Bernd-Christian Otto | Heterodoxology

Patterns of Magicity: A review of Defining Magic: A Reader (eds. Otto & Stausberg; Equinox, 2013) – part 3

[The third and final part of my review of Otto and Stausberg’s Defining Magic. This part discusses the five final essays of the book, all of which are new contributions written by contemporary scholars of “magic”. Follow hyperlinks to read part one (focusing on the selection of texts) and part two (focusing on the editors’ introduction) of the review.]

3. Contemporary voices

That we need a systematic approach along the lines of what Stausberg and Otto suggest (or alternatively along the lines of building blocks) is confirmed by looking at the five contemporary pieces representing the current state of the debate. The five authors represent anything but a consensus. Through a broader framework of “patterns of magicity” we might nevertheless be able to put them in a fruitful dialogue.

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on February 3, 2014 at 9:21 am Comments (3)
Tags: A Cognitive Theory of Magic, alterity, analogy, analytical thinking, Ann Taves, Bernd-Christian Otto, brain lateralization, building blocks, Cartesianism, Christopher Lehrich, Clifford Geertz, cognitive linguistics, cognitive science of religion, colonialism, comparative method, conceptual blending, Correspondences, Defining Magic, discursive formations, dualism, E. Thomas Lawson, efficacy, eliminativism (about magic), emic and etic, Enlightenment, generalizations, George Lakoff, Gilles Fauconnier, Gregory Bateson, Harvey Whitehouse, identity formation, imagination, imperialism, inductivism, insider/outsider problem, Jesper Sørensen, Kimberly B. Stratton, Lucien Lévy-Bruhl, magical thinking, Making Magic, manipulative ritual practice, Mark Johnson, Mark Turner, Markus Altena Davidsen, metaphors, Michael Stausberg, Michel Foucault, Naming the Witch, neuro-nonsense, numinous power, Othering, Pagan Studies, participation, patterns of magicity, prototype definiton, Randall Styers, Reformation, ritual, Robert N. McCauley, stereotype, stipulative definition, Susan Greenwood, The Language of Demons and Angels, The Occult Mind, Wicca, witchcraft

Patterns of Magicity: A review of Defining Magic: A Reader (eds. Otto & Stausberg; Equinox, 2013) – part 2

[This is the second part of my longish review of Otto and Stausberg’s Defining Magic: A Reader. This part focuses on the introductory chapter. For part one of the review, focusing on the selection of texts, please go here.]

Magicians?

Patterns of Magicity: A Review of Defining Magic (part 2)

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on February 2, 2014 at 9:22 am Comments (3)
Tags: Ann Taves, Bernd-Christian Otto, building block approach, coercive magic, comparativism, Defining Magic: A Reader, discourse analysis, discursive approach, efficacy, illusionism, magic in sport, Magic Johnson, Michael Stausberg, patterns of magicity, polythetic definition, prototype, ritual, stage magic

Patterns of Magicity: A review of Defining Magic: A Reader (eds. Otto & Stausberg; Equinox, 2013) – part 1

[This blog post is a little milestone: it is the first official review of a book sent to me by the publisher for being reviewed directly at Heterodoxology. (Yes, publishers, I am open to suggestions like that!) Since the book was of great interest to me, and touches on issues that occupy me at the moment – and since the blog format allows me to say whatever I want and as much of it as I’d like – it has ended up more like a review article than a book review. Hence I will publish it here in three parts. The full pdf version (only slightly modified) is available from my Academia page. For convenience and ease of sharing. So on we go!]

Review: Bernd-Christian Otto and Michael Stausberg (eds.) Defining Magic: A Reader. Sheffield: Equinox Publishing Ltd., 2013. 281 pages.

[Part 1 of 3]

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on February 1, 2014 at 8:27 am Comments (4)
Tags: academic publishing industry, Agrippa, Ambrose Bierce, Apollonius of Tyana, Aquinas, Bernd-Christian Otto, Byzantine Empire, Chaldean Oracles, copyright, Defining Magic: A Reader, definitions, E. B. Tylor, Enlightenment, Equinox Publishing Ltd., Ernesto de Martino, Ficino, Freud, Gerardus van der Leeuw, goeteia, Goetia, grimoires, Henri Hubert, hermetica, Horton, Iamblichus, J. G. Frazer, John Dee, Lazzarelli, Lévi-Strauss, Leach, Liber Iuratus, Lucien Lévy-Bruhl, mageia, magic, Malinowski, Marcel Mauss, Mary Douglas, Michael Stausberg, neoplatonism, oracles, pharmakeia, Pico, Proclus, Reformation, Rodney Stark, Suda, Tambiah, The Devil's Dictionary, Theurgy, Weber, witchcraft

Up for review: Discernment of Spirits, Soviet New Age, and Magic

I’ve received three books for review over the last few weeks, making for a hectic book review phase (I’m not gonna mention the ones I’m already late with). They are three fascinating collections, dealing with very diverse material. Here’s a quick preview.

Angels of Light? (2012)

Clare Copeland and Jan Machielsen’s Angels of Light? (Brill, 2012) is a collection of essays dealing with that delicious problem of Christian theology and practice: how to discern real sanctity from demonic trickery? If an angel appears in all its splendour – whether in a dream, a vision, or in front of your bare eyes – how do you know that it is not the devil masquerading to lure the devout to the dark side? This, in a nutshell, is the problem of discernment. It has had consequences not only on the abstract level of theological philosophizing, but also on the social level. Above all during the tumultuous reformation era, when new reformers led to the emergence of new sects with new creeds, new leaders, and new lines of authority. The devout had to fear not only false angels, but false prophets as well. From the blurb:

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on July 29, 2013 at 9:25 am Leave a Comment
Tags: Agrippa, Angels of Light?, Augustine, Bernd-Christian Otto, Bernice Rosenthal, Birgit Menzel, Blavatsky, Catholicism, Clare Copeland, cognitive theory of magic, Correspondences, cosmism, Defining Magic, discernment, Frazer, Jan Machielsen, Jesper Sørensen, Malinowski, Michael Hagemeister, Michael Stausberg, Plato, Preternature, Protestantism, Reformation, Science Fiction, shamanism, Soviet, The New Age of Russia

More esotericism at the Religious Studies Project: reflections on discursive (and other) methodologies

“Esotericism” – strange shapes and sights.

Just a couple of days after the Religious Studies Project posted a podcast interview with Wouter Hanegraaff on the academic study of esotericism, there is a follow-up in the form of a short-length essay, debating the possibilities and challenges of esotericism research. Its author, Damon Lycourinos, a current PhD candidate at the University of Edinburgh, brings up a number of concerns – related to questions of European cultural identities (e.g. “reason” vs. “faith”), “the West”, definitional problems related to emic self-designations and typological constructs, etc.

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on October 24, 2012 at 1:51 pm Comments (3)
Tags: Bernd-Christian Otto, Damon Lycourinos, definitions of esotericism, discursive study of religion, gnosis, Kennet Granholm, Kocku von Stuckrad, Michael Bergunder, mnemohistory

Magic and how to write about it – 2nd ESSWE thesis workshop, July 6, 2012

This summer the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism is hosting its second Thesis Workshop in Amsterdam. Participation is free, and the intention is to provide a one-day platform for people involved with academic research in western esotericism on the MA and PhD levels to get together, discuss ideas and research challenges, make connections with other students, and with established scholars in the field. The workshop coincides with the ESSWE board meeting, which means that a number of senior scholars will be present and approachable.