About this Book

While theologians from Augustine and Gregory to Aquinas, Luther, and De Lancre struggled to determine the nature of the devil and the extent of his powers, the men and women of premodern Europe felt - and saw - the presence of the devil all around them. Theirs were societies and cultures in which the devil and his assorted crew of minions were ascribed real potency in the natural world. Treating the devil not as a reified theological entity but as a dynamic concept that was made and remade over the centuries according to cultural priorities and the exigencies of circumstance, the articles in this collection probe how the devil and demonism operated as explanatory categories that helped create and rationalise experience, thereby shaping the way people lived their lives and understood their place and role in the world. The articles in this book all originated as papers presented at the "Devil in Society in the Pre-Modern World", an international, multi-disciplinary and multi-university conference held at Victoria University in the University of Toronto between 17 and 18 October 2008.