Religion and the Decline of Magic : Studies in Popular Beliefs in Sixteenth and Seventeenth-Century England (Paperback)

from mnicol

A demanding read but absolutely worthwhile. We live with more uncertainty today than ever before and the mystery is why we rely less on diviners, magicians and wizards, not why they were abandoned. Although dodgy statistics and intricate computer models play the part of the entrail reader as deci...

from Widsith

Now my Charmes are all ore-throwne, And what strength I haue's mine owne. Which is most faint... -William Shakespeare, The Tempest You might think from the title of Religion and the Decline of Magic that there is going to be some causal relationship between the two noun phrases: that this is a st...

from heidilove

this is a thought-provoking book, but i'm not convinced that thomas makes the point he claims in the title. if magic has declined, or our sense of it, then i shudder to think of what it once was.

from AlexTheHunn

This book is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in social or cultural history. Thomas explains how religion, magic and their relative importance in the lived of western civilzation affect attitudes underlying a wide range of activites.

from dmsteyn

The concept of magic is a fascinating one, no doubt. The amount of fiction that contains some or other kind of magic is astonishing, but what is even more astonishing is the beliefs that people have had (or continue to have) about "actual" magic. In Religion and the Decline of Magic, Keith Thomas...