E}Wisaging a Problematic Concept in the Study of Religion'
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FROM MATEIA TO MAGIC E}WISAGING A PROBLEMATIC CONCEPT IN THE STUDY OF RELIGION' Daria Pezzoli-Olgiati Magic belongs, like 'religion' or 'ritual', among the basic cot'rcepts in the study of religions. Nevertheless, it is practically impossible to give an exhaustive survey of the different meanings associated with magic in anthropological and cultural studies, since there is no consensus at all in defining this term that has been used since antiquity: 'Magic is a word with as many definitions as there have been studies of it' summarizes John Middleton in M. Eliade's Encyclopedia of Religion.z The first aim of the present paper is to explain why it is so difficult to conceive of and define magic as a unitary phenomenon. For this purpose I will briefly discuss selected theories on magic that have greatly influenced the way we approach magic today. This retrospective on different positions will lead to some general considerations about the relationship between religion and magic. Secondly, I will reflect on theoretical approaches to magic as heuristic instruments to read ancient sources starting with a short consideration of two different descriptions of 'magic' within the symbolic systems of ancient religions. l. Defining Magic in the Light of Selected Positions in the History of Research a. 'Møgic': Interøctions Between Common, Etymological and Scientific Usage Magic is not only a scientific category employed in religious, ethnogra- phical, sociological, anthropological and psychological studies. It is also a very popular word within narrative and science fiction: Rowling's Harry Potter series or Tolkien's Lord of the Rings a¡e famous contemporary 1. I thank Ann Jeffers and Anna-Kathatrina Höpflinger who took the time to read and correct this manuscript. 2. J. Middleton, 'Theories of Magic', in Mircea Eliade (e.d.), The Encyclopedia of Relision, Vol. 9 (New York: Macmillan, 1987), pp. 8l-89 (82). 4 n Kind of Magic Pøzzort-Ot-cttrt From payeía b Magic 5 examples of literary and cinemato detached scientific etic tsage f¡om these a central role. In daily language, . completely in its or all The difficulties inherent in envisaging magic as a scientifrc it can mean wonderful, exciting, implications. category, are illustrated in the following stylized survey on selected central something producing surprising re positions in the history of the study of religion. a scientifrc. etic category in the definition in various new paganist gical b. Survey of Selected Theories on Magic e (1) A broad discussion about the essence and the origin of magic arises ofa towards the end of the nineteenth century. In this scientific context, magic s and wise men in persia who interpreted is considered as a universal anthropological and/or sociological category; 'herefore the Greek terms relate ,magic, a wide range of meanings are expressed; the developments are controver- on the one hand to a particular persian professional ànà on the sial; the approaches to magic are very different. Some of these concepts of other hand to various specialists of particular ritual activities."lurr, magic remain influential in contemporary reflection on mdgic within the Furthermore Uqyslq can assum study of religion.T In this short survey it is not possible to deal with all the rituals and praxis with a pejorative contributions about magic produced in more than a century. The focus the same broad spectrum of mean will be restricted to a few selected, characteristic positions. aiming to more frequent.6 These observations reconstruct the main stages of the development in approaching magic on a although very concise, are sufficien scientific level. traditions: specific meanings At the end of his monumental work The Golden Boughs James George nguishing'serious' religious Frazer (185,t-1941) reviewed his concepts of evolution in the history of sing the same word. mankind with a suggestive image: maglc as a category within scientific Without dipping so far into the future, we may illustrate the course discourse, the various meanings an which thought has hitherto run by likening it to a web woven of three etymological and Çommon usa different threads the black thread of magic, the red thread of religion, Nevertheless, in approaching - such and the white thread of science, if under science we may include those lmportant to be aware of the connot simple truths. drawn from observation of nature, of which men in all ages have possessed a store. Could we then survey the web of thought from the beginning, we should probably perceive it to be at first a chequer of black and white. a patchwork of true and false notions. hardly tinged as yet by the red thread of religion. But carry your eye farther along the fabric and you will remark that, while the black and 3' R'E' Allen (ed.), The white chequer still runs through it, there rests on the middle portion of concße