Brian P. Copenhaver

This book is a collection of excerpts from religious and philosophical works that describe or discuss “magic.” The timeline runs from Biblical to the 17c.

It's stated that “magic can be illicit and still effective..." For example, King Saul’s meeting with the Witch of Endor or the Three Magi who saw through Herod’s deception by using astrology and interpreting dreams. We also learn that the Church stole the terminology of “principalities, thrones, powers” from the old gods to classify Christian angels. Misconceptions are busted: Moses’ did not call forth most of the Plagues of Egypt and Jesus was not the only one to resurrect someone. In Antiquity, Pliny can’t stand charms and chants; Hippocrates doesn’t believe epilepsy to be “a sacred disease” and Socrates is entertained by it all. Plato and Proclus argue that the body is ruled by the Love and Harmony, the spiritual connectors to the gods. To indulge the body in good and healthy things is good magic. The Farmer’s Almanac is a form of astrological divination (Cicero + Ptolemy) and Plotinus argues that music is magic. As the Church expands, magic becomes the realm of the Devil (St. Augustine), yet Christians participate in chants and rituals to receive a blessing. But Albert the Great argues that astrology is a natural philosophy and not demonic, and Nicole Oresme claims that natural wonders are neither acts of God or demons. By the Renaissance the Hammer of the Witches emerges and corruption of ancient texts for Kabbalah. By the 17th c. we have Matthew Hopkins and full-blown witch hunts. Eventually it is the magic of science that conquers.

My only issue is that Arabic, Egyptian and Celtic texts were left out. Some excerpts could've been swapped for these. But still, this book is quite the resource, plenty of obscure references in here!… (altro)

Not quite the book I anticipated. The author is incredibly well versed, but we read "Magic" differently. For him, it is what is contained in philosophical texts, and thus this (rather long) book is a discussion of the literary ruminations about occult matters, which focused on magnetism and the like. Magic was primarily a label given to causes that could not be explained, and thus the text ends with as history crosses the line over into truly scientific treatment of these subjects.

Little attention is given to what the ordinary person considered to be "magic," and what types of causes warranted burnings at the stake. Most likely the chimney sweep knew nothing at all about the gentile exchanges between effete scholars, but rather more about the fears of supernatural agents who could effect astounding displays.

While the first is interesting in its own right, it leaves the reader who wanted to know what real people were thinking about magic and the arcane undercurrents of their mundane existences feeling a bit frustrated and disappointed. But perhaps this is to fault it for the book it isn't than for what it is. At the very least, though, the title should reflect the rather narrow slice it looks at, even if it does so in exquisite detail.… (altro)