Search engine for discovering works of Art, research articles, and books related to Art and Culture
Javascript must be enabled to continue!
Protestantism and the Devil
View through CrossRef
This chapter shows that, despite changes brought about by the Reformation, Shakespeare’s contemporaries understood the devil as a real presence in their world. It explores his roles in theology, as the source of evil; in ecclesiology, as the embodiment of the corrupt Church; in spirituality, as a genuine threat to believers; in popular culture and literature, as a sensationalist and didactic figure; and in demonology, as an aide to witches and cunning folk and an intrusive figure in demonic possessions. The reciprocal influences of these fields are stressed and used to contextualize the devil’s appearances in theatrical performances promoting the Reformation and subsequently the gradual, but belated, demonisation of the theatre. The chapter closes with some application of this analysis to the treatment of the devil in early modern drama as source of explicit temptations and psychological corruption.
Title: Protestantism and the Devil
Description:
This chapter shows that, despite changes brought about by the Reformation, Shakespeare’s contemporaries understood the devil as a real presence in their world.
It explores his roles in theology, as the source of evil; in ecclesiology, as the embodiment of the corrupt Church; in spirituality, as a genuine threat to believers; in popular culture and literature, as a sensationalist and didactic figure; and in demonology, as an aide to witches and cunning folk and an intrusive figure in demonic possessions.
The reciprocal influences of these fields are stressed and used to contextualize the devil’s appearances in theatrical performances promoting the Reformation and subsequently the gradual, but belated, demonisation of the theatre.
The chapter closes with some application of this analysis to the treatment of the devil in early modern drama as source of explicit temptations and psychological corruption.
Related Results
Protestantism
Protestantism
This chapter looks at the so-called ‘new Protestantism’ that developed in the nineteenth century in reaction to modernity. Protestantism during this period was an international mov...
The Detail is in The Devil
The Detail is in The Devil
Beginning in October 1786, Charles Dibdin published a weekly newspaper called The Devil. The conceit is that the Editor is on the point of suicide when the Devil intervenes to diss...
Reading Revelations
Reading Revelations
This chapter explores the end-point of typological history, apocalypse. The discussion of the Book of Revelation focuses on the ways in which the ongoing struggle between Protestan...
State-Sanctioned Protestantism
State-Sanctioned Protestantism
This chapter discusses the leaders of the reinstated Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) and the newly formed China Christian Council (CCC), known together as the lianghui (‘two a...
Informal Protestantism in China and Local Government Toleration
Informal Protestantism in China and Local Government Toleration
Protestantism is the fastest-growing religion in China. This chapter accounts for why Chinese society has become more religious in the reform period and, most importantly, for the ...
The Devil in the Flesh
The Devil in the Flesh
This article focuses on the body of the witch as her bond to the Devil. Witches were identified and punished through the guidance of the Malleus Malleficarum, a key text of the Inq...
Between the Devil and the Deep Lake Constance
Between the Devil and the Deep Lake Constance
In his Vita Columbani Jonas of Bobbio provides the earliest instance of an interpretatio Christiana of the Alamannic god Woden, unequivocally identifying him with the devil. The si...
The Devil’s Mousetrap
The Devil’s Mousetrap
Abstract
The Devil’s Mousetrap approaches the thought of three colonial New England divines--Increase Mather, Jonathan Edwards, and Edward Taylor--from the perspecti...