Description
Book SynopsisA collection of essays on various aspects of the position of magic in the modern world. Essays explore the ways in which modernity has been defined in explicit opposition to magic and superstition, and the ways in which modern proponents of magic have worked to legitimate their practices.
Trade Review“A powerful collection that succeeds in connecting history, science, and psychology, and will be relevant to scholars of each.”
—A. E. Leykam Choice
“Hopefully, this book will be read both by historians of magic and scholars of contemporary magic in the fields of anthropology and sociology. As such, it is a valuable contribution to the interdisciplinary study of magic; such interdisciplinary engagement is especially important when dealing with as elusive and controverted a concept as magic.”
—Francis Young Reviews in History
“Magic in the Modern World stands out among other edited volumes in the quality of its contributions and the erudition of its contributors. . . . I anticipate returning to my copy again and again to draw fresh insights into my research and pedagogy in the field.”
—Michael E. Heyes Nova Religio
“Ever since the nineteenth century, it has been a staple of the discourse on modern society that magic and supernaturalism were on their way out. The contributors to this splendid volume explain why this idea has been so persuasive, and why it is utterly wrong.”
—Olav Hammer,author of Claiming Knowledge: Strategies of Epistemology from Theosophy to the New Age
“Most readers of this review surely would say that magic has long passed its prime, surviving in the modern Western world only in the enfeebled state of sleight of hand. But Magic in the Modern World . . . is determined to prove them wrong.”
—Steven P. Marrone Isis: Journal of the History of Science Society
“Well-conceived and thought-provoking.”
—Bernd-Christian Otto Jahrbuch für Kommunikationsgeschichte
“Perhaps the main value of this collection is not so much in each individual contribution, but in adding a great deal of scholarly weight to the voices increasingly challenging the 'disenchantment' theory of the history of magic, and establishing contemporary magical practices as subjects worthy of scholarly study.”
—John Rimmer Magonia Review of Books
Table of ContentsContents
Introduction, Edward Bever and Randall Styers
Magic and the Making of Modernity
Chapter 1, “Bad Habits, or, How Superstition Disappeared in the Modern World,” Randall Styers
Chapter 2, “Descartes’ Dreams, the Neuropsychology of Disbelief, and the Making of the Modern Self,” Edward Bever
Chapter 3, “Why Magic Cannot Be Falsified by Experiments,” Benedek Láng
Chapter 4, “Witches as Liars: Witchcraft and Civilization in the Early American Republic,” Adam Jortner
Magic in Modernity
Chapter 5, “Loagaeth, q consibra a caosg: The Contested Arena of Modern Enochian Angel Magic,” Egil Asprem
Chapter 6, “Babalon Launching: Jack Parsons, Rocketry, and the ‘Method of Science,’” Erik Davis
Chapter 7, “Manning the High Seat: Seidr as Self-Making in Contemporary NorseNeopaganisms,” Megan Goodwin
Chapter 8, “Reviving Dead Names: Strategies of Legitimization in the Necronomicon of Simon and the Dark Aesthetic,” Dan Harms
Selected Bibliography
Notes
List of Contributors
Index
