Emeritus Professor Philip Almond
Emeritus Professor
School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry
+61 7 334 67412
Researcher biography
Professor Almond's current research interests include apocalypticism in early modern England; and demonic possession, exorcism and witchcraft in early modern England. He has particular interests in themes in religious cultural history in the early modern period.
Professor Almond holds the following qualifications: B.D. (Hons.) (London), M.A. (Lancaster), Ph.D. (Adelaide), F.A.H.A.
He is the author of The British Discovery of Buddhism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006, paperback edition); The Witches of Warboys: An extraordinary Story of Sorcery, Sadism, and Satanic Possession (London: I.B.Tauris, in press); Demonic Possession & Exorcism in Early Modern England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004); Adam and Eve in Seventeenth-Century Thought (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), Heaven and Hell in Enlightenment England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994); The British Discovery of Buddhism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988); Heretic and Hero: Muhammad and the Victorians (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1989); Rudolf Otto: An Introduction to his Philosophical Theology (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1984); Mystical Experience and Religious Doctrine: An Investigation of the Study of Mysticism in World Religions (Berlin: Mouton, 1982).
Recent articles include "Adam, Pre-Adamites, and Extra-Terrestrial Beings in Early Modern Europe," Journal of Religious History 30(2006), 163-74; "'The Witches of Warboys': A Bibliographical Note," in Notes and Queries 52 (2005), 192-3; "Western Images of Islam, 1700-1900, Australian Journal of Politics and History 49(2003), 412-24; "Modern Imaginings of Islam," St Mark's Review 192(2003), pp.24-9, reprinted in The Sceptic 24(2004), 6-10. "Fundamentalism, Christianity, and Religion," The 2001 Sir Robert Madgwick Lecture, Armidale: The University of New England, 2002, Broadcast on ABC Radio National, Encounter, 7.4.02, www.abc.net.au/rn.relig/enc/stories/s520400.htm; " Druids, Patriarchs, and the Primordial Religion", The Journal of Contemporary Religion 15(2000), 379-94.
He is currently working on a book on apocalypticism in early modern England.
Books
Almond, Philip C. (2024). The Buddha: life and afterlife between East and West. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/9781009346788
Almond, Philip C. (2023). Mary Magdalene: a cultural history. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/9781009221702
Almond, Philip C. (2020). The Antichrist: a new biography. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/9781108855945
Almond, Philip C. (2018). God: a new biography. London, United Kingdom: I.B. Tauris.
Almond, Philip C. (2016). Afterlife: a history of life after death. London, United Kingdom: I B Tauris.
Almond, Philip C. (2016). The Lancashire Witches: a chronicle of sorcery and death on Pendle Hill. London, United Kingdom: I.B.Tauris.
Almond, Philip C. (2016). The Devil: A New Biography. Paperback edition ed. London, United Kingdom: I B Tauris.
Almond, Philip C. (2015). England's first demonologist: Reginald Scot and 'The Discoverie of Witchcraft'. London , United Kingdom: I B Tauris.
Almond, Philip C. (2014). The Devil: a new biography. London, United Kingdom: I.B.Tauris.
Almond, Philip C. (2012). The Lancashire witches: a chronicle of sorcery and death on Pendle Hill. London, U. K.: I. B. Tauris.
Almond, Philip C. (2011). England's first demonologist: Reginald Scot and 'The Discoverie of Witchcraft'. London, England, U.K.: I.B. Tauris.
Almond, Philip C. (2008). Heaven and hell in enlightenment England. Print on demand ed. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
Almond, Philip C. (2008). The witches of Warboys: An extraordinary story of sorcery, sadism and satanic possession. London, U.K.: I. B. Tauris.
Almond, Philip C. (2008). Adam and Eve in seventeenth-century thought. Print on demand ed. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.
Almond, Philip C. (2007). Demonic possession & exorcism in early modern England: Contemporary texts and their cultural contexts. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.
Almond, P. C. (2006). The British Discovery of Buddhism. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Almond, Philip C. (2004). Demonic possession and exorcism in early modern England: Contemporary texts and their cultural contexts. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Pres. doi: 10.1017/CBO9780511483417
Almond, P. C. (1999). Adam and Eve in Seventeenth Century Thought. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.
