Religion and the Decline of Magic: Studies in Popular Beliefs in Sixteenth and Seventeenth-Century EnglandWitchcraft, astrology, divination and every kind of popular magic flourished in England during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, from the belief that a blessed amulet could prevent the assaults of the Devil to the use of the same charms to recover stolen goods. At the same time the Protestant Reformation attempted to take the magic out of religion, and scientists were developing new explanations of the universe. Keith Thomas's classic analysis of beliefs held on every level of English society begins with the collapse of the medieval Church and ends with the changing intellectual atmosphere around 1700, when science and rationalism began to challenge the older systems of belief. |
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... had few rivals among the very poor. There was more good in a cask of ale than in the four gospels, declared a fifteenth-century heretic; malt, he thought, did more to justify God's ways to man than the Bible.70 A newer.
... had few rivals among the very poor. There was more good in a cask of ale than in the four gospels, declared a fifteenth-century heretic; malt, he thought, did more to justify God's ways to man than the Bible.70 A newer.
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Studies in Popular Beliefs in Sixteenth and Seventeenth-Century England Keith Thomas. justify God's ways to man than the Bible.70 A newer form of narcotic was tobacco. Smoking was introduced to England early in the reign of Elizabeth I ...
Studies in Popular Beliefs in Sixteenth and Seventeenth-Century England Keith Thomas. justify God's ways to man than the Bible.70 A newer form of narcotic was tobacco. Smoking was introduced to England early in the reign of Elizabeth I ...
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... God's practical blessing upon secular activities. The basic ritual was the benediction of salt and water for the health of the body and the expulsion of evil spirits. But the liturgical books of the time also contained rituals devised ...
... God's practical blessing upon secular activities. The basic ritual was the benediction of salt and water for the health of the body and the expulsion of evil spirits. But the liturgical books of the time also contained rituals devised ...
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... God's wrath over us; we provoke him to plague us with divers diseases and sundry kinds of death'. In the seventeenth ... God and even, according to some theologians, subjected to the torments of the damned.48 At the baptismal ceremony ...
... God's wrath over us; we provoke him to plague us with divers diseases and sundry kinds of death'. In the seventeenth ... God and even, according to some theologians, subjected to the torments of the damned.48 At the baptismal ceremony ...
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... God in the primitive church did work mightily and effectually in sick persons anointed.61 This was to link unction to the Church's other rites of blessing and anointing the sick to which it was closely related, and in which the ...
... God in the primitive church did work mightily and effectually in sick persons anointed.61 This was to link unction to the Church's other rites of blessing and anointing the sick to which it was closely related, and in which the ...
Contents
Ghosts and Fairies | |
Times and Omens | |
Cunning Men and Popular Magic | |
Magic and Religion | |
its Practice and Extent | |
its Social and Intellectual Role | |
Astrology and Religion | |
THE APPEAL TO THE PAST 13 Ancient Prophecies WITCHCRAFT | |
the Crime and its History | |
Witchcraft and Religion | |
The Decline of Magic | |
Index | |
Providence | |
Prayer and Prophecy 6 Religion and the People | |
Magical Healing | |
The Making of a Witch | |
Witchcraft and its Social Environment | |
Decline | |
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Common terms and phrases
2nd edn accused almanac Archaeol Ashm Ashmole astrological Aubrey Autobiography belief Bishop Bodl Book Cambridge Catholic chap charms Christian Church clergy clients confessed conjuration contemporary courts cunning cunning folk cure curse death declared Devil Diary Discourse Discoverie disease divine doctrine early ecclesiastical Elizabeth Elizabethan England English Essex evil Ewen example fairies faith G. G. Coulton Gadbury Gentilisme ghosts God's healing Henry Hist History holy Hugh Latimer intellectual John John Aubrey John Dee John Gadbury John Jewel Josten Journ judicial astrology King Kittredge Lilly Lilly's Lollards London magic medicine medieval misfortune 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 sixteenth century Sloane social society sorcery spirits supernatural Superstitions Thomas thought trans Treatise Tudor William William Lilly William Perkins witch-beliefs witchcraft witches wizard woman