Philip C. Almond's Books

The Devil

A New Biography

By: Philip C. Almond

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Although the Devil still 'lives' in modern popular culture, for the past 250 years he has become marginal to the dominant concerns of Western intellectual thought. That life could not be thought or imagined without him, that he was a part of the everyday, continually present in nature and history, and active at the depths of our selves, has been all but forgotten. It is the aim of this work to bring modern readers to a deeper appreciation of how, from the early centuries of the Christian period through to the recent beginnings of the modern world, the human story could not be told and human life could not be lived apart from the 'life' of the Devil. With that comes the deeper recognition that, for the better part of the last two thousand years, the battle between good and evil in the hearts and minds of men and women was but the reflection of a cosmic battle between God and Satan, the divine and the diabolic, that was at the heart of history itself."—from The Devil Lucifer, Mephistopheles, Beelzebub; Ha-Satan or the Adversary; Iblis or Shaitan: no matter what name he travels under, the Devil has throughout the ages and across civilizations been a compelling and charismatic presence. In Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, the supposed reign of God has long been challenged by the fiery malice of his opponent, as contending forces of good and evil have between them weighed human souls in the balance. In The Devil, Philip C. Almond explores the figure of evil incarnate from the first centuries of the Christian era. Along the way, he describes the rise of demonology as an intellectual and theological pursuit, the persecution as witches of women believed to consort with the Devil and his minions, and the decline in the belief in Hell and in angels and demons as corporeal beings as a result of the Enlightenment. Almond shows that the Prince of Darkness remains an irresistible subject in history, religion, art, literature, and culture. Almond brilliantly locates the "life" of the Devil within the broader Christian story of which it is inextricably a part; the "demonic paradox" of the Devil as both God's enforcer and his enemy is at the heart of Christianity. Woven throughout the account of the Christian history of the Devil is another complex and complicated history: that of the idea of the Devil in Western thought. Sorcery, witchcraft, possession, even melancholy, have all been laid at the Devil's doorstep. Until the Enlightenment enforced a "disenchantment" with the old archetypes, even rational figures such as Thomas Aquinas were obsessed with the nature of the Devil and the specific characteristics of the orders of demons and angels. It was a significant moment both in the history of demonology and in theology when Benedict de Spinoza (1632–1677) denied the Devil's existence; almost four hundred years later, popular fascination with the idea of the Devil has not yet dimmed.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

305

Publisher

Cornell University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0801471869

ISBN 13

9780801471865

The Antichrist

A New Biography

By: Philip C. Almond

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Antichrist

A New Biography

By: Philip C. Almond

A complete history of the Antichrist, Satan's son, within the context of Western expectations of the end of the world.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

341

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1108479650

ISBN 13

9781108479653

God

A New Biography

By: Philip C. Almond

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

God

A New Biography

By: Philip C. Almond

In this elegant new book, the sequel to his earlier, much praised treatment of the Devil, Philip Almond reveals that - whether in Judaism, Christianity or Islam - God is seen to be at once utterly beyond our world yet at the same earnestly desiring to be at one with it. In the Christian chapter of this story the paradox arguably reaches its improbable zenith: in the fragile form of a human being the infinite became finite, the eternal temporal. The way these and other metaphysical tensions have been understood is, the author demonstrates, the key to unlocking the entire history of religion in the West. Expertly placing the narrative of divine presence within the wider history of ideas, Almond suggests that the notion of a deity has been the single greatest conundrum of medieval and modern civilization. In this rich, nuanced appraisal, 'God' is shown to be more complex and fascinating than ever before.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

379

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

183860863X

ISBN 13

9781838608637

The Devil

A New Biography

By: Philip C. Almond

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Devil

A New Biography

By: Philip C. Almond

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

305

Publisher

Cornell University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0801471869

