Showing posts with label protestant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label protestant. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 5, 2019

A Treatise on Magic: Now Available!



This fairly short work is a nice example of early 19th century Christian rationalism. Penned by a Lutheran, it accepts the basic concept of Biblical spirituality while expressing deep skepticism of magic generally (of the superstitions of its era)- notably the work derives a lot of its content from the concept of the Biblical Witch of Endor. It speaks in some degree of detail of the Devil, and deviates from the fire and brimstone of both prior and latter Christendom.

67 pages.

Friday, April 7, 2017

Counterblast to Tobacco: Now Available!




This exceedingly short tract is of note for two reasons; its author and its early date for the content. Crafted at the dawn of the 17th century, it is the first anti-smoking tract, and was penned by none other than King James I himself, of "Daemonologie" fame.

Dwelling on both the humors and then-modern medical lore as well as the spiritual implications of smoking (it being according to his view a sin on several levels), the tract attempts to convince the population of James' time and lands to give up smoking except as a limited medicinal material, sarcastically declaring it miraculous that the same plant can cure sometimes congenitally opposed conditions.

25 pages.

Thursday, August 11, 2016

Demonology of King James I: Now Available!




Here is one of the most interesting of all spiritual works; a tract on demonology literally written by a king- King James I of England that is- in the twilight of the 16th century.

Originally composed in extremely old English, this edition has been modernized, although a few generally outdated terms (like betwixt) have been retained for stylistic effect. The entire work is delivered in the form of a dialogue, between the fictional Epistemon and Philomathes. This usage was considered by James to be of greater entertainment than delivering a more academic text.

It covers the nature of witchcraft, the different types of magic (differentiating, for example, necromancers, sorcerers, and witches) and the nature of airy spirits or "fairies." It proceeds to heavily denounce Catholicism and list some categories of demonic entities, the meaning of incubus and succubus and what they pertain to, and their connection to the "night mare" (sleep paralysis) among other things.

75 pages.