oxford Dictionary of current Engrish (oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990) p. 712. "*::;:;"v, 7 . Cf. e.g. H.H. Penner, 'Rationality, Ritual, and Science', in J. Neusner, E.S. Frerichs and P.V. McCracken Flesher (eds.), Religion, Science, and Magic: in Concert and in Confict (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989), pp. ll-24; H.S. Versnel,'Some k-Englßh Lexicon (Oxford: CÌarendon, 196g) Reflections on the Relationship Magic-Religion', Numen 38 (1991): l7'l-97; E. Thomassen, 6' Following the etymorogicar development 'Is Magic a Subclass of Ritual?', in D.R. Jo¡dan, H. Montgomery and E. Thomassen (eds.), of the word, we focus he¡e on ¡.rayeíc and magia. rn both Greek and Latin The Ilorld of Ancient Magic, Papers from the First International Samson Eitrem Seminar at the¡e are severar other co¡¡elated notions such l, yoa.río. the Norwegian Iwtitute at Athens, 4-3 May 1997 (Papers from the Norwegian Institute at Qcppareíc and' veneficium, mawcium. Fo¡ semantic imprications and intersections of these pp. concepts cf' F. G¡al, Gottesnöhe und schadenzauber. Athens, 4; Bergen: The Norwegian Institute at Athens, 1999), 55-66. Die Magie in de, grrrchirri-rom*rnen 'l)ne Antike .Magie, 8. Golden Bough was published seve¡al times in different editions: û¡st in 1890 with 2+5.1, F. Graf and S.I.-Johnston, Magier,, DNp 7 in the subheading'A Study in Comparative Religion'in two volumes; then in 1900 with the new M'W. Dickie, Magic and Magicians in tie ll¡orld Greco-Roman subheading'A Study in Magic and Religion'in three volumes; then from l9ll to l9l5 with pp 18-46; and the contribution of M. Becke¡ publica in this the same subheading in 12 volumes and finally in 1922ínthe shortened version quoted above. In 1936 the thirteenth and last volume of the long version of 191 l-15 appeared. 6 a Kind of Magic Pøzzou-Ot cr^Tr From payeía tu Magic 7 the web, where religion has entered most deeply into its texture, a dark qui unissent en une même communauté morale, appelée Église, tous ceux crimson stain, which shades off insensibly into a lighter tint as the white qui y adhèrent.'12 thread of science is woven more and more into the tissue.e The radical difference between religion and magic lies in their different social function. While religion builds a collective, magic is addressed exclusively to the individual; religion builds a 'church', magic can only have customers.13 Bronislaw Malinowski's (1884-1942) writings reflect a new form of scientifrc approach to magic and religion based on research in the field. His considerations about magic are tightly related to his stays in Mailu (Neuginea) and in the Trobriant islands. Malinowski's definitions of magic and religion are no longer conceived as general categories but seen mainly in the context of the cultures he had directly observed and analysed in his fleld work. Although the influences of Frazer and Durkheim are evident, his contribution is original; within the scientiûc The fatal discussion about magic, Malinowski's position focuses on psychological flaw of magic lies not i ¡on of a sequence of events aspects, on emotions. Magic is seen as a fundamental stabilizing aspect in determined by law, but don of the nature of the particular laws which gov 'primitive' culture. The following quotation from Møgic, Science and Religion illustrates this new dimension in the scientific approach to magic as a ritual technique: What is the cultural function of magic? rùy'e have seen that all the instincts and emotions, all practical activities, lead man into impasses where gaps in his knowledge and the limitations of his early power of observation and reason betray him at a crucial moment. A human 12. E. Durkheim, Les formes ëlémentaires de la vi¿ religiewe; Le système totëmíque en Austalie (Bibliotheque de philosophie contemporaine; Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 6th edn, 1979), p. 65. 13. See Durkheim, Les formes ëlémentaires de la vþ religieuse, pp. 58ff: 'La magie, elle aussi, est faite de croyances et de rites. Elle a, comme la religion, ses mythes et ses dogmes; ils sont seulement plus rudimentaires, sans doute parce que, poursuivant des ûns techniques et utilitaires, elle ne perd p¿rs son temps en pures speculations. Elle a également ses cerémonies, ses sacri.ûces, ses lustrations, ses prières, ses chants et ses danses. Les êtres qu'invoque le magicien, les forces qu'il met en oeuvre ne sont pas seulement de même ûature que les forces et les êtres auxquels s'adresse la religion; très souvent, ce sont identiquenent les mêmes ... Faudra-t-il donc di¡e que la magie ne peut être distinguee avec rigueur de la religion; que la magie est pleine de religion, comme la religion de magie et qu'il est, par suite, impossible de les séparer et de définir l'une sans I'aut¡e? Mais ce qui rend cette thèse diffrcilement soutenable, c'est la répugnance marquee de la religion pour la magie et, en retour, I'hostiliæ de la seconde pour la première ..