Fairies, Demons, And Nature Spirits: 'small Gods' At The Margins Of Christendom (palgrave Historical Studies In Witchcraft And Magic)
by Michael Ostling /
2017 / English / PDF
3.6 MB Download
This book examines the fairies, demons, and nature spirits haunting
the margins of Christendom from late-antique Egypt to early modern
Scotland to contemporary Amazonia. Contributions from
anthropologists, folklorists, historians and religionists explore
Christian strategies of encompassment and marginalization, and the
‘small gods’ undisciplined tendency to evade such efforts at
exorcism. Lurking in forest or fairy-mound, chuckling in dark
corners of the home or of the demoniac’s body, the small gods both
define and disturb the borders of a religion that is endlessly
syncretistic and in endless, active denial of its own syncretism.
The book will be of interest to students of folklore, indigenous
Christianity, the history of science, and comparative religion.
This book examines the fairies, demons, and nature spirits haunting
the margins of Christendom from late-antique Egypt to early modern
Scotland to contemporary Amazonia. Contributions from
anthropologists, folklorists, historians and religionists explore
Christian strategies of encompassment and marginalization, and the
‘small gods’ undisciplined tendency to evade such efforts at
exorcism. Lurking in forest or fairy-mound, chuckling in dark
corners of the home or of the demoniac’s body, the small gods both
define and disturb the borders of a religion that is endlessly
syncretistic and in endless, active denial of its own syncretism.
The book will be of interest to students of folklore, indigenous
Christianity, the history of science, and comparative religion.