Spiritualism Identical with Ancient Sorcery, New Testament Demonology, and Modern Witchcraft: with the Testimony of God and Man Against it — William Donald (W. M'Donald) — 1866

Published in 1866, Spiritualism Identical with Ancient Sorcery, New Testament Demonology, and Modern Witchcraft is William M’Donald’s Christian polemic against the rapidly expanding Spiritualist movement.

M’Donald compares séances, mediumship, spirit communication, and related practices with biblical accounts of necromancy, possession, sorcery, and spiritual deception. Rather than accepting reported communications as contact with the departed, he interprets them through orthodox Christian demonology and presents scripture as the proper authority for evaluating the unseen.

The book offers a revealing counterpoint to the Spiritualist literature of the same period and documents the theological anxiety produced by nineteenth-century interest in mediums and psychical phenomena.

Historical Note
This is an explicitly oppositional religious work and is preserved as a document of nineteenth-century debate rather than as a neutral account of Spiritualism.

Details
Author: William Donald, also printed as W. M’Donald
Publication year: 1866
Subjects: Spiritualism, Christian demonology, witchcraft, sorcery, mediumship, and religious controversy
Available formats: PDF and Physical Book