TABLE OF CONTENTS: List of Illustrations ix
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xv
Chapter 1: Introduction 1
Sorting Out Resemblances 4
Circumstances for Imagining Evil 6
Evil in the Perspective of This Book 9
Chapter 2: An Architecture for Chaos: The Nature and Function of Demonology 13
Thinking with Demons 13
Demonology, Lists, and Temples 15
Beyond the Temple: Demonology among Scribes and Ritual Experts 19
Conclusions 26
Chapter 3: Experts in the Identification of Evil 31
Prophets, Exorcists, and the Popular Reception of Demonology 33
Witch-Finders: Charisma in the Discernment of Evil 37
The Possessed as Discerners of Evil 48
Contemporary Forms of Expertise in the Discernment of Evil: Secular and Religious 53
Conclusions: Expertise and the Depiction of Satanic Conspiracy 69
Chapter 4: Rites of Evil: Constructions of Maleficent Religion and Ritual 73
Ritual as a Point of Otherness 76
Ritual and the Monstrous Realm 85
Ritual as a Point of Danger 101
The Implications of Evil Rites 119
Chapter 5: Imputations of Perversion 129
The Imaginative Resources of the Monstrous 129
Constructing the Monstrous 136
Conclusions 158
Chapter 6: The Performance of Evil 168
Performance and Demonic Realms 169
Direct Mimetic Performance 179
Indirect Mimetic Performance 188
Direct Mimetic Parody 198
Conclusions 203
Chapter 7: Mobilizing against Evil 208
Contemplating Evil, Chasing Evil 208
Matters of Fact and Fantasy 212
Notes 225
Select Bibliography 259
Index 281
Return to Book Description File created: 4/25/2013 | 
