Moncure Daniel Conway (1832–1907), the son of a Virginian plantation-owner, became a Unitarian minister but his anti-slavery views made him controversial. He later became a freethinker, and following the outbreak of the Civil War, which deeply divided his own family, he left the United States for England in 1863. He gained a reputation for being the 'least orthodox preacher in London', and was acquainted with many figures in the literary and scientific world, including Charles Dickens and Charles Darwin. In this two-volume work, first published in 1879, Conway draws from examples across the world to discuss the origins and decline of beliefs in demons. In Volume 2, he discusses the role that the Devil plays in Christianity (including analysis of the story of the Fall of Man), and that similar figures play in other religions, offering the view that such figures are personifications of certain human attributes.
Contents
Part IV: 1. Diabolism; 2. The second best; 3. Ahriman, the divine devil; 4. Viswámitra, the theocratic devil; 5. Elohim and Jehovah; 6. The consuming fire; 7. Paradise and the serpent; 8. Eve; 9. Lilith; 10. War in heaven; 11. War on earth; 12. Strife; 13. Barbaric aristocracy; 14. Job and the divider; 15. Satan; 16. Religious despotism; 17. The prince of this world; 18. Trial of the great; 19. The man of sin; 20. The Holy Ghost; 21. Antichrist; 22. The pride of life; 23. The curse of knowledge; 24. Witchcraft; 25. Faust and Mephistopheles; 26. The wild huntsman; 27. Le bon diable; 28. Animalism; 29. Thoughts and interpretations; Index.
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