| Enchanted Europe: Superstition, Reason, and Religion, 1250-1750 Contributor(s): Cameron, Euan (Author) |
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ISBN: 0199257825 ISBN-13: 9780199257829 Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA OUR PRICE: $99.75 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: May 2010 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | Europe - Medieval - Language Arts & Disciplines | Linguistics - General - Religion | Christianity - History |
| Dewey: 274.03 |
| LCCN: 2009939955 |
| Physical Information: 1" H x 6.3" W x 9.2" (1.95 lbs) 488 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - Medieval (500-1453) - Religious Orientation - Christian |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Since the dawn of history people have used charms and spells to try to control their environment, and forms of divination to try to foresee the otherwise unpredictable chances of life. Many of these techniques were called superstitious by educated elites. For centuries religious believers used superstition as a term of abuse to denounce another religion that they thought inferior, or to criticize their fellow-believers for practising their faith wrongly. From the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment, scholars argued over what 'superstition' was, how to identify it, and how to persuade people to avoid it. Learned believers in demons and witchcraft, in their treatises and sermons, tried to make 'rational' sense of popular superstitions by blaming them on the deceptive tricks of seductive demons. Every major movement in Christian thought, from rival schools of medieval theology through to the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Enlightenment, added new twists to the debates over superstition. Protestants saw Catholics as superstitious, and vice versa. Enlightened philosophers mocked traditional cults as superstitions. Eventually, the learned lost their worry about popular belief, and turned instead to chronicling and preserving 'superstitious' customs as folklore and ethnic heritage. Enchanted Europe offers the first comprehensive, integrated account of western Europe's long, complex dialogue with its own folklore and popular beliefs. Drawing on many little-known and rarely used texts, Euan Cameron constructs a compelling narrative of the rise, diversification, and decline of popular 'superstition' in the European mind. |