The Devil Wins: A History of Lying from the Garden of Eden to the Enlightenment

by Dallas G. Denery II

A bold retelling of the history of lying in medieval and early modern Europe

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.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

352 pages, Hardcover

First published December 18, 2014

Reviews

[Anatolikon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a history of responses to the question of whether it is ever okay to lie. Denery's scope is vast but he argues that the middle ages saw no one response to lying and that far from following Augustine dogmatically, lying could be an unfortunate part of living in a world fallen from perfection. While scholastic writers wrestled with theological issues pertaining to deception, courtiers were no less willing than their early modern counterparts to justify lying. The book's scope is impressive, but Denery never really engages with the antique background of lying that is so prevalent in the patristic and medieval writers he cites, though.

[Brandon Giella · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh, it was okay. I didn't get a sense of Denery's voice at all—the whole book was just quotations and references with a paragraph of Denery's explaining and connecting the quotations. For a primer on lying, this might work for you, but only if you have a solid grasp of history and theology. Otherwise I wouldn't really recommend it.

[Stephen Sorensen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book attempts to answer the question "Is it ever ok to lie?" by exploring theological and societal literature from the ancient world through the Enlightenment.

My take on it is that the idea behind the book was great, the wealth of information collected and presented was useful, but the way the book was written was terrible. There were way too many quotations and not enough of the author's own voice. Each chapter felt like it was written by a student desperately trying to meet a word count. Many parts were repetitive.

Looking back on it, the subtitle feels a bit misleading as this book hardly reads as a history. It's more of a compilation of quotes accompanied by minimal commentary.

I doubt I'll be returning to this book again anytime soon and I won't be recommending it as suggested reading to anyone.

[Kai · Rating 1 out of 5]

this book did not have a protagonist, it was historical fiction. I thought it was very boring mostly because it was hard to understand. It just kept making bible references. it was basically the perspectives from god and lucifer about the whole creating the world and lying to adam and eve. It talks about why saiten what even allowed in the garden in a serpent form, and that being part of gods plan.

I gave this book a 1 stare rating because, I personally do not recommend this book because it was hard to read, it changed subjects a ton without really warning. It was just like reading the bible again from different perspectives.

[EdMohs · Rating 2 out of 5]

perusing this- like the first chapter about adam & eve. sure was a lot linguistic gymnistic in trying to determine cause of the Fall throughout history. One think I noticed- it seems like God was the untruthful one in the dialogue. I wnder why the author hasn't considered this possibility?
Anyway for that first chapter it generated dome insight. Probably continued perusing the book -but not read at full attention...

[David Bateman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't waste any more time with this one. Incredibly boring and completely frustrating to read when you have a Latter-Day Saint understanding of Genesis. It's not as complicated as this book would have you believe.

[Patricia Moore · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book. Maybe it just wasn't a good time to read it. It was kinda like a text book and I didn't want to work that hard with paying attention. Also the author justifies lying sometimes. I'm not sure there are ever good times to lie.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this in a charity shop and a history of lying sounded fun. It turned out to be much more technical than I had expected with a lot of Christian philosophy. It was still interesting but someone with more knowledge of the subject would undoubtedly get more from the book than I did.

[Herb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Essentially, a history of Xian philosophy from the Early Church to the 18th C. Excellent.

[Greg Meyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I had been assigned this book in college, I would have been ecstatic. Fascinating topic, a solid writing style, and a lot of citations to help write a paper. Great textbook fodder. But as a semi-educational book to read over lunchtime, The Devil Wins just doesn't quite do the job. It's just a little TOO textbooky to triumph over the stack of other books I could be reading.