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A 17th-century French haberdasher invented the Black Mass. An 18th-century English Cabinet Minister administered the Eucharist to a baboon. High-ranking Catholic authorities in the 19th century believed that Satan appeared in Masonic lodges in the shape of a crocodile and played the piano there. A well-known scientist from the 20th century established a cult of the Antichrist and exploded in a laboratory experiment. Three Italian girls in 2000 sacrificed a nun to the Devil. A Black Metal band honored Satan in Krakow, Poland, in 2004 by exhibiting on stage 120 decapitated sheep heads. Some of these stories, as absurd as they might sound, were real. Others, which might appear to be equally well reported, are false. But even false stories have generated real societal reactions. For the first time, Massimo Introvigne proposes a general social history of Satanism and anti-Satanism, from the French Court of Louis XIV to the Satanic scares of the late 20th century, satanic themes in Black Metal music, the Church of Satan, and beyond.
Leading scholars examine the growth of new religious movements or cults in the US and Europe over the last 50 years and state attempts to monitor and control them, debating the political, practical and ethical issues which arise.
Written by three experts in the field, The Invention of Satanism examines contemporary religious Satanism as the product of historical, ideological, and social processes.
In Confident Faith, Mark Mittelberg assures Christians that we can be confident in our beliefs. There’s no reason to be timid about what we believe, because our beliefs can stand up to the test. Truth isn’t dependent on how a person feels or one’s own point of view, as so many assert. On the contrary, we can determine truth through our five senses, and that truth reliably points to a deeper and unseen reality. Mark walks readers through twenty arrows that point towards Christian beliefs: from the intricate design of the universe to archaeological proofs, from the consistent testimony of changed lives to the reliability of the ancient documents of the Bible. After studying these arrows, you’ll put this book down with a renewed confidence in what you believe and why it matters for eternity.
In a world of spiritual options, people constantly tell us what to believe. Yet, while we hear these pleas, we're already functioning with existing beliefs—even if they are beliefs by default. So how do we choose what to believe—especially in the area of faith? Do we need to choose? In Choosing Your Faith, Mark Mittelberg encourages us, as Socrates does, not to lead an unexamined life. He invites us to examine why we believe what we believe. This examination will resonate with Christians and seekers alike.
In Popular Trauma Culture, Anne Rothe argues that American Holocaust discourse has a particular plot structure—characterized by a melodramatic conflict between good and evil and embodied in the core characters of victim/survivor and perpetrator—and that it provides the paradigm for representing personal experiences of pain and suffering in the mass media. The book begins with an analysis of Holocaust clichés, including its political appropriation, the notion of vicarious victimhood, the so-called victim talk rhetoric, and the infusion of the composite survivor figure with Social Darwinism. Readers then explore the embodiment of popular trauma culture in two core mass media genres: dayti...
A broadly interdisciplinary study of the pervasive secrecy in America cultural, political, and religious discourse. The occult has traditionally been understood as the study of secrets of the practice of mysticism or magic. This book broadens our understanding of the occult by treating it as a rhetorical phenomenon tied to language and symbols and more central to American culture than is commonly assumed. Joshua Gunn approaches the occult as an idiom, examining the ways in which acts of textual criticism and interpretation are occultic in nature, as evident in practices as diverse as academic scholarship, Freemasonry, and television production. Gunn probes, for instance, the ways in which ja...
As more and more so-called experts challenge what the Bible says about the creation of man, we must take aim with straightforward, Christ-centered answers. Today's generation is bombarded with theories about humankind and its origins. In Fatal Flaws, now in paperback with a study guide included, Hank Hanegraaff keeps Christians from falling prey to corrupting scientific speculation about the origins of life and reminds us that we are God's creation. This common-sense approach puts the concept of evolution in the grasp of everyday Christians and reminds us that ultimately the key to our purpose in this life comes from understanding whose we are and who created us.
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The Unification Church and its founder, Dr. Sun Myung Moon, have been in the center of controversy because of their recruiting practices, their financial holdings, and their authoritarian style--including arranged, mass marriages. Most controversial in terms of its teachings in Dr. Moon's claim to be a new Messiah who will finish what Jesus left "undone." Is he the Messiah, and is his Diving Principle the third testament of the Bible? Why this series? This is an age when countless groups and movements, old and new, mark the religious landscape in our culture, leaving many people confused or uncertain in their search for spiritual truth and meaning. Because few people have the time or opportu...