This masterwork presents 244 representations, symbols, and manuscript pages of devils and death from Ancient Egypt to 1913. Fascinating graphics depict demons, witches and warlocks, the Danse Macabre, Hell and Damnation, the Art of Dying, and more. Includes works by Dürer, Cranach, Holbein, and Rembrandt.

Previous ed.: New York: Barricade Books, c1996.

On September 20, 1587, Walpurga Hausmännin of Dillingen in southern Germany was burned at the stake as a witch. Although she had confessed to committing a long list of maleficia (deeds of harmful magic), including killing forty—one infants and two mothers in labor, her evil career allegedly began with just one heinous act—sex with a demon. Fornication with demons was a major theme of her trial record, which detailed an almost continuous orgy of sexual excess with her diabolical paramour Federlin "in many divers places, . . . even in the street by night." As Walter Stephens demonstrates in Demon Lovers, it was not Hausmännin or other so-called witches who were obsessive about sex with demons—instead, a number of devout Christians, including trained theologians, displayed an uncanny preoccupation with the topic during the centuries of the "witch craze." Why? To find out, Stephens conducts a detailed investigation of the first and most influential treatises on witchcraft (written between 1430 and 1530), including the infamous Malleus Maleficarum (Hammer of Witches). Far from being credulous fools or mindless misogynists, early writers on witchcraft emerge in Stephens's account as rational but reluctant skeptics, trying desperately to resolve contradictions in Christian thought on God, spirits, and sacraments that had bedeviled theologians for centuries. Proof of the physical existence of demons—for instance, through evidence of their intercourse with mortal witches—would provide strong evidence for the reality of the supernatural, the truth of the Bible, and the existence of God. Early modern witchcraft theory reflected a crisis of belief—a crisis that continues to be expressed today in popular debates over angels, Satanic ritual child abuse, and alien abduction.

Satan, along with his devils and demons are real. According to John 10:10 their sole purpose is to steal, kill and destroy. They are working their plan feverishly because they know their time is short. The good news is that deliverance is available for those who will learn the truth about “the father of lies” and his army of evil. In this eye-opening book, Marilyn helps you to see how Satan, fallen angels, and evil spirits have infiltrated our modern society in insidious ways, steering generations away from biblical truths and faith in the one true God. You will learn the origins of Satan, his character, and his work today. You will also discover his doorways into people’s lives–horoscopes, drugs, false religions, cults, and more. In addition, Marilyn answers the age-old question, “Can Christians be demon possessed?” Devil’s, Demons, and Deliverance will teach you how to defeat the devil and live victoriously in Jesus Christ.

For the first time in English, Michael Ostling tells the story of the imagined Polish witches, showing how ordinary peasant-women got caught in webs of suspicion and accusation, finally confessing under torture to the most heinous of crimes.

244 representations, symbols, and manuscript pages of devils and death from Ancient Egypt to 1913. Fascinating graphics depict demons, witches, and warlocks, more. Works by Dürer, Cranach, Holbein, Rembrandt, others.

This major work offers a new interpretation of the witchcraft beliefs of European intellectuals between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries, showing how these beliefs fitted rationally with other beliefs of the period and how far the nature of rationality is dependent on its historical context.