Magic In Christianity

Dedicated to the memory of Morton Smith, who did so much scholarly work in this field, this is a very considerable work of scholarship giving a different view from the orthodox perspective on Jesus, with over 2,000 footnotes. One can readily understand why conventional theologians balk at any associations with magic and tend to explain many of the miracles away as a form of allegory. This is influenced by our sceptical culture, but it is surely clear that Jesus was seen as a miracle worker in his time. Apollonius of Tyana is perhaps the best-known example of this genre. His contemporaries shared the view that human fate is under the control of spirit forces, which are no longer seen as relevant except by psychiatrists with a spiritual understanding, especially in relation to the culture of Brazil. The book provocatively defines religion as magic for the masses and magic as religion for the individual. It spends a considerable time examining the sources of magical texts and their relationship to Gnosticism. A 'magos' was one versed in astrology, dream interpretation and the occult arts and esoteric practices. Some of his Jewish opponents accused Jesus of magical practices and it is very clear that he was an exorcist. The overall structure of the book takes the reader through Jesus's life and explains the cultural background of the first few centuries in which Christianity developed. The reader emerges with a very different understanding of Jesus and his background.