Magic and Religion

Entries Tagged as 'Magic and Religion'

Dolphins, Chimps & Japanese Religions

September 3rd, 2010 · No Comments · Classifications of Religion, Cultural Evolution of Religion, Definitions of Religion, History of Religions, Magic and Religion

After recently watching “The Cove” and a Mad Men episode titled “The Chrysanthemum and the Sword” — a clever allusion to Ruth Benedict’s justly famous cultural study of Japan, I decided it was time to bone up on Japanese religions. Japan is a multi-faceted nation and getting your head around its history, culture and people [...]

Archaeology of Ritual & Viking Religion

August 13th, 2010 · No Comments · Archaeology and Religion, Classifications of Religion, Definitions of Religion, Hunter-Gatherers and Religion, Magic and Religion, Pagans and Polytheism, Ritual and Religion, Shamans and Shamanism

Archaeologists working in Europe have it good, really good. Depending on one’s interests, you can research just about anything. Paleoanthropologists can work on hominid evolution (i.e., Homo heidelbergensis, H. antecessor, H. neanderthalensis), while their colleagues can study a host of fascinating subjects, including the Upper Paleolithic transition, mesolithic hunter-gatherers, incipient agriculturalists, and the usual smattering [...]

Does God Write Fiction?

July 15th, 2010 · No Comments · History of Religions, Magic and Religion, Recent and New Religions

Over at HuffPo Religion, Pete Enns wonders whether God speaks to him and others through fiction. Although Enns is discussing “a non-literal interpretation of the bible,” which raises critical and unresolved issues of reader-responses and interpretive communities, my guess would be that if he did write, evidence for it can be found in J.R.R. Tolkien’s [...]

The Prayer Trade in Iran

July 1st, 2010 · No Comments · Axial Age Religions, Economy and Religion, Magic and Religion, Ritual and Religion

Reuters reports that “specialists” in prayer writing and ritual are doing a booming business in Iran. The whole business — or commodification of prayer — reminds one of the prayer and dispensation trade that existed in the Catholic Church for hundreds of years, and which so incensed Martin Luther:
In Islamic Iran where clerics rule, [...]

Hitchens Soul-Hammers Prince Charles

June 17th, 2010 · No Comments · Atheism and Religion, Daily Devolutions, Emotions and Religion, Magic and Religion, Power and Religion, Ritual and Religion

Whether or not you like Christopher Hitchens, one thing is certain: he can turn an incisive phrase. At his best, Hitchens writes with an acerbic aplomb that can be charming; at his worst, he is downright nasty.
With the latter Hitchens in mind, I have not yet been able to bring myself to read his jeremiad, [...]

Supplication and Statistics

June 13th, 2010 · 1 Comment · Cognition and Religion, Emotions and Religion, Magic and Religion, Ritual and Religion

In yesterday’s post, I linked a video which deals with two possible outcomes of supplication (i.e., a prayer request): the thing requested happens or the thing requested does not happen. When the thing requested does or does not happen, the non-outcome may be interpreted in a third way, which is not an actual outcome but [...]

Prayer, Probabilities, and Chance — The Optical Illusion Video

June 13th, 2010 · 2 Comments · Cognition and Religion, Emotions and Religion, Magic and Religion, Ritual and Religion

This video is named the “Best Optical Illusion in the World,” but a better name would have been “Prayer to Any Agent/Object Has Same Effect Given Laws of Probability or Chance.” Definitely worth watching. In an indirect way, it also says something about the origins of beseeching rituals.

Exorcising Autistics and Gays

June 11th, 2010 · No Comments · Axial Age Religions, Cognition and Religion, Daily Devolutions, Magic and Religion, Ritual and Religion

Evangelicals love their demons — which they claim to see or sense in just about everything bad that happens. All it takes is some exorcism or “casting out” and all will be well.
As I have mentioned in several previous posts, one of autism’s effects is a lack of “theory of mind.” This in turn renders [...]

“Painter of Light” Uses Christian Faith and Religious Environment to Defraud?

June 5th, 2010 · No Comments · Daily Devolutions, Economy and Religion, Emotions and Religion, Magic and Religion

Having long been interested in art and aesthetics, I must confess to a morbid fascination with Thomas Kinkade’s paintings. Most are portrayals of settings that are utterly unreal, sort as if Maxwell Parrish visited Middle Earth while wearing rose-colored glasses and then decided to paint quaint little cottages in the Shire.
At other times I’ve thought [...]

African Witchcraft and American Creationism

March 25th, 2010 · No Comments · Magic and Religion

A Norwegian university recently issued a press release titled “Modern Medicine Conquers Witchcraft.” The lead paragraph is condescending (i.e., Eurocentric) and reinforces negative stereotypes about “Africans”:
Seen through western eyes, beliefs in supernatural forces are common in Ghana and other African countries. Death, suffering and diseases are often attributed to witchcraft. Over thirty per cent of [...]

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Tags:creationism·witchcraft

Genealogy of Religion

Exploring the Origins, History and Future of Religion