Abstract
Lee Siegel, magician, author, and professor of religion, in Net ofMagic: Wonders and Deceptions in India (1991), quotes an informant to this effect: “Yes, religion is magic, magic is religion. Everywhere” (278). And while there are many ways in which the statement makes perfect sense in India, those are fighting words in Western cultures, where many generations of scholars, theologians, and practitioners have endeavored to draw a distinguishing line between these two activities that share so much in common. What is at stake in that effort? Why is the effort to disentangle them fraught with a high emotional tone? We might well wonder how it is that this issue continues to conjure, much as a magician might, such clouds of obfuscation, not to mention scholarly sleight of hand. There is a long history here that is wildly complex. Recent scholarship provides considerable insight into the topic. The best among these efforts reflect the murky ambivalence and paradoxical nature of both magic and religion. It is precisely this murky reflection that is the topic of this essay, and although the full breadth and depth of the available material cannot be properly explored here, a tour of sources and images across boundaries both real and imagined is revealing. We embark on a circuitous voyage through time, geography, and the power of imagination. The setting is a hall of mirrors.
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
Susan L. Schwartz is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Religion Studies at Muhlenberg College. Her research and teaching are in the area of religion and culture, with a focus on India. Schwartz offers a wide-ranging tour of the longstanding tension between religion and magic in western thought and practice. Western thinkers commonly regard religion and magic as foes—antagonistic systems of belief and practice. Conversely, Schwartz demonstrates their profound similarities. The conceptual border separating religion from magic, she argues, is unstable, volatile, and highly revealing. This boundary is a flash point for matters of social hierarchy, gender, religious legitimacy, and geographical location. What does the uneasy relationship between religion and magic suggest about Western anxieties regarding life, death, identity, and authority?
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Works Cited
Burger, Neil. Director, The Illusionist. Bull’s Eye Entertainment, 2006.
Carroll, Lewis. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. New York: Signet Books, 2000.
During, Simon. Modern Enchantments: The Cultural Power of Secular Magic. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 2002.
Glucklich, Ariel. The End of Magic. New York: Oxford UP, 1997.
Idowu, E. Bolaji. African Traditional Religion: A Definition. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1973.
Janowitz, Naomi. Magic in the Roman World, Pagans, Jews and Christians. New York : Routledge, 2001.
Klass, Morton. Ordered Universes. Boulder, CO: Westview P, 1995.
Marshall, Penny. Director, Big. Twentieth Century Fox Films, 1988.
Millhauser, Steven. The Barnum Museum. Champaign, IL:U of Illinois P, 1990.
Neusner, Jacob, Frerichs, Ernest S., Flesher, and Paul Virgil McCracken, eds. Religion, Science and Magic: In Concert and In Conflict. New York: Oxford UP, 1992.
Nolan, Christopher. Director, The Prestige. Newmarket Productions, 2006.
Siegel, Lee. The Net of Magic: Wonders and Deceptions in India. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1991.
Styers, Randall. Making Magic. New York: American Academy of Religion/Oxford UP, 2004.
Thomas, Keith. Religion and the Decline of Magic. New York: Penguin Books, 1971.
Wachowski, Andy, and Wachowski, Larry. Directors, The Matrix. Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow Pictures, 1999.
Editor information
Copyright information
© 2008 Francesca Coppa, Lawrence Hass, and James Peck
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Schwartz, S.L. (2008). Through a Glass Darkly: Magic and Religion in Western Thought and Practice. In: Coppa, F., Hass, L., Peck, J. (eds) Performing Magic on the Western Stage. Palgrave Studies in Theatre and Performance History. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230617124_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230617124_10
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-37464-9
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-61712-4
eBook Packages: Palgrave Literature & Performing Arts CollectionLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)