Europe s Inner Demons By Norman Cohn - 1486 Words

Europe’s Inner Demons In Norman Cohn’s book, Europe’s Inner Demons, his ultimate goal is to explain the development of anti-human conspiracies. He discusses how these â€Å"fantasies† were gradually tied to Christians and eventually how they influenced the European witch-hunts. It can be difficult to decipher his exact thesis as his preface itself seems to function as one large thesis. However, his thesis overall seems to be that â€Å"the great witch-hunt became possible when these practices and experiences were interpreted in terms of the traditional stereotype of the clandestine, systematically anti-human society.† He proves his thesis by discussing how the tradition began and was tied to early Christians and then discussing its transition and use by later Christians to demonize people and practices they feared or did not understand. He shows how this tradition’s precedence in history was what allowed for it to be used to such great effe ct during Europe’s witch hunts. His beginning chapters do not seem to have much connection to the witch hunts, at first glance. In these, he is setting up the basis for this tradition of labelling groups as anti-human and illustrating how it set its precedent for use. According to Cohn’s research, much of our knowledge of its early roots comes from literature of the time that illustrates its use on early Christians before Christianity was officially recognized. Similar rumors happened to the Jews earlier without much success, however it wasShow MoreRelatedWitchcraft And Women : Evaluation Of Gender Theories3055 Words   |  13 Pagesadministered by men, and were subsequently executed for witchcraft. Was this a thinly veiled attack on women as such? The case that the witch-hunts were in actuality women-hunts is a strong one. In the first place, the stereotype of a witch in Christian Europe has always been that of a woman. A prime example is in response to the perceive d outbreak of Witchcraft Russian authorities in one particular district rounded up the entire female population as early as the 12th century . The ratio of females toRead MoreNew World Order in Conspiracy Theory13987 Words   |  56 Pages  ufologists,  lost land theorists, and, most recently,  occultists. The worldwide appeal of these subcultures then transmitted New World Order conspiracism like a mind virus to a large new audience of seekers of  counterknowledge  from the mid-1990s on.[5] In Europe,  National-Anarchism, a radical right-wing ideology articulated by British post-Third-Position  activist  Troy Southgate, called for a  insurrection  against, and  secession  from, the Zionist, capitalist New World Order.[15][16]  National-anarchists see