Religion Magic And Science In Early Modern Europe And America

Author : Allison P. Coudert
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Page : 422 pages
File Size : 43,8 Mb
Release : 2011-10-17
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9798216138112

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Religion, Magic, and Science in Early Modern Europe and America by Allison P. Coudert Pdf

This fascinating study looks at how the seemingly incompatible forces of science, magic, and religion came together in the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries to form the foundations of modern culture. As Religion, Magic, and Science in Early Modern Europe and America makes clear, the early modern period was one of stark contrasts: witch burnings and the brilliant mathematical physics of Isaac Newton; John Locke's plea for tolerance and the palpable lack of it; the richness of intellectual and artistic life, and the poverty of material existence for all but a tiny percentage of the population. Yet, for all the poverty, insecurity, and superstition, the period produced a stunning galaxy of writers, artists, philosophers, and scientists. This book looks at the conditions that fomented the emergence of such outstanding talent, innovation, and invention in the period 1450 to 1800. It examines the interaction between religion, magic, and science during that time, the impossibility of clearly differentiating between the three, and the impact of these forces on the geniuses who laid the foundation for modern science and culture.

Author : Mark A. Waddell
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 231 pages
File Size : 44,8 Mb
Release : 2021-01-28
Category : History
ISBN : 9781108425285

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Magic, Science, and Religion in Early Modern Europe by Mark A. Waddell Pdf

An accessible new exploration of the vibrant world of early modern Europe through a focus on magic, science, and religion.

Author : Steven P. Marrone
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 331 pages
File Size : 50,9 Mb
Release : 2014-12-11
Category : History
ISBN : 9781137029782

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A History of Science, Magic and Belief by Steven P. Marrone Pdf

A History of Science, Magic and Belief is an exploration of the origins of modern society through the culture of the middle ages and early modern period. By examining the intertwined paths of three different systems for interpreting the world, it seeks to create a narrative which culminates in the birth of modernity. It looks at the tensions and boundaries between science and magic throughout the middle ages and how they were affected by elite efforts to rationalise society, often through religion. The witch-crazes of the sixteenth and seventeenth century are seen as a pivotal point, and the emergence from these into social peace is deemed possible due to the Scientific Revolution and the politics of the early modern state. This book is unique in drawing together the histories of science, magic and religion. It is thus an ideal book for those studying any or all of these topics, and with its broad time frame, it is also suitable for students of the history of Europe or Western civilisation in general.

Author : E. William Monter
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 200 pages
File Size : 51,8 Mb
Release : 1983
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN : UOM:39015008018130

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Ritual, Myth and Magic in Early Modern Europe by E. William Monter Pdf

Author : Randall Styers
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 304 pages
File Size : 55,7 Mb
Release : 2004-01-15
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780190287924

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Making Magic by Randall Styers Pdf

Since the emergence of religious studies and the social sciences as academic disciplines, the concept of "magic" has played a major role in defining religion and in mediating the relation of religion to science. Across these disciplines, magic has regularly been configured as a definitively non-modern phenomenon, juxtaposed to distinctly modern models of religion and science. Yet this notion of magic has remained stubbornly amorphous. In Making Magic, Randall Styers seeks to account for the extraordinary vitality of scholarly discourse purporting to define and explain magic despite its failure to do just that. He argues that this persistence can best be explained in light of the Western drive to establish and secure distinctive norms for modern identity, norms based on narrow forms of instrumental rationality, industrious labor, rigidly defined sexual roles, and the containment of wayward forms of desire. Magic has served to designate a form of alterity or deviance against which dominant Western notions of appropriate religious piety, legitimate scientific rationality, and orderly social relations are brought into relief. Scholars have found magic an invaluable tool in their efforts to define the appropriate boundaries of religion and science. On a broader level, says Styers, magical thinking has served as an important foil for modernity itself. Debates over the nature of magic have offered a particularly rich site at which scholars have worked to define and to contest the nature of modernity and norms for life in the modern world.

Author : Raisa Maria Toivo
Publisher : Springer
Page : 183 pages
File Size : 43,6 Mb
Release : 2016-04-08
Category : History
ISBN : 9781137547279

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Faith and Magic in Early Modern Finland by Raisa Maria Toivo Pdf

Early modern Finland is rarely the focus of attention in the study of European history, but it has a place in the context of northern European religious and political culture. While Finland was theoretically Lutheran, a religious plurality – embodied in ceremonies and interpreted as magic – survived and flourished. Blessing candles, pilgrimages, and offerings to forest spirits merged with catechism hearings and sermon preaching among the lay piety. What were the circumstances that allowed for such a continuity of magic? How were the manifestations and experiences that defined faith and magic tied together? How did western and eastern religious influences manifest themselves in Finnish magic? Faith and Magic in Early Modern Finland shows us how peripheral Finland can shed light on the wider context of European magic and religion.

