History of Evil in the Early Modern Age

Daniel Robinson is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Georgetown University, USA and a Fellow of the Faculty of Philosophy, Oxford University, UK.Chad Meister is Professor of Philosophy and Theology at Bethel College, USA.Charles Taliaferro is Professor of Philosophy at St Olaf College, USA.

• Editors and contributorsSeries IntroductionIntroductionDaniel Robinson1. Towards a History of Evil: Inquisition and Fear in the Medieval WestTeofilo F. Ruiz2. WitchcraftDaniel Robinson3. MedicineDaniel Robinson4. Magic and the Sciences during an Age of Change Peter Maxwell-Stuart5. Niccolò Machiavelli Cary J. Nederman and Guillaume Bogiaris6. LutherJennifer Hockenbery Dragseth7. John Calvin on Evil Paul Helm8. Evil within and Evil without: Teresa of Avila Battles the Devil Bárbara Mujica9. Anabaptists Gerald J. Mast10. Francis Bacon John Henry11. Shakespeare and Evil Claire Landis12. Hobbes and Evil Geoffrey Gorham13. Descartes on Evil Zbigniew Janowski14. Milton Dennis Danielson15. Baruch Spinoza on Evil Eugene Marshall16. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Marcy P. Lascano17. Cambridge Platonism Charles Taliaferro18. Indigenous Peoples Kenneth H. Lokensgard19. Religious Authority and Power: Rituals of Conflict in Africa Bala Saho20. RepresentationsCharles Taliaferro and Jil EvansIndex

This excellent collection provides a road map for those interested in studying the concept of evil in early modern culture. Evil for whom, one might ask? Evil according to what creed, and in what circumstance? Such questions animate the book’s principal aim, which is to show the period’s wide variety of perspectives on the subject, from the intensely theological to the profoundly secular, from the Devil to Thomas Hobbes. The volume is easy to recommend for its depth and vitality, and—too—because the editors allow room for the possibility that evil is not solely a historical phenomenon. Ryan Stark, Corban University, USA