EXORCISM AND ENLIGHTENMENT by H. C. Erik Midelfort ( 9780300106695 )

Item Details

Title:

EXORCISM AND ENLIGHTENMENT
JOHANN JOSEPH GASSNER AND THE DEMONS OF EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY GERMANY

By:

Format:

Hardback

List price:	£44.00
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ISBN 10:

0300106696

ISBN 13:

9780300106695

Publisher:

YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS

Pub. date:

28 July, 2005

Series:

The Terry Lectures

Pages:

240

Synopsis:

In the late eighteenth century, Catholic priest Johann Joseph Gassner (1727-1779) discovered that he had extraordinary powers of exorcism. Deciding that demons were responsible for most human ailments, he healed thousands, rich and poor, Protestant and Catholic. In this book H. C. Erik Midelfort delves deeply into records of the time to explore Gassner's remarkable exorcising campaign, chronicle the official efforts to curb him, and reconstruct the sufferings of the afflicted. Gassner's activities triggered a Catholic religious revival as well as a noisy skeptical reaction. In response to those who doubted that he was really casting out demons, Gassner marshaled hundreds of eyewitness reports that seemed to prove his exorcisms really worked. Midelfort describes the enormous public controversy that resulted, and he demonstrates that the Gassner episode yields important insights into the German Enlightenment and Counter-Enlightenment, the limitations of eighteenth-century debate, and the ongoing role of magic and belief in an age of scientific enlightenment.

Illustrations:

3 halftone illus. + 2 maps

Publication:

Imprint:

Yale University Press

Returns:

Non-returnable

Some other items by this author:

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A HISTORY OF MADNESS IN SIXTEENTH-CENTURY GERMANY (PB)

ENLIGHTENMENT UNDERGROUND (HB)

MAD PRINCES OF RENAISSANCE GERMANY (PB)