Author : Kathryn A. Edwards
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 198 pages
File Size : 49,7 Mb
Release : 2016-03-09
Category : History
ISBN : 9781317138341

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Everyday Magic in Early Modern Europe by Kathryn A. Edwards Pdf

While pre-modern Europe is often seen as having an 'enchanted' or 'magical' worldview, the full implications of such labels remain inconsistently explored. Witchcraft, demonology, and debates over pious practices have provided the main avenues for treating those themes, but integrating them with other activities and ideas seen as forming an enchanted Europe has proven to be a much more difficult task. This collection offers one method of demystifying this world of everyday magic. Integrating case studies and more theoretical responses to the magical and preternatural, the authors here demonstrate that what we think of as extraordinary was often accepted as legitimate, if unusual, occurrences or practices. In their treatment of and attitudes towards spirit-assisted treasure-hunting, magical recipes, trials for sanctity, and visits by guardian angels, early modern Europeans showed more acceptance of and comfort with the extraordinary than modern scholars frequently acknowledge. Even witchcraft could be more pervasive and less threatening than many modern interpretations suggest. Magic was both mundane and mysterious in early modern Europe, and the witches who practiced it could in many ways be quite ordinary members of their communities. The vivid cases described in this volume should make the reader question how to distinguish the ordinary and extraordinary and the extent to which those terms need to be redefined for an early modern context. They should also make more immediate a world in which magic was an everyday occurrence.

Author : Albrecht Classen
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Page : 767 pages
File Size : 48,7 Mb
Release : 2017-10-23
Category : History
ISBN : 9783110557725

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Magic and Magicians in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Time by Albrecht Classen Pdf

There are no clear demarcation lines between magic, astrology, necromancy, medicine, and even sciences in the pre-modern world. Under the umbrella term 'magic,' the contributors to this volume examine a wide range of texts, both literary and religious, both medical and philosophical, in which the topic is discussed from many different perspectives. The fundamental concerns address issue such as how people perceived magic, whether they accepted it and utilized it for their own purposes, and what impact magic might have had on the mental structures of that time. While some papers examine the specific appearance of magicians in literary texts, others analyze the practical application of magic in medical contexts. In addition, this volume includes studies that deal with the rise of the witch craze in the late fifteenth century and then also investigate whether the Weberian notion of disenchantment pertaining to the modern world can be maintained. Magic is, oddly but significantly, still around us and exerts its influence. Focusing on magic in the medieval world thus helps us to shed light on human culture at large.

Author : Edward Bever,Edward Watts Morton Bever
Publisher : Palgrave MacMillan
Page : 656 pages
File Size : 44,6 Mb
Release : 2008-06-11
Category : History
ISBN : STANFORD:36105131733342

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The Realities of Witchcraft and Popular Magic in Early Modern Europe by Edward Bever,Edward Watts Morton Bever Pdf

This book explores the elements of reality in early modern witchcraft and popular magic through a combination of detailed archival research and broad-ranging interdisciplinary analyses. The book complements and challenges existing scholarship, offering unique insights into this murky aspect of early modern history.

Author : John Henry
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 328 pages
File Size : 48,5 Mb
Release : 2017-05-22
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 1138117072

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Religion, Magic, and the Origins of Science in Early Modern England by John Henry Pdf

In these articles John Henry argues on the one hand for the intimate relationship between religion and early modern attempts to develop new understandings of nature, and on the other hand for the role of occult concepts in early modern natural philosophy. Focussing on the scene in England, the articles provide detailed examinations of the religious motivations behind Roman Catholic efforts to develop a new mechanical philosophy, theories of the soul and immaterial spirits, and theories of active matter. There are also important studies of animism in the beginnings of experimentalism, the role of occult qualities in the mechanical philosophy, and a new account of the decline of magic. As well as general surveys, the collection includes in depth studies of William Gilbert, Sir Kenelm Digby, Henry More, Francis Glisson, Robert Boyle, Robert Hooke, and Isaac Newton.

