Devils of Democracy

“An enlightening and disturbing examination of the complex intersection between religion and American politics.” –- Publishers Weekly

“Michael Heyes’s Devils of Democracy exposes a simultaneously fascinating and sobering history of the rhetorical use of demons and demonization in American political discourse and action…. Heyes shows that from the witch trials to the Satanic Panic to the Seven Mountains Mandate, and down to today, the gravitational pull of the demonic has a way with the tide of American history. Most sobering of all, Heyes demonstrates that thoughtful folks concerned for the nation’s future ought to start taking far more seriously the influence of conspiratorial demonology.” –Dan McClellan, author of the New York Times bestselling book The Bible Says So: What We Get Right (and Wrong) About Scripture’s Most Controversial Issues

“This is the ideal book for anyone puzzled by the sudden surge in talk about angels, demons, and spiritual warfare in our politics. Heyes ably demonstrates that the American religious imagination has always tended toward the lurid and apocalyptic. While openly agnostic about the existence of actual demons, Devils of Democracy offers a valuable (and alarming) history of the role of demonizing in American rhetoric and politics.” –Matthew D. Taylor, author of The Violent Take It by Force and Defying Tyrants

“Heyes reveals how the extremist delusion of ‘spiritual warfare’ has become a profound threat to American civility, tolerance, and neighborliness. Anyone who seeks to understand the current state of the United States–and to rescue it from delusion and conspiracy-fed lies–must urgently read Devils of Democracy.” –Frank Schaeffer, author of The Gospel of Zip and Crazy for God

“In this bracing and historically grounded book, Heyes traces the long history of Christian demonology, revealing how an ancient theology has come to shape today’s volatile political climate. By grounding today’s spiritual warfare in its deep theological past, he asks a vital question: If demons are not going away, what does their resurgence mean for American democracy?” –Elle Hardy, author of Beyond Belief: How Pentecostal Christianity Is Taking Over the World

“Thoroughly researched and carefully argued, Devils of Democracy deserves serious attention.” –Randall Balmer, John Phillips Professor in Religion, Dartmouth College, and author of Bad Faith: Race and the Rise of the Religious Right

“This fascinating book lays out in great detail and digestible narrative the intertwined political and religious history of demons, spirits, and the like in America…. This book is a tour de force of forces from another world.” –Matthew Boedy, author of The Seven Mountains Mandate: Exposing the Dangerous Plan to Christianize America and Destroy Democracy

“Heyes has written the definitive guide to a dark and often misunderstood corner of the American psyche…. Devils of Democracy is a must-read for all who wish to understand the religious logic driving today’s headlines.” –André Gagné, full professor at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, and author of American Evangelicals for Trump: Dominion, Spiritual Warfare, and the End Times

Michael E. Heyes

Michael E. Heyes is an Associate Professor and Chair in the Department of Religion at Lycoming College in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. He holds an MA in Comparative Religion from the University of Washington and a PhD in the History of Christianity from Rice University.

Heyes is the author of the monographs Margaret’s Monsters and Demons in the USA. He also serves as an editor for the online, open-access Journal of Gods and Monsters and edited the collection Holy Monsters, Sacred Grotesques: Monstrosity and Religion in Europe and the United States.

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