Mephistopheles: The Devil in the Modern World

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

Excellent book, great food for the thought pattern.

ok

Ok - not as good as his first book

"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.

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!

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.

This book is, essentially, a biography of the Devil - focussing specifically on how Satan has been perceived during the modern era (c.1500 to present). It's the forth volume in a series, and is preceded by The Devil: Perceptions of Evil from Antiquity to Primitive Christianity (Cornell Paperbacks),Satan: The Early Christian Tradition (Cornell Paperbacks) and Lucifer: The Devil in the Middle Ages (Cornell Paperbacks). Each volume explores the history of the Devil during a particular period in time. The author, Russell, has also provided a single-volume overview: The Prince of Darkness : radical evil and the power of good in history / Jeffrey Burton Russell.Russell's knowledge of the literature concerning the Devil is impressive, and he rigorously explores Christian traditions on this subject. He writes well, presenting his arguments in a clear and lively manner. On that basis, I do recommend his work. Yet his books suffer from his overtly idealist approach to the material. Russell believes that 'ideas' exist in and of themselves, external to the outside world. So rather than locate ideas in their socio-historical context, Russell views such ideas as possessing an independent existence.The author believes that the Devil is real - that Satan has an objective existence - and that he is, in so many ways, responsible for harm and suffering in the world. The Devil is Evil Incarnate, and manifests himself in our lives. This is a bold perspective, especially by an academic historian. But as Russell is up-front about his own beliefs, that's acceptable. Yet this notion - of the Devil as really existing in our lives - is at odds with Russell's approach to history. He says that the Devil is an 'idea' ... and that ideas are independent of material reality. Yet he then says that the Devil exists materially, affecting our lives, causing actual suffering. I question the plausibility of whether an 'idea' that is considered as independent of material reality can, at the same time, cause material harm.Notwithstanding such issues, this is a good book - and if you're interested in how the Devil has been imagined during the past 500 years then I suggest you buy this product. The Devil: Perceptions of Evil from Antiquity to Primitive Christianity (Cornell Paperbacks)Satan: The Early Christian Tradition (Cornell Paperbacks)Lucifer: The Devil in the Middle Ages (Cornell Paperbacks)The Prince of Darkness : radical evil and the power of good in history / Jeffrey Burton Russell

Russell concludes his study into the conceptual history of the Devil in fine form. The exegesis of Milton's 'Paradise Lost' and Goethe's 'Faust' are invaluable. Russell has never concealed his bias throughout the series, yet it does here cause him to falter in his analysis of contemporary Satanism. His dismissal of the Temple of Set is ineffective due to Russell's bias leading him to rely upon subjective opinion, as opposed to the depth of research and analysis he devotes elsewhere. The initial 80% of this final entry in the series is thus excellent. The final chapters are less worthy of your time.

En lo particular me pareció muy bueno, ya que el profesor Jeffrey Burton brinda una explicación muy amplia en cuanto a los mitos y creencias.