The Devil’s Party: Satanism in Modernity
2013 (English)Collection (editor) (Refereed)
Abstract [en]
Recent years have seen a significant shift in the study of new religious movements. In Satanism studies, interest has moved to anthropological and historical work on groups and inviduals. Self-declared Satanism, especially as a religion with cultural production and consumption, history, and organization, has largely been neglected by academia. This volume, focused on modern Satanism as a practiced religion of life-style, attempts to reverse that trend with 12 cutting-edge essays from the emerging field of Satanism studies. Topics covered range from early literary Satanists like Blake and Shelley, to the Californian Church of Satan of the 1960s, to the radical developments that have taken place in the Satanic milieu in recent decades. The contributors analyze such phenomena as conversion to Satanism, connections between Satanism and political violence, 19th-century decadent Satanism, transgression, conspiracy theory, and the construction of Satanic scripture. A wide array of methods are employed to shed light on the Devil's disciples: statistical surveys, anthropological field studies, philological examination of The Satanic Bible, contextual analysis of literary texts, careful scrutiny of obscure historical records, and close readings of key Satanic writings. The book will be an invaluable resource for everyone interested in Satanism as a philosophical or religious position of alterity rather than as an imagined other.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
New York: Oxford University Press, 2013. , p. 289
Keywords [en]
Satanism, Satan, Devil, Western Esotericism, Occultism, New Religions, Literature
Keywords [sv]
Satanism, Satan, Djävulen, Västerländsk esoterism, ockultism, nya religioner, skönlitteratur
National Category
History of Religions
Research subject
History of Religion
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:su:diva-84736DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199779239.001.0001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-84898028373ISBN: 978-0-19-977924-6 (print)OAI: oai:DiVA.org:su-84736DiVA, id: diva2:581335
2012-12-312012-12-312022-09-26Bibliographically approved