Skip to content
Register Sign in Wishlist

The Antichrist
A New Biography

Philip C. Almond
View all contributors
  • Date Published: November 2020
  • availability: Available
  • format: Hardback
  • isbn: 9781108479653

Hardback

Add to wishlist

Other available formats:
eBook


Looking for an inspection copy?

This title is not currently available for inspection. However, if you are interested in the title for your course we can consider offering an inspection copy. To register your interest please contact [email protected] providing details of the course you are teaching.

Description
Product filter button
Description
Contents
Resources
Courses
About the Authors
  • The malign figure of the Antichrist endures in modern culture, whether religious or secular; and the spectral shadow he has cast over the ages continues to exert a strong and powerful fascination. Philip C. Almond tells the story of the son of Satan from his early beginnings to the present day, and explores this false Messiah in theology, literature and the history of ideas. Discussing the origins of the malevolent being who at different times was cursed as Belial, Nero or Damien, the author reveals how Christianity in both East and West has imagined this incarnation of absolute evil destined to appear at the end of time. For the better part of the last two thousand years, Almond suggests, the human battle between right and wrong has been envisaged as a mighty cosmic duel between good and its opposite, culminating in an epic final showdown between Christ and his deadly arch-nemesis.

    • The first full treatment for 25 years of a subject that continues to generate enormous interest
    • Offers new interpretations of the continuing significance of the Antichrist in popular culture
    • The author's earlier book on the Devil (IB Tauris) was a widely reviewed academic bestseller
    Read more

    Reviews & endorsements

    'An ambitious untangling of a host of different traditions and stories - all super-heated by religious controversy - The Antichrist succeeds triumphantly in reducing them to calm intelligibility. This is a major feat, not only of scholarship, but also of reflection, planning and writing.' Marion Gibson, University of Exeter, and author of Rediscovering Renaissance Witchcraft and of Witchcraft: The Basics

    'Philip Almond's remarkable new book - a companion piece to his earlier work on the Devil - is clearly and vividly written. Giving full attention to previous ideas about the Antichrist, the author looks at the subject differently and originally in a way that meshes the topical and the chronological. The book is an advance both in theological and popular understanding, and I recommend it warmly.' Jeffrey Burton Russell, University of California, Santa Barbara, and author of Lucifer: The Devil in the Middle Ages and of A History of Heaven: The Singing Silence

    'This entertaining romp through the subject leads Mr Almond down many obscure paths, peopled by cobwebbed theologians such as Irenaeus and Hippolytus, and deep into the weirdest thickets of medieval fantasy-weaving. He has fun - 'Sexy Beast' is his heading on a section about the Antichrist visions, peculiarly like ink blots, of Hildegard of Bingen - but does not forget that a modern reader also needs to know why the Antichrist was important.' Ann Wroe, The Economist

    'What makes this biography really thought-provoking is Almond's easy demonstration of how ideas actually percolate and embed over time, and how, paradoxically, the greater the distance we travel from actual facts, the greater our sense of confidence in - and identification with - spurious thought systems becomes.' Nicola Barker, The Spectator

    'This engaging, often entertaining, and lavishly illustrated book may well be the last word on the subject …' John Saxbee, Church Times

    'This is a great work of scholarship, impressive in its breadth at the same time that it is clear and succinct in its presentation.' Rodrigo Galiza, Andrews University Seminary Studies

    'This engaging, often entertaining, and lavishly illustrated book may well be the last word on the subject.' The Rt Revd Dr John Saxbee, Church Times

    '… Almond's intellectual biography makes comprehensible for the modern reader the complex and obscure world of prophetic scripture interpretation, and that is a massive accomplishment.' Gary K. Waiteu, Journal of Ecclesiastical History

    'Almond has a flair for presenting complex histories with clarity and wit, and the result here is an engaging narrative well-suited to the perspective of the 2020s.' Sean L. Field, Scottish Journal of Theology

    See more reviews

    Customer reviews

    Not yet reviewed

    Be the first to review

    Review was not posted due to profanity

    ×

    , create a review

    (If you're not , sign out)

    Please enter the right captcha value
    Please enter a star rating.
    Your review must be a minimum of 12 words.

    How do you rate this item?

    ×

    Product details

    • Date Published: November 2020
    • format: Hardback
    • isbn: 9781108479653
    • length: 354 pages
    • dimensions: 222 x 145 x 24 mm
    • weight: 0.57kg
    • contains: 16 b/w illus. 16 colour illus.
    • availability: Available
  • Table of Contents

    Prologue
    1. The Origins of the Antichrist Tradition
    2. The Story Begins
    3. The Antichrist, East and West
    4. Antichrists, Present and Future
    5. Of Prophets, Priests, and Kings
    6. The Antichrist Divided
    7. Antichrists – Papal, Philosophical, Imperial
    Epilogue: A Brief Meditation on History.

  • Author

    Philip C. Almond, University of Queensland
    Philip C Almond is Professorial Research Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the University of Queensland. His many books in the fields of religion and intellectual history include God: A New Biography (I.B.Tauris, 2018), Afterlife: A History of Life After Death (I.B.Tauris, 2016), The Devil: A New Biography (I.B.Tauris, 2014), The Lancashire Witches (I.B.Tauris, 2012), England's First Demonologist (I.B.Tauris, 2011), Demonic Possession and Exorcism in Early Modern England (Cambridge University Press, 2004), Adam and Eve in Seventeenth-Century Thought (Cambridge University Press, 1999) and Heaven and Hell in Enlightenment England (Cambridge University Press, 1994). Among other languages, his work has been translated into Catalan, Dutch, German, Hungarian and Polish.

    Contributors

    Philip C. Almond

Related Books

also by this author

Sorry, this resource is locked

Please register or sign in to request access. If you are having problems accessing these resources please email [email protected]

Register Sign in
Please note that this file is password protected. You will be asked to input your password on the next screen.

» Proceed

You are now leaving the Cambridge University Press website. Your eBook purchase and download will be completed by our partner www.ebooks.com. Please see the permission section of the www.ebooks.com catalogue page for details of the print & copy limits on our eBooks.

Continue ×

Continue ×

Continue ×
warning icon

Turn stock notifications on?

You must be signed in to your Cambridge account to turn product stock notifications on or off.

Sign in Create a Cambridge account arrow icon
×

Find content that relates to you

Join us online

This site uses cookies to improve your experience. Read more Close

Are you sure you want to delete your account?

This cannot be undone.

Cancel

Thank you for your feedback which will help us improve our service.

If you requested a response, we will make sure to get back to you shortly.

×
Please fill in the required fields in your feedback submission.
×