Svmma Daemoniaca

Svmma Daemoniaca - José Antonio Fortea Peculiar little book about demons written by a Catholic priest. It covers many subjects, such as how demons came to be, how they communicate, how much they suffer, what's effective against them. He also classifies them by the way they harass humans and the way they possess them.

One of the parts of the book that I liked most was the one with accounts of real cases of demonic possession of different kinds. Sadly it was a very brief section. Some of the things that I did not like was the lack of bibliographic references, the large amount of typos and orthographic errors I came across and the repetition of certain points already made at some other moment in the book.

There are some points that made me raise my eyebrow in doubt, such as claiming that the demonic possessions that lead to the Salem witch trials were authentic and in fact a sign from god to remind humanity of his power and the need to refrain from pagan or evil practices. And that not being enough he went to say that antisemitism is in fact a creation and still fueled today by the devil, for he holds a great grudge against them.

I could make more critiques about it and the way the author seemed a bit too close-minded about his interpretation of the bible but I shall not. I would recommend this book to catholics, people that think they're under demonic possession, and those interested in learning about demons from a religious point of view.