Back to Search
Start Over
Demons of the mind: satanic thoughts in seventeenth-century England.
- Source :
- Seventeenth Century; May-Jun2020, Vol. 35 Issue 3, p277-292, 16p
- Publication Year :
- 2020
-
Abstract
- This article explores the widespread belief in Stuart England that the Devil could intrude thoughts into the human mind. Drawing on medical and religious literature, it argues that this idea was accepted throughout the seventeenth century, and remained largely unchallenged by naturalistic theories of mental illness. Indeed, contemporaries often combined demonic and physiological explanations for conditions such as "melancholy". The article argues that the concept of satanic thoughts survived because it was consistent with wider aspects of Protestant doctrine, and its effects were socially and politically unthreatening. Finally, it considers the relationship between the early modern belief in satanic incursions in the mind and modern understandings of mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- DEVIL
MIND & body
MENTAL health
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 0268117X
- Volume :
- 35
- Issue :
- 3
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Seventeenth Century
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 143138336
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1080/0268117X.2019.1603119