Seminar / 30h / 4 ECTS / summer semester Coordinator: dr hab. Piotr Czarnecki

The aim of this course is to acquaint students with the problem of contemporary Satanism, that is in the period covering the second half of the 20th and in the 21st century.  During the course, students will have the opportunity to discover various aspects and interpretations of this phenomenon basing on the most recent academic literature and source materials. The main part of the course will be centered around the analysis of contemporary groups, representing two main branches of Satanism - atheistic and theistic. Basing on source materials, students will find answers to the questions of their origins, inspirations, specificity and directions of doctrinal evolution. Special attention will be payed to the crucial communities - the most influential in contemporary satanic environment – that is The Church of Satan, and Temple of Set. Another important subject of analysis are the phenomena directly influenced by Satanism, such as satanic themes in pop-culture, especially in extreme metal music, or the so-called Satanic panic or Great Satanic Scare of the 1980s. and 1990s.

email: piotr.czarnecki@uj.edu.pl