The Routledge History of the Devil in the Western Tradition

Covering a period of 2000 years, this book offers an interdisciplinary exploration of the devil's role in the Western tradition and draws from history, religion, art, literature, media studies, and anthropology to provide a multifaceted view of the devil over time.

The Routledge History of the Devil in the Western Tradition examines topics such as the devil's scriptural origins, medieval development, and role in witch-hunting and possession cases, as well as the influence of the demonic on contemporary issues like terrorism, political polarisation, and digital culture. Collectively, this volume demonstrates that the demonological imagination has served as part of the glue holding Western societies together. While contexts, misfortunes, and anxieties have shifted according to time and place, many of the dynamics that underlie the devil’s construction and detection have important continuities. This book, then, provides an innovative history of the anti-West―the West as seen through its anxieties, fears, and attempts to define and police itself and its boundaries.

With contributions from 28 leading scholars in the field, this volume is of interest to all students and scholars of the devil in the Western world.

Richard Raiswell is Professor of History at the University of Prince Edward Island, Canada. He has published works on demon possession, proof in witchcraft cases, rhetoric and demonism, and demonism and colonialism. His most recent book is The Medieval Devil: A Reader (trans. and ed. with David Winter, 2022).

Michelle D. Brock is Professor of History at Washington and Lee University, USA. She has published works on witchcraft and demonology, religious identity, and women and gender in early modern Scotland. Her most recent book is Plagues of the Heart: Crisis and Covenanting in a Seventeenth-Century Scottish Town (2024).

David R. Winter is Professor of History at Brandon University, Canada. His books include The Llanthony Stories (2021) and The Medieval Devil: A Reader (trans. and ed. with Richard Raiswell 2022). He is currently working on a translation of 16th-century Icelandic bishop Oddur Einarsson’s Descriptio qualiscunque Islandiae.