Lucifer: The Devil in the Middle Ages (Cornell Paperbacks)

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'Lucifer: The Devil in the Middle Ages' is the longest (356 pages) of Jeffrey Burton Russell four book treatise examining the concept of evil and the ever elusive Devil as he treks through his way through human history and consciousness. The time period of the Middle Ages is Russell's expertise and it shows in his research and his understanding of Medieval metaphysics. The best thus far! Don't give up yet, only one books to go!!

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Book was supposed to be in good condition but the spine broke as soon as I opened it

Lucifer is the third volume in the four volumes series, and above all other volumes this one is the most meticulous and authoritative, one can clearly see that this area is the author's area of expertise. Russell delves into the minds of the most influential thinkers of the time, explaining it as effortlessly as one would expect from an authority. The only complaint that I have is the same one that I have had for all the volumes, Russell fails to link was the leading theologians believed to what the populace believe, this I believe is a serious fault, because there is quite often a vast chasm between the two. Though Russell may not have intended to address this in his works, it seems to be a big part of the stated purview, after all, the population was part of the Middle Ages too. Russell ends this volume with the chapter on "The Existence of the Devil". Here Russell puts forward his personal opinion and makes an impassioned plea for modern theology not to throw away the idea of the devil, however one may perceive him. Russell makes a very poignant point when he states; "The subtraction of the devil has in fact led some modern theologians to evade or trivialise evil. It is curious that at a time when evil threatens to engulf us totally, when evil has already claimed more victims in this century than in all previous centuries combined, that one hears less and less on the subject from theology. Any religion that does not come to terms with evil is not worthy of attention." Having said this though, Russell goes on to state that the devil as an entity is not real, but that "the devil is a metaphor for the evil in the cosmos....We may now be in need of another name for this force." While these two views are not totally mutually exclusive, they are in some way contradictory. Russell's stated personal opinion is on a very steep slope, and is probably how so many scholars today came to disavow any type of evil entity, Russell's view is only a very small step away from what he is warning against; denying evil totally. So conservative Christians beware, this study of the devil is biased from the opinion that an independent entity such as the devil probably does not exist. Overall this is a great treatise on the theological personification of evil in the Middle Ages. Four stars.

In spite of the author's peculiar viewpoint (the book was written under the terrors of the nuclear war in the 1980's), it is a thorough and complete survey on the matter. Given today's political climate, the peculiar viewpoint assumed by the author might prove itself more relevant than should be wished for. Recommended.

Muy buen libro ya que explica el concepto de lucifer en la edad media, muy recomendable.

Bought for hubby

This is a very interesting book on Evil (with a capital 'E'), in which the author explores the Devil as the personification of Evil in the world. Specifically, this book examines how the Devil was conceptualised during the Middle Ages. It's the third book in a four-part biography of Satan: it's preceded by The Devil: Perceptions of Evil from Antiquity to Primitive Christianity (Cornell Paperbacks) and Satan: The Early Christian Tradition (Cornell Paperbacks) , and followed by Mephistopheles: The Devil in the Modern World . The author, Russell, has also provided a single volume overview on the history of the Devil - The Prince of Darkness : radical evil and the power of good in history / Jeffrey Burton Russell - which combines aspects of the aforementioned four-part biography. If you're interested in how the Devil has been imagined, specifically from a Christian perspective, then this series of books is highly recommended. Russell writes well and presents an engaging - and fully referenced - discussion. This particular book focuses on medieval history, when belief in Satan was popular throughout Europe (often with horrific consequences, e.g. witch-hunts). While I found this book, and the series as a whole, to be very fascinating, I nonetheless find criticism with Russell's insistence to consider 'ideas' as existing in and of themselves (a form of idealism) - without adequately exploring the material circumstances that give rise to such ideas. Notwithstanding Russell's idealistic approach, this is a useful contribution to the study of ideas regarding the existence and role of Evil in the world.

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