ISBN 13

9780801471865

The Lancashire Witches

A Chronicle of Sorcery and Death on Pendle Hill

By: Philip C. Almond

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Lancashire Witches

A Chronicle of Sorcery and Death on Pendle Hill

By: Philip C. Almond

In the febrile religious and political climate of late sixteenth-century England, when the grip of the Reformation was as yet fragile and insecure, and underground papism still perceived to be rife, Lancashire was felt by the Protestant authorities to be a sinister corner of superstition, lawlessness and popery. And it was around Pendle Hill, a sombre ridge that looms over the intersecting pastures, meadows and moorland of the Ribble Valley, that their suspicions took infamous shape. The arraignment of the Lancashire witches in the assizes of Lancaster during 1612 is England's most notorious witch-trial. The women who lived in the vicinity of Pendle, who were accused alongside the so-called Samlesbury Witches, then convicted and hanged, were more than just wicked sorcerers whose malign incantations caused others harm. They were reputed to be part of a dense network of devilry and mischief that revealed itself as much in hidden celebration of the Mass as in malevolent magic. They had to be eliminated to set an example to others. In this remarkable and authoritative treatment, published to coincide with the 400th anniversary of the case of the Lancashire witches, Philip C Almond evokes all the fear, drama and paranoia of those volatile times: the bleak story of the storm over Pendle

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

266

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

0857732641

ISBN 13

9780857732644

The Antichrist

A New Biography

By: Philip C. Almond

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Antichrist

A New Biography

By: Philip C. Almond

A complete history of the Antichrist, Satan's son, within the context of Western expectations of the end of the world.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

341

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1108479650

ISBN 13

9781108479653

God

A New Biography

By: Philip C. Almond

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

God

A New Biography

By: Philip C. Almond

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

306

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1838608648

ISBN 13

9781838608644

The British Discovery of Buddhism

By: Philip C. Almond

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The British Discovery of Buddhism

By: Philip C. Almond

This is the first book to examine the British discovery of Buddhism during the Victorian period. It was only during the nineteenth century that Buddhism became, in the western mind, a religious tradition separate from Hinduism. As a result, Buddha emerge from a realm of myth and was addressed as a historical figure. Almond's exploration of British interpretations of Buddhism--of its founder, its doctrines, its ethics, its social practices, its truth and value--illuminates more than the various aspects of Buddhist culture: it sheds light on the Victorian society making these judgements.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

198

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0521355036

ISBN 13

9780521355032

England's First Demonologist

Reginald Scot and 'The Discoverie of Witchcraft'

By: Philip C. Almond

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

England's First Demonologist

Reginald Scot and 'The Discoverie of Witchcraft'

By: Philip C. Almond

The fables of witchcraft have taken so fast hold and deepe root in the heart of man, that few or none can indure with patience the hand and correction of God.' Reginald Scot, whose words these are, published his remarkable book The Discoverie of Witchcraft in 1584. England's first major work of demonology, witchcraft and the occult, the book was unashamedly sceptical. It is said that so outraged was King James VI of Scotland by the disbelieving nature of Scot's work that, on James' accession to the English throne in 1603, he ordered every copy to be destroyed. Yet for all the anger directed at Scot, and his scorn for Stuart orthodoxy about wiches, the paradox was that his detailed account of sorcery helped strengthen the hold of European demonologies in England while also inspiring the distinctively English tradition of secular magic and conjuring. Scot's influence was considerable. Shakespeare drew on The Discoverie of Witchcraft for his depiction of the witches in Macbeth. So too did fellow-playwright Thomas Middleton in his tragi-comedy The Witch. Recognising Scot's central importance in the history of ideas, Philip Almond places his subject in the febrile context of his age, examines the chief themes of his work and shows why his writings became a sourcebook for aspiring magicians and conjurors for several hundred years. England's First Demonologist makes a notable contribution to a fascinating but unjustly neglected topic in the study of Early Modern England and European intellectual history.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

256

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

0857719815

ISBN 13

9780857719812

Demonic Possession and Exorcism in Early Modern England

Contemporary Texts and their Cultural Contexts

By: Philip C. Almond

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Demonic Possession and Exorcism in Early Modern England

Contemporary Texts and their Cultural Contexts

By: Philip C. Almond

This book is exclusively devoted to demonic possession and exorcism in early modern England. It offers modernized versions of the most significant early modern texts on nine cases of demonic possession from the period 1570 to 1650, the key period in English history for demonic possession. The nine stories were all written by eyewitnesses or were derived from eyewitness reports. They involve matters of life and death, sin and sanctity, guilt and innocence, of crimes which could not be committed and punishments which could not be deserved. The nine critical introductions which accompany the stories address the different strategic intentions of those who wrote them. The modernized texts and critical introductions are placed within the context of a wide-ranging general Introduction to demonic possession in England across the period 1550 to 1700.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

417

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

113945160X

ISBN 13

9781139451604

Mary Magdalene

A Cultural History

By: Philip C. Almond

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Mary Magdalene

A Cultural History

By: Philip C. Almond

Tells the story of Mary Magdalene from its beginnings in the New Testament up to the present time. This book is the first major work on Mary Magdalene in thirty years. It explores the many different Mary Magdalenes created for each age.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