Almond, P. C. (1994). Heaven and Hell in Enlightenment England. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Almond, P. C. (1989). Heretic and Hero: Muhammad and the Victorians. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
Almond, Philip C. (1988). The British Discovery of Buddhism. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Almond, Philip C. (1984). Rudolf Otto: An Introduction to his Philosophical Theology. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
Book Chapters
Almond, Philip C. (2020). Doubt and demonology: Reginald Scot’s The Discoverie of Witchcraft. The science of demons: Early Modern Authors Facing Witchcraft and the Devil. (pp. 133-148) edited by Jan Machielsen. Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9780203702512-8
Almond, Philip (2016). Science, witchcraft, and demonology: the Saducismus triumphatus of Joseph Glanvil and Henry More. In umbra. Vypusk 5. (pp. 185-202) Moscow, Russia: Indrik.
Almond, Philip (2016). Violence and possession. The Cambridge guide to the worlds of Shakespeare: Shakespeare's world, 1500-1660. (pp. 822-827) edited by Bruce R. Smith. New York, NY United States: Cambridge University Press.
Almond, Philip C. (1994). Rudolf Otto and Buddhism. Aspects of Religion: Essays in honour of Ninian Smart. (pp. 59-71) edited by Peter Masefield and Donald Wiebe. New York: Peter Lang.
Almond, Philip C. (1992). The End of 'Religious' Pluralism?. Religion and multiculturalism in Australia : essays in honour of Victor Hayes. (pp. 47-55) edited by Norman Habel. Adelaide: A. A. S. R..
Almond, Philip C. (1990). Mysticism and its contexts: A response to Steven Katz. The Problem of pure consciousness: Mysticism and philosophy. (pp. 211-219) edited by Robert K. C. Forman. New York: Oxford University Press.
Almond, Philip C. (1988). Buddhism and `the Oriental Mind'. Religions and comparative thought. (pp. 293-315) edited by P. Bilimoria and P. Fenner. Delhi: Sri Satguru.
Almond, Philip C. (1987). The Buddha in the West, 1800-1860. Perspectives on language and text. (pp. 381-392) edited by Edgar W. Conrad and Edward G. Newing. Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns.
Almond, Philip C. (1980). On the varieties of mystical experience 1980. Religious experience in world religions. (pp. 103-111) edited by Victor C. Hayes. Bedford Park, South Australia: Australian Association for the Study of Religions.
Journal Articles
Almond, Philip C. (2014). Review of Brian Levack, The devil within: possession and exorcism in the Christian West. The American Historical Review, 119 (4), 1343-1344. doi: 10.1093/ahr/119.4.1343
Almond, Philip C. (2013). Review of Meeting in Heaven: Modernising the Christian Afterlife, 1600–2000 by Bernhard Lang. Catholic Historical Review, 99 (1), 100-101. doi: 10.1353/cat.2013.0046
Almond, Philip (2010). John Napier and the mathematics of the 'middle future' apocalypse. Scottish Journal of Theology, 63 (1), 54-69. doi: 10.1017/S0036930609990226
Almond, Philip C. (2009). King James I and the burning of Reginald Scot's The discoverie of witchcraft: The invention of a tradition. Notes And Queries, 254 [New Series, Vol. 56] (2), 209-213. doi: 10.1093/notesj/gjp002
Almond, Philip C. (2009). John Mason and his religion: An enthusiastic millenarian in late Seventeenth-Century England. The Seventeenth Century, 24 (1), 156-176. doi: 10.1080/0268117X.2009.10555625
Almond, Philip (2007). Thomas Brightman and the origins of philo-semitism: An Elizabethan theologian and the restoration of the Jews to Israel. Reformation and Renaissance Review, 9 (1), 3-25. doi: 10.1558/rrr.v9i1.3
Almond, P. (2007). The devil and demonism in early modern England. American Historical Review, 112 (2), 580-581. doi: 10.1086/ahr.112.2.580
Almond, P. (2006). Adam, pro-Adamites, and extra-terrestrial beings in early-modern Europe. Journal of Religious History, 30 (2), 163-174. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9809.2006.00446.x
Almond, P. C. (2005). The Witches of Warboys: A bibliographical note. Notes And Queries, 52 (2), 192-193. doi: 10.1093/notesj/gji218
Almond, P. C. (2004). Modern imaginings of Islam. The Skeptic, 24 (2), 6-9.
Almond, Philip (2003). Western Images of Islam, 1700-1900. Australian Journal of Politics and History, 49 (3), 412-424. doi: 10.1111/1467-8497.00295
Almond, Philip (2003). Modern imaginings of Islam. St Mark's Review: A Journal of Christian Thought and Opinion (192), 24-29.
