Just to give everyone a religious heart attack. . .

[velvetpage]

Magick in the Bible: only condemned when it's doing something the Christian God sees as competition.

I haven't read it all yet, but the first part was fun. I've made a few similar arguments myself at various points, but I've never done a dedicated search for such examples. Interesting. A bit wacky, but interesting.

Comments

[rallymama.livejournal.com]

Interesting, if superficial. I wish he'd gone beyond a mere listing of the Biblical examples of magic into an assessment of the historical implications, and the twisted path that brought us to our current state. That would be, of course, a much longer article, and possibly the scholarly work of a lifetime! He started to go in this direction in the "Witchcraft" section, but backed off.

The more I read the Torah, the harder it becomes to see the connection between the YHVH-cult and modern Judaism. I guess the truly amazing thing, for me anyway, is how the religion kept re-inventing itself to stay relevant.