365

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1009221698

ISBN 13

9781009221696

Mystical Experience and Religious Doctrine

An Investigation of the Study of Mysticism in World Religions

By: Philip C. Almond

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Mystical Experience and Religious Doctrine

An Investigation of the Study of Mysticism in World Religions

By: Philip C. Almond

Sinceits founding by Jacques Waardenburg in 1971, Religion and Reason has been a leading forum for contributions on theories, theoretical issues and agendas related to the phenomenon and the study of religion. Topics include (among others) category formation, comparison, ethnophilosophy, hermeneutics, methodology, myth, phenomenology, philosophy of science, scientific atheism, structuralism, and theories of religion. From time to time the series publishes volumes that map the state of the art and the history of the discipline.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

208

Publisher

Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published Date

ISBN 10

3110823985

ISBN 13

9783110823981

The Witches of Warboys

An Extraordinary Story of Sorcery, Sadism and Satanic Possession in Elizabethan England

By: Philip C. Almond

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Witches of Warboys

An Extraordinary Story of Sorcery, Sadism and Satanic Possession in Elizabethan England

By: Philip C. Almond

On a foggy November day in 1589, when one of the five daughters of Robert and Elizabeth Throckmorton suddenly fell sick, no one in the small English village of Warboys could have predicted the terrifying events that would follow. Or envisaged that four years later, in April 1593, the Throckmortons' neighbours Alice, Agnes and John Samuel, would be dragged before a country court on charges of sorcery, enchantment and murder. There is no more dramatic story in the annals of English witchcraft than that of the witches of Warboys. Yet, despite a rich and colourful cast of characters, and a potent mixture of tension and pathos to match anything in the later Salem witch trials, it has never before been told in full. At one level, the story of Warboys features a conflict about honour and truth between two families in a close-knit Elizabethan village. At another level, the tale concerns a wider struggle between local gentry and yeomanry. But at the heart of the narrative coils a dark account of possession by demons, of malevolent spirits, of trust broken and of children accursed. What really happened in Warboys in the late sixteenth century, to drive this unremarkable rural community into such frenzy? Philip Almond leads us into a half-forgotten world of horror and crime, of victims and victimisers, of spectres, sex with the devil and 'scratching' the witch: a macabre and dangerous world where nothing is as it seems, where evil begets evil, and where innocence is betrayed.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

241

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

0857717928

ISBN 13

9780857717924

The Buddha

Life and Afterlife Between East and West

By: Philip C. Almond

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Buddha

Life and Afterlife Between East and West

By: Philip C. Almond

Philip Almond's engaging new book is the first to combine a history of early traditions about the Buddha's life with an account of how he and the philosophy inspired by him went 'global'. It shows how the enchanted mythological figure of Buddhism became the disenchanted historical Buddha of the West.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

379

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1009346822

ISBN 13

9781009346825

Heretic and Hero

Muhammad and the Victorians

By: Philip C. Almond

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Heretic and Hero

Muhammad and the Victorians

By: Philip C. Almond

This book is concerned with Western images of Muhammad and Islam, and examines changing attitudes to the Prophet and Islam in 19th-century England: It analyzes the shifts in images of the Prophet from that of the profligate, heretical, lustful, ambitious imposter of the late medieval and early modern period to the much more sympathetic portrayal of Muhammad in the 19th century as a noble Arab, sincere, heroic, pious and courageous. It argues that such changing images were the result of increasing knowledge about the origins of Islam and of various social, intellectual and political changes in the West. It demonstrates that the meaning of Islam for the West was created in the complex relations between the "fact" of Islam and the Western "myth" about it.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

124

Publisher

Otto Harrassowitz Verlag

Published Date

ISBN 10

3447029137

ISBN 13

9783447029131

Blended Beauty

Botanical Secrets for Body and Soul

By: Philip B,Philip B.,Lucy Fraser,Wendy Ryerson

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Blended Beauty

Botanical Secrets for Body and Soul

By: Philip B,Philip B.,Lucy Fraser,Wendy Ryerson

Skin care, hair care and special remedies all from natural ingredients. Chemical properties of each ingredient is detailed plus a glossary.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

