

Though still feared by the credulous and railed against in the pulpits by evangelicals, Satan has largely been reduced to a shadow of his former self, an advertising ploy whose imagery is used to sell everything from deviled ham to movie tickets. Russell's books are generally considered the standard modern work on the history and myth of the Devil, and this volume examplifies why this is so. Well worth checking out.

23 people found this helpful

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A customer

A fascinating history of the devil in modern thought!

May 29, 1996

Format: Paperback

A very thorough, well-written examination of how Satan and evil have been

viewed since the Reformation. Russell takes a historian's stance to examine

a subject both controversial and mystifying at best. No stone is left unturned

as he looks at how the devil is viewed by church officials, commonfolk,

and intelligentsia,and how these views are reflected in the artwork and pop-culture

of those times. This work manages at once to be intellectual and an easy read,

thorough and engrossing. A must for anyone fascinated by the forces that have shaped Christian thought.

25 people found this helpful

Comment

Still Doing That Old Black Magic That He Does So Well

June 6, 2006

Format: Paperback

Jeffrey Burton Russell completes the journey from ancient antiquity to the present with "Old Horny" still up to his same old tricks in a variety of new guises and misdirections.

In 'Mephistopheles: The Devil in the Modern World' Russell paints on a broad canvas pointing out the immense scale of diabolical infusion within the modern day 20th century landscape. No facet of life is devoid of his demonic image and influence; art, music, fashion, advertisin, politics. He's everywhere.

A grand conclusion to a monumental amount of research!

8 people found this helpful

Comment

Good for Satan but not for Satanism

May 2, 2005

Format: Paperback

J.B.R. is a U. Cal. historian who knows scholarship - and how to write a history that's accessible to a popular audience. If you want to know about the devil in the Modern world, this is your book. See the other reviews for general content.

I'm more concerned with criticism. As I read "Mephistopheles" I began to wonder if J.B.R. is Catholic, and of the extent to which his faith might have biased his interpretation and presentation of Satanic discourse. This is evident from his dislike and/or dismissal of Protestants, Liberal Catholics, and Satanists.

In the case of the Protestants, J.B.R. is very clearly displeased with the Protestant move towards Scripture, away from Tradition, as the locus of the Christian revelation. He constantly refers to "Tradition" - and by this he means the Catholic one - as the "essence" of Christianity, alongside Scripture. He disparages Protestant scholarship's interest in the historical Jesus as one of endless concessions to secular historicism. Catholic scholarship which is commensurate with this turn in studying Christ and the early Church is similarly damned by him as conceding dogma and tradition to secularization. Liberal popes and Vatican II are criticized in the same way. He knows Protestant scholarship but clearly pays it short shrift.

Far worse, however, is his analysis of contemporary Satanists. J.B.R. dismisses Anton LaVey (the "black pope" of the Church of Satan) and the Temple of Set on the basis of their very primitive scholarship on Satan and frequent self-contradictory remarks about him. One quickly gets the impression that he is out to ridicule rather than understand, and the reader really learns very little about what LaVey and his peers are all about - a secular philosophy of rugged honesty and individualism mixed with a ritual practice bathed in antinomian imagery and symbolism. Much worse is his acceptance of frequent and long-debunked myths of Satanic ritual abuse and even "backmasking" (i.e., rock bands coding Satanic messages backwards in their records). Propogation of such sensationalized falsehood is really unacceptable for any historian of religion and especially a specialist like him. Obviously he felt entitled to be sloppy when it came to contemporary Satanism. Readers interested in the subject should check out LaVey's oeuvre. J.B.R. is right on target for pointing the finger at rock music as the source of Satan's newfound popularity amongst secular teens. If you want to understand rather than ridicule this, read Gavin Baddeley's "Lucifer Rising," which isn't so good on the Christian tradition (J.B.R. is the one for this!) but really knows heavy metal and why Satan is so prominent in it.

23 people found this helpful

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