thomas religion and the decline of magic

I did learn a lot from this book, however. Religion and the Decline of Magic: Studies in Popular Beliefs in Sixteenth and Seventeenth-Century England (Penguin History).

Religion was a ritual method of living, not a set of dogmas. It solemnized these occasions by providing appropriate rites of passage to emphasize their social significance. The Church was important to him not because of its formalized code of belief, but because its rites were an essential accompaniment to the important events in his own life - birth, marriage and death. Next to fantasy magic, real-world magic is certainly boring! A medieval peasant's knowledge of Biblical history or Church doctrine was, so far as one can tell, usually extremely slight. Where The Golden Bough explained the methods by which magic was thought to work (things which resemble each other can influence each other, or a part of something can stand in for the whole thing), Religion and the Decline of Magic delves into the branches of magic and the uses to which it was put. The book also turns out to be an excellent follow-up to The Golden Bough as a study of how magic is practiced in the real world. This does not prevent it from functioning as a system of explanation, a source of moral injunctions, a symbol of social order, or a route to immortality but it does mean that it also offers the prospect of a supernatural means of control over man's earthly environment. NEARLY every primitive religion is regarded by its adherents as a medium for obtaining supernatural power. It turns out that about half of the length of this book is notes and index, however, so it’s not as intimidating as the file size makes it look. However, this was not one that inspired teeth-grinding, despite being almost the longest of the bunch.

Earlier this year I was grinding my teeth over trying to read too many extremely long non-fiction books. Its original purpose was to explain some of the belief systems that were current in sixteenth and seventeenth-century England but which are mostly no longer believed today – things like astrology, witchcraft, magical healing, ghosts, and fairies. Religion and the Decline of Magic is a very long book of non-fiction.

Thomas religion and the decline of magic