Book Review: Luhrmann, T.M. 2012. When God Talks Back: Understanding the American Evangelical Relationship with God. (original) (raw)

“In the Study of the Witch: Women, Shadows, and the Academic Study of Religions.”

Religions. Special Issue: Feminism and the Study of “Religions”, 2018

This article examines historically competing categories of magic and religion and their gendered traces in the history of religious studies. On one hand, we have a genealogy that traces the term, “magic”, back to an early modern European Christianity trying to understand itself through contrast with an imagined heresy that comes to be personified with a woman’s face. On the other, we have contemporary political and religious communities that use the identification as Witches to reverse this version of dichotomous Christian gaze and legitimize religious difference, which also comes to be symbolized by a female body. Between these historical moments we have the beginning of the academic study of religion, the theoretical turn in which Christian-dominant scholarship comes to see itself on a continuum with, rather than opposed to, different religions, as first characterized by cultural evolution theories about the origins of religion. Especially given the field’s theological roots, examining the constructed relationships between religion and magic, both of which represent crucial foci for early theorists, through the analytical lens of gender, which does not, provides opportunities to surface implicit assumptions of the current field about what is and is not worth studying.

Three Paradigms in Emerging Christian Witchcraft

OKH Journal: Anthropological Ethnography and Analysis Through the Eyes of Christian Faith

Over the past five years, the emergence of something called Christian witchcraft has alarmed many who have heard of it. Ethnographic research has shown that it is a product of many things: religious deconstruction, decolonization, and even popular culture, but the effect seems to have been one of empowerment for women and queer folk, a healthy respect for other religions, an assertion of agency and consent within religion, and a decentralization of authority in those places where it exists. The informal, popular form of religious deconstruction has created this room for Christian witchcraft, but religious decolonization has played a key role in how the various forms of Christian witchcraft have categorized themselves, and these categories have closely mirrored pre-existing categorizations developed by Dorothee Sölle: orthodox, liberal, and radical.

Magic as a contested concept in the study of religion - Angela Puca

Contested Concepts in the Study of Religion, 2023

The scholarly concept of magic has been, from the nineteenth century onwards, defined by contrasting it with either religion or science. Both magic and witchcraft have been used as a means of ‘othering’ religious practices that do not comply with the dominant religious system. After the Enlightenment and its rational disenchantment, magic becomes also ‘other’ from the domineering cultural construction of reality and what the field of human agency is deemed to be. My fieldwork in Italy evidenced a discrepancy in how keen practitioners are in labelling their own practices as magic or not. While Pagans – as a minority - embrace the otherness of their religiosity as a whole and reclaim their rituals as forms of magic, Catholics – as the majority - will show an aversion towards the use of that definition for practices that do present the traits of a magic rite. By analysing how lived religious practitioners engage with the label of magic in relation to their own practices, I will argue that the challenges offered by the employment of this term on the part of scholar will add complexity and nuance to the understanding of religious phenomena.

Looking Back, Looking Forward: Fifteen Years of Magic, Ritual, and WitchcRaft

Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft, 2021

A retrospective examination of Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft, on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of that journal's founding. I explore the circumstances of the journal's origin, its early hopes and struggles, and the ongoing attempt to ensure the MRW represent as wide and diverse an array of academic approaches to magic and witchcraft as possible. For this journal, which I co-edit, see http://magic.pennpress.org/home/

Popular Spiritualities: The Politics of Contemporary Enchantment

2006

Th is collection of fifteen essays explores how spirituality is making a resurgence in the postmodern West. A theme running through many of the contributions is that post-modernism has broken with the forces of secularism and allowed people to explore spiritual issues that arise from their cultural contexts. Th is resurgence in spirituality is identified as re-enchantment, a popular and varying group of phenomena. On the one hand, there are explorations of spirituality that depend on what is popular in the sense of having a mass appeal. Th ese are exemplified by studies focused on fantasy literature (such as the Discworld novels of Terry Pratchett), cartoon superheroes, and tourism. Other essays deal with cultural phenomena perhaps more limited in popularity but associated with subcultures such as queer culture or entheogenics (the use of psychoactive substances in religious or spiritual settings). Yet none of the essays address what seem the most popular manifestations of spirituality found repeatedly advertised in the media, for of recourse to mediums, tarot cards, feng shui, or astrology there is no mention. Nor can it be said that most readers of comics and fantasy use them as the basis for spirituality; this reviewer, like many, grew up reading such materials for very different reasons. Th us the question must be asked: "How popular are these 'popular' spiritualities?" Only one essay directly deals with a post-modern Christian manifestation: Marian devotions. Th at said, a number of essays are not without significance for Christian theologians and missiologists, and that is the reason for its review here. We are increasingly aware of the need to understand the contexts in which mission takes place, but all too often studies of culture focus on what is not in the global North or West. Th is work helpfully reveals similarities and differences between the agendas of post-modern spirituality and contemporary Christianity. Th us a number of essays show the role of spirituality in providing the ways, means, and role models for personal development and growth. "Sacred spaces," rituals, and shared music are important for individual and group identity and the expression of community. Such identity need not manifest itself in physical or long-lived communities: the Internet, and events like September 11th and the death of Princess Diana, are considered examples of factors shaping community formation and shared identity. Ecological concerns are also held in common by both Christian and pagan groups. Still, the shared theatricality of liturgy and "camp" is differentiated by the serious tone of the former and the levity of the latter (82-3). Without this element, religion risks "falling into soul-destroying fundamentalism, arid triviality and vacuous kitsch" (83). Th e different approaches to shared themes and interest can, on occasions as with this last point, be thought-provoking. On a number of occasions, the contributors reveal how these new spiritualities agree with, differ from, and originate in Christian faith and practice. Even vampirism, it is argued, may not radically differ from Judeo-Christian tradition (13). Th is volume, then, sends out two hopeful messages: that spirituality is actually undergoing a renaissance, albeit in new and diverse forms; and that many of these spiritualities share concerns, values even, and themes with Christianity. Th ere is room to talk. Yet not all these points are fully developed in dialogue with Christian writing. For example, the description of superheroes and heroes throughout the ages does not consider a

Witchcraft and Demonology in Contemporary Theology

Witchcraft and Demonology in Contemporary Theology , 2020

This essay examines the rise of Wicca, Paganism, Satanism and New Age Religions in first-world cultures, and the links between these movements and feminist/liberal theology. The essay challenges theological academia to recognize that the very demonology they have sought to dismiss entirely, is now to a great extent being promoted in their institutions, and contributing to the rise of Witchcraft.