Bøker av Joseph P. (Assistant Professor of Religious Studies Laycock

Speak of the Devil is the first book-length study of The Satanic Temple. Joseph Laycock, a scholar of new religious movements, contends that the emergence of "political Satanism" marks a significant moment in American religious history that will have a lasting impact on how Americans frame debates about religious freedom. Though the group gained attention for its strategic deployment of outrage, it claims to have developed beyond politics into a religiousmovement. Equal parts history and ethnography, Speak of the Devil demonstrates why religious Satanism is significant to larger conversations about the definition of religion, religious freedom, and religious tolerance.

Joseph P. Laycock tells the story of Veronica Lueken, a Catholic housewife in Bayside, Queens, New York, who began receiving visions of the Virgin Mary in 1968. Lueken relayed some 300 messages from Mary, Jesus, and other heavenly personages over three decades and inspired followers who continue to promote her message today.