Defining Magic

A Reader
Edited by
Bernd-Christian Otto and Michael Stausberg

Published by Equinox Publishing Ltd.

UK: Unit S3, Kelham House, 3 Lancaster Street, Sheffield S3 8AF
USA: ISD, 70 Enterprise Drive, Bristol, CT 06010
www. equinoxpub.com
First published 2012
Editorial selection and matter Bernd-Christian Otto and Michael Stausberg. Essays individual
authors and publishers.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by
any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or
retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers.
ISBN HB: 978-1-908049-79-7 (hardback)
ISBN PB: 978-1-908049-80-3 (paperback)
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Defining magic : a reader / edited by Bernd-Christian Otto and Michael Stausberg.
p. cm. (Critical categories in the study of religion)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-908049-79-7 ISBN 978-1-908049-80-3 (pbk.)
1.MagicHistorySources. I.Otto, Bernd-Christian. II.Stausberg, Michael.
BF1589.D48 2012
133.43dc23
2012018503
Typeset by JS Typesetting Ltd, Porthcawl, Mid Glamorgan
Printed and bound in the UK by MPG Books Group

CONTENTS

Preface
Sources

ix
xi

General Introduction

Part I: Historical Sources

Introduction

16

1. Plato

1 Alcibiades and Laws

19

2. Pliny the Elder

Natural History

23

3. Plotinus

Enneads

28

4. Augustine of Hippo

City of God and On Christian Doctrine

33

5. Isidore of Seville

Etymologies

41

6. Anonymous

Suda

46

7. Thomas Aquinas

Summa Theologica

48

8. Agrippa of Nettesheim

Three Books of Occult Philosophy

54

contents

9. Dennis Diderot

Encyclopdie

59

10. Helena Petrovna Blavatsky

Theosophical Glossary

64

Part II: Foundational Works of the Academic Debate

Introduction

68

11. Edward B. Tylor

Primitive Culture

71

12. James George Frazer

The Golden Bough

81

13. Marcel Mauss and Henri Hubert

A General Theory of Magic

97

14. mile Durkheim

The Elementary Forms of Religious Life

Part III: Mid-Twentieth-Century Approaches to Magic

Introduction

111

126

15. Gerardus van der Leeuw

Religion in Essence and Manifestation

129

16. Edward E. Evans-Pritchard

Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic among the Azande

141

17. Bronislaw Malinowski

Magic, Science and Religion

156

18. Robin Horton

African Traditional Thought and Western Science

172

19. Stanley J. Tambiah

Form and Meaning of Magical Acts: A Point of View

178

20. Edmund R. Leach

Culture and Communication

187

Part IV: Contemporary Voices

Introduction

194

21. Susan Greenwood

Magical Consciousness: A Legitimate Form of Knowledge
vi

197

contents

22. Christopher I. Lehrich

Magic in Theoretical Practice

211

23. Jesper Srensen

Magic Reconsidered: Towards a Scientifically Valid Concept of Magic

229

24. Kimberly B. Stratton

Magic Discourse in the Ancient World

243

25. Randall Styers

Magic and the Play of Power

255

263
276

Bibliography
Index

vii