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A review by directorpurry
The Devil's Best Trick by Randall Sullivan
dark
reflective
medium-paced
1.0
THIS BOOK MADE ME WANT TO SCREAM (in a bad way 🙃)
This review is written from the perspective of a Reform Jew who has studied cultural anthropology at a collegiate level. Judaism is not a monolith and I don't speak for all Jewish people.
My first criticism is that I would argue that this book relies on a false premise to make its points - that being that Judeo-Christian is a phrase that means anything. Because not only does it not (https://www.heyalma.com/the-myth-of-judeo-christianity-explained/), it has become a shorthand for the supersession of Christianity over Judaism (https://stateofformation.org/2014/04/the-myth-of-a-judeo-christian-tradition). Essentially that, because of Jesus, Judaism is defunct.
While this book never states that directly, its opening interrogation of a professor of Jewish studies teeters dangerously close to such ideology. (Forgive me for not being able to pull up his name - I listened to an audiobook so I can't scrub the text for it.) Sullivan spends an entire chapter attempting to interrogate the Jewish concept of Satan, only to be told by said professor to stop trying to make sense of God. Because the Jewish interpretations of God are, I would argue, significantly different to the current Christian view.
There was, of course, a focus on Satan/the Devil/the Root of All Evilâ„¢/etc. as presented in Jewish theology. While Satan may have been an important element of second temple period Jewish ideology, guess what! We've been out of the second temple period for over 2,000 years! Jewish theology has evolved significantly. There is no focus on satanic figures in most of the current American Judaism that I'm aware of. And I spent 12 years at a Jewish religious school. The most Satan I got was from watching <i>Supernatural</i> or being handed Chick Tracts by religious freaks who wanted to harass non-Christian children.
And then we jump to another religion, Islam, that does have more of a focus on capital E Evil discussed in this book, only for it to be dismissed by the author because it doesn't make sense within the theology he's been taught. Make it make sense.
My second criticism is the formatting. Who organized this book? It's extremely confusing and disjointed, jumping back and forth between historical theology, true crime, questionable suicides, the Satanic panic, and then extremely racist and xenophobic descriptions of Mexico, as well as some very questionable colonial apologetics.
It should have started with the author's personal stake in this (that he converted to Catholicism in 1995 while reporting in Bosnia) and used the true crime and Satanic panic as a frame for a conversation about religious belief in a deity of evil vs the secular thoughts. There you go. There's a book.
That actually was the book I thought I signed up for so I certainly would have had a better time.
Lastly, but more than certainly <i>not</i> least, we have the second half of the book.
About the modern portions, all I have to say is 1. to claim any single country is the "heart" of all evil on Earth is gratuitous and smacks of racism and 2. it's okay to say you don't understand a religion without saying it's demonic.
As for the Cortés portion...
1. Genuine religious belief does not excuse colonial behavior or mass violence.
2. Judging other cultures by social moral codes is acceptable. Judging other cultures by moral codes imposed by YOUR religion that is not their religion is not.
3. I am baffled by some of the sources referenced about the historical actions of both Conquistadors and the Aztecs. I was dissatisfied by the analysis presented and would like to read more on my own - because as far as I was aware, human sacrifice and elements of cannibalism were widely accepted parts of the cultural and religious practices of the Aztecs, but the Spanish also committed acts of mass murder, sexual violence, and slavery. So as far as I'm concerned it sounds like a great time to not be there.
Overall, a very unconvincing and disorganized exploration that is biased towards a Catholic world view. And when I want that, I'm just going to rewatch <i>Evil</i>.
This review is written from the perspective of a Reform Jew who has studied cultural anthropology at a collegiate level. Judaism is not a monolith and I don't speak for all Jewish people.
My first criticism is that I would argue that this book relies on a false premise to make its points - that being that Judeo-Christian is a phrase that means anything. Because not only does it not (https://www.heyalma.com/the-myth-of-judeo-christianity-explained/), it has become a shorthand for the supersession of Christianity over Judaism (https://stateofformation.org/2014/04/the-myth-of-a-judeo-christian-tradition). Essentially that, because of Jesus, Judaism is defunct.
While this book never states that directly, its opening interrogation of a professor of Jewish studies teeters dangerously close to such ideology. (Forgive me for not being able to pull up his name - I listened to an audiobook so I can't scrub the text for it.) Sullivan spends an entire chapter attempting to interrogate the Jewish concept of Satan, only to be told by said professor to stop trying to make sense of God. Because the Jewish interpretations of God are, I would argue, significantly different to the current Christian view.
There was, of course, a focus on Satan/the Devil/the Root of All Evilâ„¢/etc. as presented in Jewish theology. While Satan may have been an important element of second temple period Jewish ideology, guess what! We've been out of the second temple period for over 2,000 years! Jewish theology has evolved significantly. There is no focus on satanic figures in most of the current American Judaism that I'm aware of. And I spent 12 years at a Jewish religious school. The most Satan I got was from watching <i>Supernatural</i> or being handed Chick Tracts by religious freaks who wanted to harass non-Christian children.
And then we jump to another religion, Islam, that does have more of a focus on capital E Evil discussed in this book, only for it to be dismissed by the author because it doesn't make sense within the theology he's been taught. Make it make sense.
My second criticism is the formatting. Who organized this book? It's extremely confusing and disjointed, jumping back and forth between historical theology, true crime, questionable suicides, the Satanic panic, and then extremely racist and xenophobic descriptions of Mexico, as well as some very questionable colonial apologetics.
It should have started with the author's personal stake in this (that he converted to Catholicism in 1995 while reporting in Bosnia) and used the true crime and Satanic panic as a frame for a conversation about religious belief in a deity of evil vs the secular thoughts. There you go. There's a book.
That actually was the book I thought I signed up for so I certainly would have had a better time.
Lastly, but more than certainly <i>not</i> least, we have the second half of the book.
About the modern portions, all I have to say is 1. to claim any single country is the "heart" of all evil on Earth is gratuitous and smacks of racism and 2. it's okay to say you don't understand a religion without saying it's demonic.
As for the Cortés portion...
1. Genuine religious belief does not excuse colonial behavior or mass violence.
2. Judging other cultures by social moral codes is acceptable. Judging other cultures by moral codes imposed by YOUR religion that is not their religion is not.
3. I am baffled by some of the sources referenced about the historical actions of both Conquistadors and the Aztecs. I was dissatisfied by the analysis presented and would like to read more on my own - because as far as I was aware, human sacrifice and elements of cannibalism were widely accepted parts of the cultural and religious practices of the Aztecs, but the Spanish also committed acts of mass murder, sexual violence, and slavery. So as far as I'm concerned it sounds like a great time to not be there.
Overall, a very unconvincing and disorganized exploration that is biased towards a Catholic world view. And when I want that, I'm just going to rewatch <i>Evil</i>.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, and Murder
Moderate: Genocide, Gun violence, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Colonisation, and War
Minor: Drug abuse