Religion and the Decline of MagicReligion & the Decline of Magic is Keith Thomas's classic history of the magical beliefs held by people on every level of English society in the 16th and 17th centuries and how these beliefs were a part of the religious and scientific assumptions of the time. It is not only a major historical and religious work, but a thoroughly enjoyable book filled with fascinating facts and original insights into an area of human nature that remains controversial today- the belief in the supernatural that still continues in the modern world. |
From inside the book
Results 1-3 of 53
Page 166
... Scepticism So despite theoretical uniformity there was plenty of scope in sixteenth- and seventeenth - century England for a wide degree of religious heterodoxy . The many Elizabethan and Jacobean writers who lamented the growth of ...
... Scepticism So despite theoretical uniformity there was plenty of scope in sixteenth- and seventeenth - century England for a wide degree of religious heterodoxy . The many Elizabethan and Jacobean writers who lamented the growth of ...
Page 211
... sceptic as well as the credu- lous . Arthur Wilson , a well - educated writer , records how , when stricken with the ... scepticism to the opposite pole of indulgent belief . More than ten years ago the British Medical Association listed ...
... sceptic as well as the credu- lous . Arthur Wilson , a well - educated writer , records how , when stricken with the ... scepticism to the opposite pole of indulgent belief . More than ten years ago the British Medical Association listed ...
Page 589
... scepticism was the only defence against their blandishments . The scriptural ' ghost ' of Saul summoned by the Witch of Endor was interpreted as just such a diabolical imposture , in which the part of Saul was probably played by the ...
... scepticism was the only defence against their blandishments . The scriptural ' ghost ' of Saul summoned by the Witch of Endor was interpreted as just such a diabolical imposture , in which the part of Saul was probably played by the ...
Contents
The Environment | 3 |
The Magic of the Medieval Church | 43 |
3 The Impact of the Reformation | 63 |
Copyright | |
17 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
2nd edn accused almanac Archaeol Ashm Ashmole astrological Aubrey belief Bishop Bodl Cambridge Catholic chap charms Christian Church claimed clergy clients confessed conjuration contemporary courts cunning cunning folk cure curse death declared Devil Diary Discourse Discoverie disease divine doctrine ecclesiastical Elizabeth Elizabethan England English Essex evil Ewen example explain fairies faith Folk-Lore G. G. Coulton Gadbury Gentilisme ghosts God's healing Henry History holy intellectual John John Aubrey John Dee John Gadbury Journ judicial astrology King Kittredge Lilly Lollards London magic maleficent Matthew Hopkins medicine medieval natural Oxford parish persons Physicians plague popular practice prayer predictions prognostication prophecies prophetic prosecution Protestant Puritan records Reformation Reginald Scot reign religion religious Richard ritual Robert Royal scepticism Science Scot Sermons seventeenth century Simon Forman social society sorcery spirits supernatural Thomas thought trans Treatise Tudor William William Lilly William Perkins witch-beliefs witchcraft witches wizard woman