Magic in Biblical and Pagan Societies
Aug 24, 2009 15:26:11 GMT -5
Post by us4-he2-gal2 on Aug 24, 2009 15:26:11 GMT -5
Thread Orientation: In this thread I hope to present insights from a particular volume which contains a particular potent focus on Witchcraft and Magic in the ANE
I've just come back from the library today and spent some enjoyable time aimlessly wandering the shelves: Yes, I was seduced by the dusty and leather bound allure of the more venerable volumes shelved there...mmm books....
Well, anyway, I stopped in the occult section and spent some time considering the works that purported to offer Histories of Magic and so forth such as the one by that Shaw fellow - I was put off by most mentioning Mesopotamia as the authors settle for disastrously outdated translations of texts and miss basic distinctions such as the difference between the Sumerians and Akkadians..
The book on hand/
Eventually I stopped on the volume currently in my hands entitled "Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: Biblical and Pagan Societies." This volume proved to be a wonderful exception - while the 5 volume series aims to discuss Witchcraft and Magic in Europe, it takes a commendably historiographic approach, beginning with this the first volume which focuses on Biblical and Pagan societies. Despite the terminology employed the book is divided in just two sections - the Mesopotamian half and the Old Palestinian half. And, as opposed to other books in the occult section, this series employs experts to discuss their respective field instead of putting the whole book on this or that occult author (who inevitably refers to turn of the 20th century scholarship). The author chosen for Mesopotamia in this volume is Maria-Louise Thomsen, a respected Assyriologist from the University of Copenhagen.
Thomsen's overview includes discussion on diverse topics such as Witchcraft, anti-witchcraft, Necromancy and Mesopotamian incantation texts - for each heading I will review and make notes on the respective threads we have at enenuru, lacking an existing thread, I will sum the material below.
Introductory Remarks/
To begin with, I am reading over the introduction given by the editor of the volume, Bengt Ankarloo. The editor does well with the difficult task of phrasing and contextualizing the study, which is an effort to assert why Mesopotamian and Palestinian Witchcraft and magic are relatable or even integral to European...
The importance of Mesopotamian and Biblical cultures of magic, Ankarloo asserts, together with the Greco-Roman, is these "widely different culture streams eventually converge in the history of Western Europe from early medieval times." It is not long before the editor wanders on to the topic of classification, that is, that we, looking at the ancients magical works, may see it differently then they themselves did. He notes that "mainstream European cosmology has been dualistic since the days of Descartes" , that is, we strongly distinguish between the spiritual and the physical - not so with the ancients. What then is magic to them, which seeks to fend off the attacks of the immaterial spirits on material bodies? There are other concerns about the modern vantage on magic, as Ankarloo relays, such as the notion that magic is "primitive" - this assertion was largely on made by 18th century scholars he states:
"The concept of magic has played an important role as an element in the evolutionary theory of religions. There it was placed in early, 'primitive' stages, before the rise of religion proper. Monotheism was seen as the latest and highest form of religion and Israel its first historical realization. As a consequence, magic in the world of the Old Testament had to be explained away as an exogenous, alien aberration. But, in fact, magic is central not only in 'primitive' societies, but in 'high cultural' civilizations as well, in ancient India, China and the Near East. The strict separation of magic and religion is not possible to uphold. It appears to be the product of a particular western experience finding its expression in nineteenth century evolutionary historicism."
In other words, based on the findings in this book from the contributing scholars on Mesopotamian and Palestinian magic, the editor suggests that notions of Magic as primitive are derived from flawed and outdated findings of 18th century scholars - in fact magic existed in the evolved cultures. And, even the belittlement of magic in the Old Testament can be overstated as Ankarloo observes: "Among the Jews in ancient Palestine magic finds its place within a system of petty kingdoms competing for power by developing ritual practices, and by condemning as heretic those of nearby cults. The famous and often quoted ban on magic and sorcery in the Old Testament can be interpreted not as a general prohibition, but as a stigmatization of uses among adjacent ritual groups."
Finally I quote a passage where the editor relays his esteem of the influence of Mesopotamian magic - perhaps despite it's woeful mirrors:
"The water ordeal of Mesopotamia is a reversed mirror of that in Europe during the great sixteenth century witch hunt. The practice of injuring a doll in the shape of your enemy is prevalent over thousands of years. The significance and power of words spoken and written is recognized in Babylon and in medieval Europe...we will recognize many of these elements of belief and action as belonging to the longue dureé, to our perennial mentalities..."
