Magic: A Very Short Introduction by Owen Davies (English) Paperback Book

Description: Magic by Owen Davies Magic continues to be an enduring topic of fascination, managing to pervade the popular imagination. In this Very Short Introduction Owen Davies explores the definitions and practice of magic over the millennia; highlighting the controversy, conflict, and debate it has caused. FORMAT Paperback LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description Defining magic is a maddening task. Over the last century numerous philosophers, anthropologists, historians, and theologians have attempted to pin down its essential meaning, sometimes analysing it in such complex and abstruse depth that it all but loses its sense altogether. For this reason, many people often shy away from providing a detailed definition, assuming it is generally understood as the human control of supernatural forces.Magic continues to pervade the popular imagination and idiom. People feel comfortable with its contemporary multiple meanings, unaware of the controversy, conflict, and debate its definition has causedover two and a half millennia. In common usage today magic is uttered in reference to the supernatural, superstition, illusion, trickery, religious miracles, fantasies, and as a simple superlative. The literary confection known as magical realism has considerable appeal and many modern scientists have ironically incorporated the word into their vocabulary, with their magic acid, magic bullets and magic angles. Since the so-called European Enlightenment magic hasoften been seen as a marker of primitivism, of a benighted earlier stage of human development. Yet across the modern globalized world hundreds of millions continue to resort to magic - and also tofear it. Magic provides explanations and remedies for those living in extreme poverty and without access to alternatives. In the industrial West, with its state welfare systems, religious fundamentalists decry the continued moral threat posed by magic. Under the guise of neo-Paganism, its practice has become a religion in itself. Magic continues to be a truly global issue. This Very Short Introduction does not attempt to provide a concluding definition of magic:it is beyond simple definition. Instead it explores the many ways in which magic, as an idea and a practice, has been understood and employed over the millennia. ABOUT THE SERIES: TheVery Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable. Notes An exploration of the definitions and practice of magic over the millennia, highlighting the controversy, conflict and debate it has caused. Author Biography Owen Davies is Professor of Social History at the University of Hertfordshire. He has written extensively on the history of magic, witchcraft, and ghosts, including Grimoires: A History of Magic Books (OUP, 2009), The Haunted: A Social History of Ghosts (Palgrave, 2007), and Paganism: A Very Short Introduction (OUP, 2011). Table of Contents Introduction1: Anthropologies of magic2: Historical perspectives3: All in the mind?4: Writing magic5: Practising magic6: Magic and the modern worldConclusion Review Davies explores an impressive range of topics including the basic terminology of magic, major theoretical approaches to the subject, the tradition of written magic, its use as a strategy for excluding others and defining ones own group, and the revival of magic in the context of contemporary paganism. ... The book is interspersed with a selection of photographs and illustrations, and it is well worth such a modest outlay. * Juliette Wood, Folklore * Promotional Owen Davies explores the definitions and practice of magic over the millennia, highlighting the controversy, conflict, and debate it has caused Long Description Defining magic is a maddening task. Over the last century numerous philosophers, anthropologists, historians, and theologians have attempted to pin down its essential meaning, sometimes analysing it in such complex and abstruse depth that it all but loses its sense altogether. For this reason, many people often shy away from providing a detailed definition, assuming it is generally understood as the human control of supernatural forces. Magic continues to pervade the popular imagination and idiom. People feel comfortable with its contemporary multiple meanings, unaware of the controversy, conflict, and debate its definition has causedover two and a half millennia. In common usage today magic is uttered in reference to the supernatural, superstition, illusion, trickery, religious miracles, fantasies, and as a simple superlative. The literary confection known as magical realism has considerable appeal and many modern scientists have ironically incorporated the word into their vocabulary, with their magic acid, magic bullets and magic angles. Since the so-called European Enlightenment magic hasoften been seen as a marker of primitivism, of a benighted earlier stage of human development. Yet across the modern globalized world hundreds of millions continue to resort to magic - and also tofear it. Magic provides explanations and remedies for those living in extreme poverty and without access to alternatives. In the industrial West, with its state welfare systems, religious fundamentalists decry the continued moral threat posed by magic. Under the guise of neo-Paganism, its practice has become a religion in itself. Magic continues to be a truly global issue. This Very Short Introduction does not attempt to provide a concluding definition of magic:it is beyond simple definition. Instead it explores the many ways in which magic, as an idea and a practice, has been understood and employed over the millennia. ABOUT THE SERIES: TheVery Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable. Review Quote Davies explores an impressive range of topics including the basic terminology of magic, major theoretical approaches to the subject, the tradition of written magic, its use as a strategy for excluding others and defining ones own group, and the revival of magic in the context of contemporary paganism. ... The book is interspersed with a selection of photographs and illustrations, and it is well worth such a modest outlay. Feature Magic is a topic of constant fasciation and interest which can described in various ways - supernatural, superstition, simple illusion, religious miracles, and fantasies of the imaginationWide-ranging overview of how magic has been defined, understood, and practisedHighlights the controversy, conflict, and debate it has caused over the last two millenniaConsiders how magic and science are intertwinedSplit into two main sections: theory and practicePart of the bestselling Very Short Introductions series - over three million copies sold worldwide Details ISBN0199588023 Author Owen Davies Year 2012 ISBN-10 0199588023 ISBN-13 9780199588022 Media Book Publisher Oxford University Press Series Very Short Introductions Imprint Oxford University Press Place of Publication Oxford Country of Publication United Kingdom DEWEY 133.43 Short Title MAGIC Language English Residence US Birth 1969 Format Paperback UK Release Date 2012-01-26 NZ Release Date 2012-01-26 Illustrations 10 black and white halftones Pages 160 Translator Sergio Waisman Edited by Gwen Kirkpatrick Affiliation Visiting Professor of Psychotherapy, University of Exeter, UK Position Professor Qualifications MD Publication Date 2012-01-26 Audience General AU Release Date 2012-03-25 Subtitle A Very Short Introduction We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. 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