Fairies, Demons, and Nature Spirits
'Small Gods' at the Margins of Christendom
Editors: Ostling, Michael (Ed.)
Free Preview- 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
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- About this book
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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.
- About the authors
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Michael Ostling is Honors Faculty Fellow at Arizona State University, USA, and Honorary Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, University of Queensland, Australia. Author of Between the Devil and the Host: Imagining Witchcraft in Early Modern Poland (2011), he writes on witchcraft, popular religion, history of emotions, theory in Religious Studies, and critical pedagogy.
- Reviews
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“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)
- Table of contents (15 chapters)
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Introduction: Where’ve All the Good People Gone?
Pages 1-53
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The Threat of Headless Beings: Constructing the Demonic in Christian Egypt
Pages 57-78
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Secrets of the Síd: The Supernatural in Medieval Irish Texts
Pages 79-101
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The Good, the Bad and the Unholy: Ambivalent Angels in the Middle Ages
Pages 103-122
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Between Fallen Angels and Nature Spirits: Russian Demonology of the Early Modern Period
Pages 123-143
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Table of contents (15 chapters)
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Bibliographic Information
- Bibliographic Information
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- Book Title
- Fairies, Demons, and Nature Spirits
- Book Subtitle
- 'Small Gods' at the Margins of Christendom
- Editors
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- Michael Ostling
- Series Title
- Palgrave Historical Studies in Witchcraft and Magic
- Copyright
- 2018
- Publisher
- Palgrave Macmillan UK
- Copyright Holder
- The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s)
- eBook ISBN
- 978-1-137-58520-2
- DOI
- 10.1057/978-1-137-58520-2
- Hardcover ISBN
- 978-1-137-58519-6
- Softcover ISBN
- 978-1-349-84414-2
- Edition Number
- 1
- Number of Pages
- XV, 366
- Number of Illustrations
- 4 b/w illustrations
- Topics
