Overview
- Shortlisted for the Folklore Society's 2018 Katharine Briggs Folklore Award
- Considers the historical relationship between Christianity and 'small gods', including fairies, demons and nature spirits
- Brings together scholarship from a wide range of of theoretical perspectives and disciplinary approaches
- Examines case studies spanning two thousand years, from Egypt to the Andes and Indonesia
- Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras
Part of the book series: Palgrave Historical Studies in Witchcraft and Magic (PHSWM)
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Table of contents (15 chapters)
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Demonization and its Discontents
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Enlightenment and its Ambiguities
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Remnants, Relocations, and Re-Enchantments
Keywords
About this book
Reviews
“Their work provides new critical perspectives and an even more welcome corrective to the burgeoning fairy mythology industry on Internet blogs and popular publishing. … this recently published study is a welcome addition to the growing academic interest in fairy lore.” (Juliette Wood, Folklore, Vol. 131 (1), 2020)
“This is a good collection, and it is impressive to see how each contributor applies the survival-in-vanishing framework to their chapter. This makes the edited collection feel connected despite the vast number of topics covered, and this is not always easily achieved. There is excellent work in here, and perhaps its most impressive achievement is that it will enable the reader, even non experts, to see a bit further into the subject … . ” (Ciaran Jones, Journal of Religious History, Literature and Culture, Vol. 5 (1), 2019)
“This strong collection constitutes a very good first step towards a reconstruction of our thinking about fairies, demons and nature spirits. Its placing of these ‘small gods’ within the actual expansion of Christianity rather than as historically precedent allows for a broad and sensitive historical investigation.” (The Judges of the Katharine Briggs Award 2018, folklore-society.com, November 26, 2018)
“It may be that the old polarized labels are becoming inadequate to describe a medieval and early modern religious and quasi-religious world that is coming to seem even more complex, exciting and interesting than it had seemed to be before. That such a perception is possible, however, is due in part to the gifts of this splendid collection, upon which Michael and his contributors are warmly to be congratulated.” (Scriptable, rtreview.org, Issue 8, March, 2018)
“This fascinating interdisciplinary collection illuminates a range of elusive spiritual creatures who in theory should occupy no place in the Christian cosmos. The scope is impressively broad, and readers are consistently challenged to think in new ways about Christianity’s often surprisingly dependent relationship with older forms of belief.” (Peter Marshall, University of Warwick, UK)“This substantial volume takes fairies out of the scholarly closet and celebrates them as productions of local culture and spirituality that have somehow weathered the process of Christianization. The editor’s valuable introductory essay sets the stage for contributions ranging from Estonia to the Amazon and from Late Antique Egypt to present-day California. This collection will delight historians, students of religion, anthropology, folklore and anyone fascinated by the revolving door between paganism and Christianity.” (Charles Stewart, University College London, UK)
Editors and Affiliations
About the editor
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Fairies, Demons, and Nature Spirits
Book Subtitle: 'Small Gods' at the Margins of Christendom
Editors: Michael Ostling
Series Title: Palgrave Historical Studies in Witchcraft and Magic
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58520-2
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan London
eBook Packages: History, History (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-137-58519-6Published: 21 December 2017
Softcover ISBN: 978-1-349-84414-2Due: 22 December 2017
eBook ISBN: 978-1-137-58520-2Published: 23 November 2017
Series ISSN: 2731-5630
Series E-ISSN: 2731-5649
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XV, 366
Number of Illustrations: 4 b/w illustrations
Topics: Cultural History, History of Religion, World History, Global and Transnational History, Social History, History of Science