Gerardus van der Leeuw | Heterodoxology

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

Gerardus van der Leeuw Award to The Problem of Disenchantment

“The Problem of Disenchantment” wins the first Gerardus van der Leeuw Award.

My PhD dissertation, The Problem of Disenchantment, has just won its second award. The Dutch Association for the Study of Religion (NGG – Nederlands Genootschap voor Godsdienstwetenschap), one of the oldest such national organisations in the world, recently publicised the winner of the Gerardus van der Leeuw Award. It’s the first time this prize, named after the famous Dutch phenomenologist of religion (and founder of the NGG), is awarded, which makes it a great honour.

The prize will formally be awarded at next year’s NGG meeting, which in 2014 will coincide with the big conference of the European Association for the Study of Religion (EASR) at the University of Groningen. (That conference is by the way promising to be a very exciting, as well as busy, event. Among the keynote lecturers are Bruno Latour and Carlo Ginzburg. In the shadow of such celebrity names, I’ve now been asked to put together a panel on some central concepts of my dissertation – which comes in addition to a panel session I’m already arranging together with Markus Davidsen and Carole Cusack. So lots to do.)

Last summer, The Problem of Disenchantment won ESSWE’s PhD Thesis Prize, making this the second award.

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