1994
First Published
2.70
Average Rating
422
Number of Pages
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.
Avg Rating
2.70
Number of Ratings
30
5 STARS
3%
4 STARS
23%
3 STARS
30%
2 STARS
27%
1 STARS
17%
goodreads
Author
Massimo Introvigne
Author · 3 books
Italian sociologist and intellectual property consultant. Founder and managing director of the Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR), an international network of scholars who study new religious movements. Author of tens of books and articles in the field of sociology of religion. He was the main author of the "Enciclopedia delle religioni in Italia" ("Encyclopedia of Religions in Italy") and is a member of the editorial board for the Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion. From January 5 to December 31, 2011, he has served as the "Representative on combating racism, xenophobia and discrimination, with a special focus on discrimination against Christians and members of other religions" of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). In June 2012 he has been appointed by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs chairperson of the newly instituted Observatory of Religious Liberty, created by the Ministry in order to monitor problems of religious liberty on a worldwide scale. (source: Wikipedia)
