after another. That means he leaves an indelible impression, and generally convinces, even though innuendo and words (such as sword, scabbard, etc.) can often be interpreted too glibly. Being more the anthologist, Classen very effectively categorises distinctive features and motifs in the literary abstracts he quotes, yet he rarely delves into a comparative discussion of them (along, say, “class,” cultural or geographic lines, with authors being as diverse as Hrotsvitha von Gandersheim and Geoffrey Chaucer). Comparison could have extended even to Islamic and near-European literature (where sexual episodes were occasionally made more explicit, or extraordinarily powerful evocations of femi- nine beauty found, as in the Armenian Grigor Narékatsi’s poems). More analysis seems required with terminology, moreover, because differences between traditional notions of “generativeness” and the modern idea of sex need exploring for medieval times, as well as differences in ideas about love and lust, feelings of being male and female, and senses of the bawdy, voyeuristic behaviour, and derision over sexual matters.Yet what Classen establishes is that sex as we approach it today in the liberalWest bears a quite remark- able affinity with how it was approached by the fourteenth century, and thus perhaps the origins of modernity can be discerned in the attitudes he uncovers. Before the Reformation, as Classen knows, concerns over “sexual hypocrisy” among the clergy were increasing, of relevance to our contemporary situation because celibacy brought sexual strains on the Religious and consequently on others. At this point we find what the Church said officially was being let down by its clerical representatives, and what we might have hoped for from Classen’s work is more discussion of satirical or cynical literary touches about this problematic. The question of bodily aggression is also left barely considered: violent sexual acts are acknowledged where they are part of the narratives, but we are offered only a footnote (p. 285) on rape as a medieval phenomenon. The book is well footnoted throughout, with references to an extensive bibliography for those readers interested in the topical and wider societal issues of the time. They exemplify Classen’s learning. F. E. T OMASETTI and G.W. TROMPF University of Sydney M. A. DE LA T ORRE and A. HERNÁNDEZ: The Quest for the Historical Satan. Minne- apolis: Fortress Press, 2011; pp. xii + 248. The Quest for the Historical Satan is a broad-ranging and provocative examination of representations of Satan within biblical history and “Euro-American” Christianity. The result of collaboration between an historian (Hernández) and an ethicist (De La Torre), it addresses both historical and ethical questions, though the ethical dimension is arguably most central to the book’s argument and purpose. In short, the argument is that Christians have come to personify Satan as a figure of absolute evil with morally disastrous consequences. Viewing Satan as the embodiment of evil has fostered dehu- manising attitudes to “the Other” and even outright violence. In this sense, Satan has been a political construct — a tool of social control evoked in the exercise of power over others. By contrast, the authors suggest that viewing Satan as a kind of a trickster would be biblically and theologically defensible and morally superior, insofar as it would lead to more liberating outcomes. 295 BOOK REVIEWS © 2013 The Authors Journal of Religious History © 2013 Religious History Association