The Devil and Demonism in Early Modern England

by Nathan Johnstone

• ISBN13: 9780521802369
• ISBN10: 0521802369
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-02-20
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

An original book examining the concept of the Devil in English culture between the Reformation and the end of the English Civil War. Nathan Johnstone looks at the ways in which beliefs about the nature of the Devil and his power in human affairs changed as a consequence of the Reformation, and its impact on religious, literary and political culture. He moves away from the established focus on demonology as a component of the belief in witchcraft and examines a wide range of religious and political milieux, such as practical divinity, the interiority of Puritan godliness, anti-popery, polemic and propaganda, and popular culture. The concept of the Devil which emerged from the Reformation had a profound impact on the beliefs and practices of committed Protestants, but it also influenced both the political debates of the reigns of Elizabeth I, James I and Charles I, and in popular culture more widely.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	ix
1 Introduction	1	(26)
The English Reformation and the Protestant Devil	1	(7)
The historiography of the Devil	8	(4)
The Devil and 'the persecuting society': witches, Puritanism and despair	12	(15)
2 The synagogue of Satan: anti-Catholicism, false doctrine and the construction of contrariety	27	(33)
The Devil as fact: the Protestant perception of diabolic power	28	(13)
The Devil's church: the construction of contrariety	41	(19)
3 Temptation: the Protestant dynamic of diabolic agency and the resurgence of clerical mediation	60	(47)
Liturgy, theology and conduct literature	62	(21)
Resisting Satan: prayer and dialogue	83	(12)
The Protestant ministry and the mediation of resistance	95	(12)
4 Satan and the godly in early modern England	107	(35)
The context of demonism and models of temptation	108	(10)
Cyclical affliction and spiritual progression: the experience and rationalisation of temptation	118	(17)
Diabolic affliction and godly community	135	(7)
5 Incarnate devils: crime narratives, demonisation and audience empathy	142	(33)
Reporting Satan's agency: crime and the pulp press	144	(6)
Components of the Devil's kingdom	150	(3)
Devilish humans and audience empathy	153	(17)
Temptation and the physical Devil	170	(5)
6 'What concord bath Christ with Belial?': de facto satanism and the temptation of the body politic, 1570-1640	175	(38)
The Elizabethan religious controversies and the concept of de facto satanism	177	(7)
The divine monarch and the Devil: Elizabeth I, James I and Catholic treachery	184	(12)
The divine Charles and the Devil: diabolic subversion and the language of political opposition	196	(17)
7 'Grand Pluto's Progress through Great Britaine': the Civil War and the zenith of satanic politics	213	(37)
'Sworne Sword-men of the devill': diabolic service in parliamentary propaganda	217	(19)
'Hell's Black Parliament': demonism, rebellion and diabolic government in royalist propaganda	236	(14)
8 'The Devil's Alpha and Omega': temptation at the cutting edge of faith in the Civil War and the Interregnum	250	(36)
The synagogue of Satan revisited: the Devil turned Independent	253	(12)
The interpretation of sectarianism in the 1650's	265	(21)
Conclusion	286	(8)
Bibliography	294	(32)
Index	326