The Devil Wins : A History of Lying from the Garden of Eden to the Enlightenment / Dallas Denery.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Denery, Dallas, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Truthfulness and falsehood.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (347 p.)

Edition:

Course Book

Place of Publication:

Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, [2015]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Is it ever acceptable to lie? This question plays a surprisingly important role in the story of Europe's transition from medieval to modern society. According to many historians, Europe became modern when Europeans began to lie-that is, when they began to argue that it is sometimes acceptable to lie. This popular account offers a clear trajectory of historical progression from a medieval world of faith, in which every lie is sinful, to a more worldly early modern society in which lying becomes a permissible strategy for self-defense and self-advancement. Unfortunately, this story is wrong.For medieval and early modern Christians, the problem of the lie was the problem of human existence itself. To ask "Is it ever acceptable to lie?" was to ask how we, as sinners, should live in a fallen world. As it turns out, the answer to that question depended on who did the asking. The Devil Wins uncovers the complicated history of lying from the early days of the Catholic Church to the Enlightenment, revealing the diversity of attitudes about lying by considering the question from the perspectives of five representative voices-the Devil, God, theologians, courtiers, and women. Examining works by Augustine, Bonaventure, Martin Luther, Madeleine de Scudéry, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and a host of others, Dallas G. Denery II shows how the lie, long thought to be the source of worldly corruption, eventually became the very basis of social cohesion and peace.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Is It Ever Acceptable to Lie?

Part One: Theologians Ask the Question

Chapter One. The Devil

Chapter Two. God

Chapter Three. Human Beings

Part Two: Courtiers and Women Ask the Question

Chapter Four. Courtiers

Chapter Five. Women

Conclusion: The Lie Becomes Modern

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 23. Mai 2019)

ISBN:

0-691-17375-3

1-4008-5207-2

OCLC:

894790126