Still to come... I'm planning to start with a large post on the Witchcraft, Black magic and Sorcery thread.
Magic in Biblical and Pagan Societies
I've just come back from the library today and spent some enjoyable time aimlessly wandering the shelves: Yes, I was seduced by the dusty and leather bound allure of the more venerable volumes shelved there...mmm books....
Well, anyway, I stopped in the occult section and spent some time considering the works that purported to offer Histories of Magic and so forth such as the one by that Shaw fellow - I was put off by most mentioning Mesopotamia as the authors settle for disastrously outdated translations of texts and miss basic distinctions such as the difference between the Sumerians and Akkadians.. The book on hand/
Eventually I stopped on the volume currently in my hands entitled "Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: Biblical and Pagan Societies." This volume proved to be a wonderful exception - while the 5 volume series aims to discuss Witchcraft and Magic in Europe, it takes a commendably historiographic approach, beginning with this the first volume which focuses on Biblical and Pagan societies. Despite the terminology employed the book is divided in just two sections - the Mesopotamian half and the Old Palestinian half. And, as opposed to other books in the occult section, this series employs experts to discuss their respective field instead of putting the whole book on this or that occult author (who inevitably refers to turn of the 20th century scholarship). The author chosen for Mesopotamia in this volume is Maria-Louise Thomsen, a respected Assyriologist from the University of Copenhagen.
Thomsen's overview includes discussion on diverse topics such as Witchcraft, anti-witchcraft, Necromancy and Mesopotamian incantation texts - for each heading I will review and make notes on the respective threads we have at enenuru, lacking an existing thread, I will sum the material below.
Introductory Remarks/
To begin with, I am reading over the introduction given by the editor of the volume, Bengt Ankarloo. The editor does well with the difficult task of phrasing and contextualizing the study, which is an effort to assert why Mesopotamian and Palestinian Witchcraft and magic are relatable or even integral to European...
The importance of Mesopotamian and Biblical cultures of magic, Ankarloo asserts, together with the Greco-Roman, is these "widely different culture streams eventually converge in the history of Western Europe from early medieval times." It is not long before the editor wanders on to the topic of classification, that is, that we, looking at the ancients magical works, may see it differently then they themselves did. He notes that "mainstream European cosmology has been dualistic since the days of Descartes" , that is, we strongly distinguish between the spiritual and the physical - not so with the ancients. What then is magic to them, which seeks to fend off the attacks of the immaterial spirits on material bodies? There are other concerns about the modern vantage on magic, as Ankarloo relays, such as the notion that magic is "primitive" - this assertion was largely on made by 18th century scholars he states:
"The concept of magic has played an important role as an element in the evolutionary theory of religions. There it was placed in early, 'primitive' stages, before the rise of religion proper. Monotheism was seen as the latest and highest form of religion and Israel its first historical realization. As a consequence, magic in the world of the Old Testament had to be explained away as an exogenous, alien aberration. But, in fact, magic is central not only in 'primitive' societies, but in 'high cultural' civilizations as well, in ancient India, China and the Near East. The strict separation of magic and religion is not possible to uphold. It appears to be the product of a particular western experience finding its expression in nineteenth century evolutionary historicism."
In other words, based on the findings in this book from the contributing scholars on Mesopotamian and Palestinian magic, the editor suggests that notions of Magic as primitive are derived from flawed and outdated findings of 18th century scholars - in fact magic existed in the evolved cultures. And, even the belittlement of magic in the Old Testament can be overstated as Ankarloo observes: "Among the Jews in ancient Palestine magic finds its place within a system of petty kingdoms competing for power by developing ritual practices, and by condemning as heretic those of nearby cults. The famous and often quoted ban on magic and sorcery in the Old Testament can be interpreted not as a general prohibition, but as a stigmatization of uses among adjacent ritual groups."
Finally I quote a passage where the editor relays his esteem of the influence of Mesopotamian magic - perhaps despite it's woeful mirrors:
"The water ordeal of Mesopotamia is a reversed mirror of that in Europe during the great sixteenth century witch hunt. The practice of injuring a doll in the shape of your enemy is prevalent over thousands of years. The significance and power of words spoken and written is recognized in Babylon and in medieval Europe...we will recognize many of these elements of belief and action as belonging to the longue dureé, to our perennial mentalities..."
Still to come... I'm planning to start with a large post on the Witchcraft, Black magic and Sorcery thread.
