The Devil and His Advocates

Butler's book is a scholarly tour-de-force citing the widest range of thinkers. From St Augustine to Nietzsche, Freud and Foucault. And from the world of literature and the arts come Byron, Shelley, Mann, Blake and Mozart; even Hannibal Lecter gets a mention. Notwithstanding the heavy duty material, the book remains a hellish good read. * Fortean Times *
Butler, a researcher at the Yale School of Drama, explores the character of the devil in literature, theology, visual art, and music from antiquity up to the present, discussing canonical authors such as Dante, Goethe, and Milton. * Publishers Weekly *
How is the devil portrayed over time, from the biblical writings to the present? Butler addresses this key question in this book. Through a narrative of Western history from biblical times onward, he shows how, in different cultural settings, the devil has been represented in such areas as theology, poetry, drama, music, and art . . . Butler argues for an alternate view of the devil, one in which the devil functions as a divine instrument of truth, challenging humans regarding their morality and character . . . Butler is effective in showing the historical development of the idea of the devil and its expression in different fields. Recommended. * Choice *

In this book author Erik Butler takes on the usual assumptions about the Prince of Darkness and Despoiler of Souls, and places him in a much wider, more questioning and less hysterical context than perhaps one is used to. This is long overdue . . . Told with a wry wit and an easy, but never facetious style, Butler’s book takes us through the vexed history of Satan, revealing at every step the sheer usefulness of the grim archetype of evil to humanity. And, in fact, the invaluable role he played in the delineation of God himself . . .

* Magonia Review of Books *
A highly original, enjoyable and thought-provoking book that manages to make us look at the Bible and our belief systems in a new light. * The Pilgrim *
In this remarkable and thought-provoking book, Erik Butler demonstrates that far from being the goat-horned, cloven-hoofed, and barbed-tail demon of popular culture, the Devil has in fact been constantly on the move in Christian thinking . . . Like Virgil leading Dante, Butler steers the reader through the labyrinthine intricacies of early Christian philosophy, the writings of Luther and Milton, and the profane excesses of the French Decadence . . . Brimful with erudite and recherché learning, and written with a compelling combination of scintillating intelligence and apocalyptic verve, The Devil and His Advocates presents a grand sweep of Western intellectual history that amounts to an alternative history of evil in the Christian world. In Erik Butler, the Devil has found his most eloquent, sophisticated, and measured advocate to date. * Nick Groom, Professor of Literature in English, University of Macau *
In this devilishly clever and fiendishly erudite tour de force, Erik Butler tracks the peregrinations of Satan and figurations of the Satanic across millennia and genres . . . Butler masterfully weaves history, theology, folklore, music, philosophy, literary criticism and more into a dazzling account of the Devil's many functions in Western thought and culture. The result is the perfect genealogical demonology for our present moment – an achievement that is at once accessible, provocative and profound. * Patrick Blanchfield, author of Gunpower: The Structure of American Violence *