Confraternities and the visual arts in Renaissance Italy. Ritual, spectacle, image. Edited by Barbara Wisch and Diane Cole Ahl. Pp. xiv+314 incl. 65 ills. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. £55. 0 521 66288 5 (original) (raw)
2002, The Journal of Ecclesiastical History
Witchcraft and magic in Europe. The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. By Marijke Gijswijt-Hofstra, Brian P. Levack and Roy Porter. (The Athlone History of Witchcraft and Magic in Europe, .) Pp. xiij. London : Athlone Press, . £ (cloth), £. (paper). ; Witchcraft and magic in Europe. The twentieth century. By Willem de Ble! court, Ronald Hutton and Jean la Fontaine. (The Athlone History of Witchcraft and Magic in Europe, .) Pp. xiij. London : Athlone Press, . £ (cloth), £. (paper). ; Witchcraft, magic and superstition in England,-. By Frederick Valletta. Pp. xvij incl. figs and tables. Aldershot : Ashgate, . £.. JEH () ; DOI : .\S The first three books under review form part of the six-volume Athlone History of Witchcraft series, connecting the pagan societies of antiquity with the esoteric religions of modern Europe. Volume ii explores magical beliefs and practices in the Mediterranean, drawing on ancient literary, historical and philosophical texts, and more mundane social, legal and religious records. The discussion moves from cursing and the casting of spells, through to the sorcerers and necromancers of myth and Scripture, concluding with the place of magic in the mental world and its demonisation as Christianity came to dominate western thinking. As a whole, the book amply demonstrates the historical uses of witchcraft for entering past mentalities, but also the contemporary uses of witchcraft for marking boundaries of social and religious orthodoxy : to include and exclude, to unite and divide. In volume v, we are offered a summary of the interrelated reasons for the decline of witchcraft prosecutions in the eighteenth century : legal caution and scepticism ; changes in witch-beliefs ; broader religious shifts ; social and economic transformation. The becalming effects of the Enlightenment upon witch-hunting zeal are minimised here, and in the rest of the book the social and cultural trajectory of witchcraft appears far from linear. Although it disappeared as an indictable crime, witches were still feared and loathed in communities, and in more rarified circles conversation about their existence shaped many a political and philosophical discussion, as well as focusing ideals of polite conduct and manners. Finally, witchcraft proves its worth as a extensive notes, substantial bibliography and detailed index will be of great use. In spite of a rushed style, in which long sentences struggle to enclose explanatory parentheses, and in spite of innumerable misprints, hinting at very careless editing, the book does provide, therefore, a useful summary of what has been said about some aspects of western ascetic practice down to the seventh century. The invitation to think again about where the central lines of history may have run is, however, sadly absent. C U A P R Pseudo-Makarios. Reden und Briefe. Edited and translated by Klaus Fitschen. (Bibliothek der Griechischen Literatur, .) Pp. viij. Stuttgart : Hiersemann, . DM . ; JEH () ; DOI : .\SX This is a reliable German translation with introduction and brief notes, of what is usually known as Collection of the Pseudo-Macarian homilies : sixty-four pieces, as edited by Bertholdt in the Berlin Corpus in . It is the most extensive collection and includes much in Collection of fifty pieces, previously published in Migne PG xxxiv and by Doerries and others in Patristische Texte und Studien (). Though often called ' homilies ', the title ' Addresses and letters ' better describes their character and is rightly retained. The repetitions and rhythmic flow hint at the original setting in oral instruction. Warm, simple but not naı$ ve, devout and with negligible interest in doctrinal controversy, they make a welcome relief in theological literature and recall the student of church history to the continuing life of faith. They are the work of an anonymous fourth-century author ; their provenance is probably Syrian. They reflect the kind of devotion which in its rawer form is characteristic of the so-called Liber graduum and of the Messalian teaching condemned at the Council of Ephesus (). (The great Cyril of Alexandria, ever prudent, found nothing wrong with the Messalians except that they called themselves ' Messalians ' ; Gregory of Nyssa fifty years before had a soft spot for them and made use of the writings of ' Macarius '.) The teacher who addresses us from these pages is by intention a Catholic (like the author of the Liber graduum) whatever others might later say. He is worth listening to for his own sake. Perhaps the technical church historian will learn here something about the life of the period, but these pieces are not for such. It is good to have them here skilfully presented in full. Annotations and explanatory material are admirably lucid and concise.