Discerning Spirits

FabiÃ¡n Alejandro Campagne

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Chapter 8 Discerning Spirits

In: A Companion to the Devil and Demons, c.1100â1750

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FabiÃ¡n Alejandro Campagne

FabiÃ¡n Alejandro Campagne
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 162â179

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004536449_009

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Abstract

This chapter describes how discernment of spirits was a crucial weapon in the conflict between institutional and charismatic religious authority in medieval and early modern Europe. From the end of the Middle Ages, discernment came under strict ecclesiastical supervision. Charismatic religiosity began to lose most of the autonomy and freedom it had enjoyed for centuries, and well-established practices such as self-discernment lost legitimacy. During the confessional era that followed, the total clericalization of the discernment of spirits was broadly agreed on in the Catholic church, a development that was less institutionalized but essentially similar among the main Protestant denominations. During the Enlightenment the discerning charisma almost disappeared from official ecclesiastical discourse, which from that time only alluded to an art of discernment understood as earthly know-how, collectively constructed, based on probabilities and conjectures, without any aspiration of infallibility.

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A Companion to the Devil and Demons, c.1100â1750

Series:Â Brill's Companions to the Christian Tradition, Volume: 111

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004536449

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 12 Aug 2025

Subjects
- History
- Religious Studies
  - History of Religion

Front Matter

Part 1 The Medieval Intellectual Foundation

Part 2 Demons of the Confessional Era

Part 3 Interpreting Demons in Daily Life

Part 4 Demons, Witchcraft, and Science

Part 5 Depicting Demons

Back Matter

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Chapter 8 Discerning Spirits

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A Companion to the Devil and Demons, c.1100â1750

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A Companion to the Devil and Demons, c.1100â1750