Link to the Show / Show NotesDavid Frankfurter, Professor of Religious Studies and History at the University of New Hampshire, discusses his latest book Evil Incarnate: Rumors of Demonic Conspiracy and Satanic Abuse in History.
The first work to provide an in-depth analysis of the topic, Evil Incarnate uses anthropology, the history of religion, sociology, and psychoanalytic theory, to answer the questions "What causes people collectively to envision evil and seek to exterminate it?" and "Why does the representation of evil recur in such typical patterns?"
Frankfurter discusses such diverse subjects as witch-hunting, the origins of demonology, cannibalism, and the rumors of Jewish ritual murder, demonstrating how societies have long expanded upon their fears of such atrocities to address a collective anxiety.
Frankfurter is also the author of the acclaimed Religion in Roman Egypt, which won the 1999 award for excellence in the historical study of religion from the American Academy of Religion.
Recorded August 15, 2006
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