The Devil You Don't Know: Recognizing and Resisting Evil in Everyday Life

By Louis J. Camelli

With insight reminiscent of The Screwtape Letters, Rev. Louis J. Cameli challenges readers to reconsider what they've always believed about the devil. In some ways, it’s easy to believe in a devil who makes heads spin round and enables people to levitate. Many movies and books about possession and exorcism have trained spiritual seekers to identify evil by its expected Hollywood conventions. By contrast, in The Devil You Don't Know: Recognizing and Resisting Evil in Everyday Life, Cameli, nationally renowned pastoral leader and priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago, paints a challenging, unsettling portrait of the devil as a formidable adversary who works great harm, often in quiet, less-seen ways.

While remaining a fixture of popular culture, the devil has—until now—been largely ignored in contemporary spiritual writing. Cameli exposes the devil’s tactics of deception, division, diversion, and discouragement, in individuals and also in institutions. This thoroughly biblical, deft exploration considers the personal and social dimensions of sin, and offers both enlightenment and hope in the power of Christ to overcome evil.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ave Maria Press
• Release date: Oct 17, 2011
• ISBN: 9781594713279

Louis J. Camelli

Rev. Louis J. Cameli is a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago who was ordained in 1969. He served on the faculty of the University of Saint Mary of the Lake / Mundelein Seminary in a number of roles, including professor of spiritual theology, director of spiritual life, and president of the ecclesiastical faculty of theology. Cameli was the founding director of the Office for Ongoing Formation of Priests of the Archdiocese and served as pastor of Divine Savior Parish in Norridge, Illinois. Appointed by Cardinal Francis George as the Archbishop’s Delegate for Formation and Mission, Cameli currently serves as a resource theologian to the agencies of the Archdiocese. He holds a doctorate in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.