Several people have asked about the research I did for Miserere, so I thought I'd post a brief bibliography of books that I read while working on the novel.
BIBLES:
I used three different translations of the Bible for the Psalms and prayers in Miserere. The majority of the Psalms were drawn from The Oxford Annotated Bible (New Revised Standard version). However, for research purposes, I also used The Holy Bible (Douay Rheims version).
Of all the translations, you can't beat the King James version for sheer poetry. The version of Psalm 23 that Lindsay recites during the walk through the Ierusal Barren came from The Holy Bible (King James version).
DEMONS / DEMONOLGY / EXORCISM
Demons and the Devil: Moral Imagination in Modern Greek Culture by Charles Stewart (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1991)
The Devil: Perceptions of Evil from Antiquity to Primitive Christianity by Jeffrey Burton Russell (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1977)
In the Name of Jesus: Exorcism Among Early Christians by Graham H. Twelftree (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2007)
Jesus the Miracle Worker: A Historical and Theological Study by Graham H. Twelftree (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1999)
The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: Apocalyptic Literature & Testaments edited by James H. Charlesworth (New York: Doubleday, 1983)
The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: Expansions of the “Old Testament” and Legends, Wisdom and Philosophical Literature, Prayers, Psalms and Odes, Fragments of Lost Judeo-Hellenistic Works edited by James H. Charlesworth (New York: Doubleday, 1983)
The Origin of Satan by Elaine Pagels (New York : Random House, 1995)
Satan’s Rhetoric: A Study of Renaissance Demonology by Armando Maggi (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2001)
The Works of Josephus translated by William Whiston (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1987)
EARLY CHRISTIANITY
Beyond Belief : The Secret Gospel of Thomas by Elaine Pagels (New York : Random House, 2003)
The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels (New York : Vintage Books, 1989)
Lost Christianities : The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew by Bart D. Ehrman (Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2005)
Lost Scriptures : Books That Did Not Make It Into the New Testament edited by Bart D. Ehrman (New York : Oxford University Press, 2003)
The New Testament and Other Early Christian Writings : A Reader / 2nd ed. by Bart D. Ehrman (New York : Oxford University Press, 2004)
GENERAL READING:
The Alternative Trinity : Gnostic Heresy in Marlowe, Milton, and Blake by A.D. Nuttall (Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2007)
The Apocalyptic Imagination: An Introduction to Jewish Apocalyptic Literature (The Bibical Resource series) / 2nd ed. by John J. Collins (Grand Rapids, MI : William B. Eerdmans, 1998)
The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri edited and translated by Robert M. Durling ; introduction and notes by Ronald L. Martinez and Robert M. Durling ; illustrations by Robert Turner (New York : Oxford University Press, 1996-2011)
The Gnostic Bible edited by Willis Barnstone and Marvin Meyer (Boston, MA : Shambhala, 2003)
Paradise Lost by John Milton (Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2008)
Visions of Heaven and Hell Before Dante edited by Eileen Gardiner (New York : Italica Press, 1989)
VAMPIRES / SLAVIC FOLKLORE
The Darkling: A Treatise on Slavic Vampirism by Jan L. Perkowski (Columbus, OH : Slavica Publishers, 1989)
The Vampire: A Casebook edited by Alan Dundes (Madison, WI : The University of Wisconsin Press, 1998)