Author : Brian P. Levack
Publisher : OUP Oxford
Page : 646 pages
File Size : 40,6 Mb
Release : 2013-03-28
Category : History
ISBN : 9780191648847

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The Oxford Handbook of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America by Brian P. Levack Pdf

The essays in this Handbook, written by leading scholars working in the rapidly developing field of witchcraft studies, explore the historical literature regarding witch beliefs and witch trials in Europe and colonial America between the early fifteenth and early eighteenth centuries. During these years witches were thought to be evil people who used magical power to inflict physical harm or misfortune on their neighbours. Witches were also believed to have made pacts with the devil and sometimes to have worshipped him at nocturnal assemblies known as sabbaths. These beliefs provided the basis for defining witchcraft as a secular and ecclesiastical crime and prosecuting tens of thousands of women and men for this offence. The trials resulted in as many as fifty thousand executions. These essays study the rise and fall of witchcraft prosecutions in the various kingdoms and territories of Europe and in English, Spanish, and Portuguese colonies in the Americas. They also relate these prosecutions to the Catholic and Protestant reformations, the introduction of new forms of criminal procedure, medical and scientific thought, the process of state-building, profound social and economic change, early modern patterns of gender relations, and the wave of demonic possessions that occurred in Europe at the same time. The essays survey the current state of knowledge in the field, explore the academic controversies that have arisen regarding witch beliefs and witch trials, propose new ways of studying the subject, and identify areas for future research.

Author : Brian P. Levack
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 645 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 2013-03-28
Category : History
ISBN : 9780199578160

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The Oxford Handbook of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America by Brian P. Levack Pdf

A collection of essays from leading scholars in the field that collectively study the rise and fall of witchcraft prosecutions in the various kingdoms and territories of Europe and in English, Spanish, and Portuguese colonies in the Americas.

Author : Albrecht Classen
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Page : 723 pages
File Size : 55,9 Mb
Release : 2018-10-22
Category : History
ISBN : 9783110610963

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Travel, Time, and Space in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Time by Albrecht Classen Pdf

Research on medieval and early modern travel literature has made great progress, which now allows us to take the next step and to analyze the correlations between the individual and space throughout time, which contributed essentially to identity formation in many different settings. The contributors to this volume engage with a variety of pre-modern texts, images, and other documents related to travel and the individual's self-orientation in foreign lands and make an effort to determine the concept of identity within a spatial framework often determined by the meeting of various cultures. Moreover, objects, images and words can also travel and connect people from different worlds through books. The volume thus brings together new scholarship focused on the interrelationship of travel, space, time, and individuality, which also includes, of course, women's movement through the larger world, whether in concrete terms or through proxy travel via readings. Travel here is also examined with respect to craftsmen's activities at various sites, artists' employment for many different projects all over Europe and elsewhere, and in terms of metaphysical experiences (catabasis).

Author : Albrecht Classen
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Page : 764 pages
File Size : 47,9 Mb
Release : 2019-08-05
Category : History
ISBN : 9783110623079

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Pleasure and Leisure in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Age by Albrecht Classen Pdf

Jan Huizinga and Roger Caillois have already taught us to realize how important games and play have been for pre-modern civilization. Recent research has begun to acknowledge the fundamental importance of these aspects in cultural, religious, philosophical, and literary terms. This volume expands on the traditional approach still very much focused on the materiality of game (toys, cards, dice, falcons, dolls, etc.) and acknowledges that game constituted also a form of coming to terms with human existence in an unstable and volatile world determined by universal randomness and fortune. Whether considering blessings or horse fighting, falconry or card games, playing with dice or dolls, we can gain a much deeper understanding of medieval and early modern society when we consider how people pursued pleasure and how they structured their leisure time. The contributions examine a wide gamut of approaches to pleasure, considering health issues, eroticism, tournaments, playing music, reading and listening, drinking alcohol, gambling and throwing dice. This large issue was also relevant, of course, in non-Christian societies, and constitutes a critical concern both for the past and the present because we are all homines ludentes.

Author : Albrecht Classen,Connie Scarborough
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter
Page : 612 pages
File Size : 41,5 Mb
Release : 2012-10-30
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9783110294583

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Crime and Punishment in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Age by Albrecht Classen,Connie Scarborough Pdf

All societies are constructed, based on specific rules, norms, and laws. Hence, all ethics and morality are predicated on perceived right or wrong behavior, and much of human culture proves to be the result of a larger discourse on vices and virtues, transgression and ideals, right and wrong. The topics covered in this volume, addressing fundamental concerns of the premodern world, deal with allegedly criminal, or simply wrong behavior which demanded punishment. Sometimes this affected whole groups of people, such as the innocently persecuted Jews, sometimes individuals, such as violent and evil princes. The issue at stake here embraces all of society since it can only survive if a general framework is observed that is based in some way on justice and peace. But literature and the visual arts provide many examples of open and public protests against wrongdoings, ill-conceived ideas and concepts, and stark crimes, such as theft, rape, and murder. In fact, poetic statements or paintings could carry significant potentials against those who deliberately transgressed moral and ethical norms, or who even targeted themselves.