Almond, P. C. (2003). Apocalypses. Prophecies, Cults, and Millennial Beliefs through the Ages by Eugen Weber (book review). Journal of Religious History, 27 (2), 239-240. doi: 10.1111/1467-9809.00173
Almond, P. C. (2000). Druids, patriarchs, and the primordial religion. Journal of Contemporary Religion, 15 (3), 379-394. doi: 10.1080/713676042
Almond, P. C. (1999). Changing view of heaven and hell. Asia Journal of Theology, 13 (1), 159-171.
Almond, Philip C. (1996). The Heathen in his Blindness. Cultural Dynamics, 8 (2), 137-145. doi: 10.1177/092137409600800203
Almond, Philip C. (1993). Henry More and the Apocalypse. Journal of the History of Ideas, 54 (2), 189-200. doi: 10.2307/2709978
Almond, Philip C. (1993). Towards an understanding of the new age. Australian Religious Studies Review, 6, 1-6.
Almond, Philip C. (1993). Towards an understanding of the new age. Murmurings, 5, 5-12.
Almond, Philip C. (1992). The Contours of Hell in English Thought, 1660-1750. Religion, 22 (4), 297-311. doi: 10.1016/0048-721X(92)90041-2
Almond, Philip C. (1991). The journey of the soul in seventeenth century English platonism. History of European Ideas, 13 (6), 775-791. doi: 10.1016/0191-6599(91)90141-K
Almond, Philip C. (1991). Towards an understanding of the new age. Evangelical Review of Theology, 16, 205-10.
Almond, Philip C. (1987). The encounter between Buddhism & Christianity in Victorian England. Asia Journal of Theology, 1, 79-89.
Almond, Philip C. (1987). Buddhism in the West: 300 BC - AD 400. Journal of Religious History, 14 (3), 235-245. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9809.1987.tb00625.x
Almond, Philip C. (1987). The Buddha of Christendom: A review of the legend of Barlaam & Josaphat. Religious Studies, 23 (3), 391-406. doi: 10.1017/S0034412500018941
Almond, Philip C. (1986). The Buddha in the west: From myth to history. Religion, 16 (4), 305-322. doi: 10.1016/0048-721X(86)90017-5
Almond, Philip C. (1986). The Medieval West & Buddhism. Eastern Buddhist, 19, 85-101.
Almond, Philip C. (1984). Rudolf Otto: Buddhism & Christianity, Compared & Contrasted. Buddhist-Christian Studies, 4, 87-101.
Almond, Philip C. (1983). Wilfred Cantwell Smith as Theologian of Religions. Harvard Theological Review, 76 (3), 335-344.
Almond, Philip C. (1983). Rudolf Otto: Life & Work. Journal of Religious History, 12 (3), 305-321. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9809.1983.tb00752.x
Almond, Philip C. (1983). Rudolf Otto: The context of his thought. Scottish Journal of Theology, 36 (3), 347-362. doi: 10.1017/S0036930600029732
Almond, Philip C. (1983). Rudolf Otto & the Kantian Tradition.” 25 (1983), 52-67. Neue Zeitschrift für Systematische Theologie und Religionsphilosophie, 25 (1-3), 52-67. doi: 10.1515/nzst.1983.25.1-3.52
Almond, Philip C. (1983). John Hick's Copernican Theology. Theology, 86 (709), 36-41. doi: 10.1177/0040571X8308600108
Almond, Philip C. (1981). A Note on Theologizing about Religions. Journal of Theological Studies, 32 (1), 178-180. doi: 10.1093/jts/XXXII.1.178
Almond, Philip C., Reay, B. and Bossley, M. (1980). T.M. and education: A critique. Forum of Education, 39, 41-46.
Almond, Philip C. (1980). In Defence of a Mystical Ontology. Religious Traditions, 3, 50-51.
Almond, Philip C. (1980). Mystical experience, the one and the many: Towards a new theory. Darshana International, 20, 42-49.
Almond, Philip C. and Stace, W. T. (1979). Mysticism and philosophy: A critique. Journal of Religious Studies, 7, 92-106.
Almond, Philip C. (1978). Karl Barth & Anthropocentric Theology. Scottish Journal of Theology, 31, 435-447.
Almond, Philip C. (1977). Wittgenstein and Religion. Sophia, 16, 24-27.
Almond, Philip C. (1976). Winch and Wittgenstein. Religious Studies, 12 (4), 473-482. doi: 10.1017/S0034412500009616
Conference Paper
Almond, P. C. (2001). Fundamentalism, Christianity, and Religion. The 2001 Sir Robert Madgwick Lecture, The University of New England, 25/10/01. Armidale, NSW: The University of New England.