Satan's Rhetoric: A Study of Renaissance Demonology - Rilegato

Maggi, Armando

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0226501329 ISBN 13: 9780226501321

Casa editrice: Univ of Chicago Pr, 2001

Riassunto

According to Christian theology, fallen angels share key similarities with human beings because they share our outcast condition. Cast to Earth and wandering in search of respite, their chief activity is their engagement and dialogue with humanity.

With this probing new contribution to the study of Christianity, Armando Maggi examines this dialogue, exploring how evil spirits interacted with mankind during the early modern period. Reading innumerable treatises on demonology written during the Renaissance, including Thesaurus exorcismorum, the most important record of early modern exorcisms, Maggi finds repeated attempts to define the language exchanged between the fallen progeny of Adam, and the most notorious fallen angel of them all, Satan. Using points of departure taken from de Certeau and Lacan, Maggi shows that Satan articulates his language first and foremost in the mind. More than speaking, the devil tries to make human beings understand his language and speak it themselves. Through sodomites, infidels, and witches, then, the devil is able to infect humanity as it appropriates his seductive rhetoric.

Su questo libro

Informazioni sull'autore

Armando Maggi is an associate professor of Romance Languages and Literatures at the University of Chicago. He is the author of several works, including Uttering the Word: The Mystical Performances of Maria Maddalena de' Pazzi.

Dal risvolto di copertina interno

According to Christian theology, fallen angels hold key similarities to human beings because they share our outcast condition. Cast to Earth and wandering in search of respite, their chief activity is their engagement in dialogue with humanity. With this probing new contribution to the study of Christianity, Armando Maggi examines this dialogue, exploring how evil spirits interacted with mankind during the early modern period. Reading innumerable treatises on demonology written during the Renaissance, including Thesaurus exorcismorum, the most important record of early modern exorcisms, Maggi finds repeated attempts to define the language exchanged between the fallen progeny of Adam, and the most notorious fallen angel of them all, Satan. Using points of departure taken from de Certeau and Lacan, Maggi shows that Satan articulates his language first and foremost in the mind. More than speaking, the devil tries to make human beings understand his language and speak it themselves. Through sodomites, infidels, and witches, then, the devil is able to infect humanity as it appropriates his seductive rhetoric.

Dettagli dell'edizione

• Editore: Univ of Chicago Pr
• Data di pubblicazione: 2001
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 0226501329
• ISBN 13: 9780226501321
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero di pagine: 260
• Contatto del produttore: non disponibile
• Persona responsabile: non disponibile