Mephistopheles

by Jeffrey Burton Russell

Book Overview

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...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801497183
• ISBN13: 9780801497186
• Release Date: February 1990
• Publisher: Cornell University Press
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Still Doing That Old Black Magic That He Does So Well

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!

Good for Satan but not for Satanism

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.

The Final Book of the Archfiend

"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.

A fascinating history of the devil in modern thought!

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.