New Releases by Jeffrey Burton

In a variation of the nursery rhyme "The itsy bitsy spider," a snowman takes a wild ride on a sled.

Renowned historian, Jeffrey Burton Russell, famous for his studies of medieval history, sets the record straight against the New Atheists and other cultural critics who charge Christianity with being outdated, destructive, superstitious, unenlightened, racist, colonialist, based on fabrication, and other significant false accusations.

From the Preface: This book is intended as an investigation of the civilization of western Europe from the third to the fifteenth centuries. It presents not only the results, but some of the important problems, of contemporary scholarship in medieval history. It follows a topical treatment of economic, social, political, and cultural history within a chronological framework. Rather than trying to achieve consistently detailed coverage of every aspect of medieval civilization, I have concentrated upon individual or collective examples of important ideas, attitudes, institutions, or events. Discussions of the sources appear in each chapter, and the sources are quoted frequently in the body of the text in order to permit the reader to feel, as well as intellectually to grasp, the nature of medieval life. Pictures and maps are integrated with the text as illustrations of the topics discussed.

The study of the conflict between religious orthodoxy and heresy in the Middle Ages has long been a controversial field. Though the sectarian differences of the past have faded in intensity, the varieties of academic correctness that today inform historical studies are equally likely to give rise to a number of interpretations, sometimes providing more information about the sympathies of contemporary historians than the beliefs, feelings, and actions of Medieval people. In this book, Jeffrey Burton Russell provides a fresh overview of the subject from the Council of Chalcedon (451 A.D.) to the eve of the Protestant Reformation. The fruit of many years of thought and scholarship, ''Dissent and Order in the Middle Ages'' is a concise introduction to the full range of religious and social phenomena encompassed by the book''s title. While tracing the intellectual battles that raged between the champions of orthodoxy and the partisans of dissent, Russell grounds these conflicts, which often seem rather recondite to the modern reader, in the evolving social context of Medieval Europe. In addition to discussing conflicts within Christianity, Russell sheds new light on such vexing topics as the origin of anti-Semitism and the persecution of alleged witches. More than just an overview, Russell''s study is also an original interpretation of a complex subject. Russell sees the conflict between dissent and order not as a war of binary opposites, but rather as an ongoing dialectic, a creative tension that, despite the excesses it entailed on both sides, was essential to the development of Christianity. Without this creative tension, Russell argues, Christianity might well have stagnated and possibly died. Dissent and order, then, are perhaps best seen as symbiotically joined aspects of a single living, healthy organism. ''Dissent and Order in the Middle Ages'' will appeal to, and challenge, all readers interested in European history, from beginning students to seasoned scholars, as well as those concerned with Christianity''s past - and future.

"Inventing the Flat Earth...is a jewel of a book that provides important new insights into the way historians have interpreted Columbus''s achievement." The New York Times Book Review Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

An excellent and important intellectual history.?Library Journal Using examples from theology, philosophy, art, literature, and popular culture, Russell describes the great changes effected in our idea of the Devil by the intellectual and cultural developments of modern times. Mephistopheles is the fourth and final volume of Jeffrey Burton Russell''s critically acclaimed history of the concept of the Devil. The series constitutes the most complete historical study ever made of the figure called the second most famous personage in Christianity. In the first three volumes, the author brought the history of Christian diabology to the end of the Middle Ages. This volume continues the story from the Reformation to the present, tracing the fragmentation of the tradition.

This lively and learned book traces the history of the concept of evil and its personification as the Devil from ancient times to the period of the New Testament and across cultures and civilizations.

Describes the medieval concept of the devil, discusses witchcraft and devil folklore, and examines the depiction of evil in art and literature of the period.

Originally published: Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, c1981.