Soundings in Satanism by F. J. Sheed (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 879 Soundings in Srctanism. Assembled by F. J. Sheed. New York: Sheed and Ward, 197~. Pp. ~36. $6.95. In 1951 Sheed and Ward published Satan, which was a translation of a book of the same title in a series of Carmelite studies which first appeared in French in 1948. The present volume is not so much about Satan as it is about the cult of Satanism, as well as related matters, such as the role of Satan as a theme in art. It is, however, made up of eleven articles from the earlier volume, plus two accounts of witch trials in the seventeenth century; two pieces of fiction; some brief remarks by F. J. Sheed, and a selection from The Occult Revolution by Richard Woods, O.P. (1971). There is also an introduction by none other than John Updike, who expresses some diffidence "at leading such a parade." One can understand Updike's diffidence, for this is a very uneven collection . The materials from the older volume are not uniformly stimulating. Two articles dealing with Satan in the Bible appear to have relied heavily on concordances to demonstrate that Satan plays a far less important role in the Old Testament than he does in the New. The otherwise useful 1948 article dealing with exorcism informs us that the office of exorcist is " one of the four minor orders conferred in the Catholic Church on the future priest." Fr. Woods in " Satanism Today " rightly notes that the ordination of exorcists is not any longer one of the regular preliminary steps to the priesthood in contemporary Roman Catholicism; although it is true that the office itself has been retained. The obvious contradiction could have been explained easily enough, but these articles appear to have been assembled without concern for such small matters as continuity. One also notes that there are several instances of authors who repeat the cliche that Milton presents Satan in Paradise Lost as an almost Promethean tragic hero. This error is easy enough to make if one reads no more than the first two books of Milton's epic, since it does not take account of Satan's degeneration, which is complete by the end of the poem but scarcely begun in the early phases of the action. Fr. Wood's article, written in a popular style, deals with Satanism and contemporary life. It is preceded by the 1948 article on exorcism and followed by another 1948 article on Satan in the Old Testament. Whatever the reason for this curious arrangement, Fr. Woods does suggest why a book dealing with the phenomenon of Satanism is needed in our time. He lists such items as: The Church of Satan, founded by Howard Levy-a former circus performer from Chicago-who became Anton Szandor La Vey, Exarch of Hell in 1966; the Process Church of the Final Judgment, begun in London and currently spreading in America; the doctrine that the three gods of the universe are Satan, Lucifer, and Jehovah; the popularity of The Exorcist and Thomas Tryon's The Other; various ritual murders; and the film Rosemary's Baby. He notes convincingly that: "Today's 880 BOOK REVIEWS surprisingly resistant notion of Satan is an important facet of contemporary religious consciousness, which demands a fuller investigation." That there is a market, as well as a need, for serious attention to Satan in print may well justify this resurrection of part of Sheed and Ward's 1951 translation and the publishing of the older articles along with Updike's preface, as well as the other materials. Popular thought, as Fr. Woods says," seems to be as attuned to the devil as ever," but since Vatican II the theologians have tended to relegate Satan to obscurity. Lay readers of this volume can obtain information concerning such matters as pseudo-possession, dream demons, and the realities of exorcism-as well as the reasons why it must be so guarded and circumscribed by the Church with the greastest care. The account of a Black Mass in Paris, taken from J. K. Huysmans' La-Bas, and the very effective short-story "The Hint of an Explanation " by Graham Greene, are striking, imaginative...