Anathema Maranatha ~ Christianity and the Imprecatory Arts

Anathema Maranatha ~ Christianity and the Imprecatory Arts
By Martin Duffy with Additional Images by Johnny Decker Miller

Far from being a religion defined by rituals of peace, and love and salvation, Christianity has a dark side which historically embraced the imprecatory arts—rituals of cursing and malediction. Beginning with God’s curse upon Adam, Eve, the Serpent, and their descendants, the religion of Jesus Christ embraces a rich tradition of cursing and casting evil upon others, even if largely unacknowledged. The magic of hate and harm had a special place amongst the learned clergy, whose traffic with angels and demons is also known through the historical genre of grimoires, the so-called ‘Black Books’ of European necromancy. Drawing upon the Bible, as well as non-canonical scriptures and folk traditions, Anathema Maranatha examines the rich history of Christian malediction, from curses to blight farmland to magical operations meant to cause a building to collapse, to invoking the saints for the destruction of one’s enemies.

Anathema Maranatha is 224 pages in length.

Hardcover edition with gilt boards and color dust jacket, limited to 1,000 hand-numbered copies.