164

Published Date

ISBN 10

0898157420

ISBN 13

9780898157420

Congressional Quarterly's Politics in America

1998, the 105th Congress

By: Philip D. Duncan,Christine C. Lawrence

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Congressional Quarterly's Politics in America

1998, the 105th Congress

By: Philip D. Duncan,Christine C. Lawrence

The best and first available guide to the members of the newly elected Congress is "Politics in America". Readers will discover "who's who" on Capitol Hill, thanks to profiles of the newly elected as well as incumbents. Key facts are highlighted--biographical data, committee assignments, election results, votes on key issues, and more. The CD-ROM includes all member information, photos, and maps from the book. 600 photos. 75 illustrations.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

1676

Publisher

CQ-Roll Call Group Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

0871879174

ISBN 13

9780871879172

Afterlife

A History of Life after Death

By: Philip C. Almond

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Afterlife

A History of Life after Death

By: Philip C. Almond

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come? The end of life has never meant the extinction of hope. People perpetually have yearned for, and often been terrified by, continuance beyond the horizon of mortality. Ranging across time and space, Philip Almond here takes his readers on a remarkable journey to worlds both of torment and delight. He travels to the banks of the Styx, where Charon the grizzled boatman ferries a departing spirit across the river only if a gold obol is first placed for payment on the tongue of its corpse. He transports us to the legendary Isles of the Blessed, walks the hallowed ground of the Elysian Fields and plumbs the murky depths of Tartarus, primordial dungeon of the Titans. The pitiable souls of the damned are seen to clog the soot-filled caverns of Lucifer even as the elect ascend to Paradise. Including medieval fears for the fate of those consumed by cannibals, early modern ideas about the Last Day and modern scientific explorations of the domains of the dead, this first full treatment of the afterlife in Western thought evokes many rich imaginings of Heaven, Hell, Purgatory and Limbo.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

200

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

0857728954

ISBN 13

9780857728951

England's First Demonologist

Reginald Scot and 'The Discoverie of Witchcraft'

By: Philip C. Almond

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

England's First Demonologist

Reginald Scot and 'The Discoverie of Witchcraft'

By: Philip C. Almond

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

256

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

0857719815

ISBN 13

9780857719812

The Lancashire Witches

A Chronicle of Sorcery and Death on Pendle Hill

By: Philip C. Almond

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Lancashire Witches

A Chronicle of Sorcery and Death on Pendle Hill

By: Philip C. Almond

In the febrile religious and political climate of late sixteenth-century England, when the grip of the Reformation was as yet fragile and insecure, and underground papism still perceived to be rife, Lancashire was felt by the Protestant authorities to be a sinister corner of superstition, lawlessness and popery. And it was around Pendle Hill, a sombre ridge that looms over the intersecting pastures, meadows and moorland of the Ribble Valley, that their suspicions took infamous shape. The arraignment of the Lancashire witches in the assizes of Lancaster during 1612 is England's most notorious witch-trial. The women who lived in the vicinity of Pendle, who were accused, convicted and hanged alongside the so-called 'Salmesbury Witches', were more than just wicked sorcerers whose malign incantations caused others harm. They were reputed to be part of a dense network of devilry and mischief that revealed itself as much in hidden celebration of the Mass as in malevolent magic. They had to be eliminated to set an example to others. In this remarkable and authoritative treatment, published to coincide with the 400th anniversary of the case of the Lancashire witches, Philip C Almond evokes all the fear, drama and paranoia of those volatile times: the bleak story of the storm over Pendle.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

255

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1786739704

ISBN 13

9781786739704

Adam and Eve in Seventeenth-Century Thought

By: Philip C. Almond

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Adam and Eve in Seventeenth-Century Thought

By: Philip C. Almond

This book offers a fascinating account of the central myth of Western culture - the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Philip Almond examines the way in which the gaps, hints and illusions within this biblical story were filled out in seventeenth-century English thought. At this time, the Bible formed a fundamental basis for studies in all subjects, and influenced greatly the way that people understood the world. Drawing extensively on primary sources he covers subjects as diverse as theology, history, philosophy, botany, language, anthropology, geology, vegetarianism, and women. He demonstrates the way in which the story of Adam and Eve was the fulcrum around which moved lively discussions on topics such as the place and nature of Paradise, the date of creation, the nature of Adamic language, the origins of the American Indians, agrarian communism, and the necessity and meaning of love, labour and marriage.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

252

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0521090849

ISBN 13

9780521090841

Book's by Philip C. Almond

Username

Password

Password again

Birthday

Email