Magic and the Bible Reconsidered

Magic and the Bible Reconsidered Magic in the Biblical World: From the Rod of Aaron to the Ring of Solomon. Edited by TODD KLUTZ. Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement Series 245. London: T. & T. Clark, 2003.

Magic and its practitioners have long captured the attention and curiosity of the general public. In recent times, we can point to the heightened interest in astrology and horoscopes, not to mention the worldwide Harry Potter phenomenon. Notwithstanding the intense interest in such popular culture areas, serious scholarly study of magic and magical phenomena is still very much in its infancy. Scholars working in the last quarter century have identified a significant deficiency in the received corpus of scholarship on magic. This criticism relates primarily to the definitions employed by early students of magic that continue into the present and the ideological basis that engenders this understanding.

Many modern scholarly treatments of magic tend to begin with definitions nurtured within their contemporary rational and confessional milieu. Magic is often depicted as a deviant social phenomenon clearly inferior and more "primitive" than "true" religion. This creation of a binary relationship between magic and religion is commonplace. Most treatments identify magic as the earliest form of religious experience. As societies advance, the importance of magic diminishes and is ultimately replaced by religion (i.e., western religion). Though modern scholars have for die most part recognized die inadequacy of this earlier model, many continue to discuss magic and magical phenomena without careful attention to the precise definitions and categories that must sustain any study in this field.

These difficulties are especially present when attempting to define magic in the Hebrew Bible, New Testament and the larger ancient world in which they were produced. Deuteronomy 18:9-14, with its outright condemnation of magic, divination, and necromancy, often serves as the starting point for the study of magic in the Hebrew Bible and in later Judaism and Christianity. The Deuteronomic prohibition of magic and all associated phenomena, however, does not attempt to define any of these magical acts. Later biblical texts are equally inconsistent in their understanding of what exactly falls under the rubric of Deuteronomy's prohibited magic. For example, 1 Samuel 28 narrates how Saul solicits the aid of a...