Paul Carus’ The History of the Devil and the Idea of Evil (1899)
Paul Carus’ 1899 theological treatise examines the historical and cultural evolution of the Devil across religious traditions and mythologies. Drawing on comparative religion, textual analysis, and Tylorian evolutionary anthropology, Carus traces the Devil’s conceptual transformation from feared personification in medieval Christianity through witch-trial hysteria to nineteenth-century abstraction and popular ridicule. The work synthesizes Egyptian, Indian, Persian, and Christian demonological frameworks, situating the Devil’s decline within broader intellectual shifts including the rise of Protestantism and scientific rationalism. Carus argues that belief systems evolved from demonolatry through fear-based worship toward more sophisticated theological abstraction, positioning the Devil as a barometer of cultural and intellectual progress. The text synthesizes religious iconography including medieval artistic representations and Dante’s Inferno, grounding abstract theological concepts in visual and narrative traditions.
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