Editing Christian views on magic

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'''Christian views on magic''' or '''magick'''<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bogdan |first=Henrik |title=Introduction: Modern Western Magic |date=2012 |publisher=Aries}}</ref> vary widely among [[Christian denomination]]s and individuals. Many Christians actively condemn [[Magic (paranormal)|magic]] as [[satan]]ic, holding that it opens the way for [[demonic possession]] while other Christians simply view it as entertainment. Conversely, some branches of [[esoteric Christianity]] who partake in a mystical version of Christianity actively engage in magical practices.

==Biblical references==
{{Main|Witchcraft and divination in the Hebrew Bible|Witchcraft in the Middle East}}
There are several references to [[witchcraft]] in the [[Bible]] that strongly condemn such practices. For example, {{bibleref2|Deuteronomy|18:11-12|NIV}} condemns anyone who "casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord, and because of these detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you", and {{bibleref2|Exodus|22:18|NIV}} states "Do not allow a sorceress to live" (or in the [[King James Bible]] "thou shalt not suffer a witch to live").

It has sometimes been suggested that the word "witch" (Heb. מְכַשֵּׁפָ֖ה ''məḵaššêp̄āh'') might be a mistranslation of "poisoner."<ref>[https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/thou-shalt-not-suffer-a-witch-to-live-a-murderous-mistranslation-1.5443682 "Thou Shalt Not Suffer a Witch to Live: A Murderous Mistranslation?"] by Elizabeth Sloane, at Haaretz.com, 17 August 2017.</ref> This view was advanced the 16th century by [[Reginald Scot]], a prominent critic of the witch trials, on the basis of the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible.<ref>Scot, Reginald (c. 1580) ''The Discoverie of Witchcraft'' Booke VI Ch. 1.</ref> His theory still holds some currency, but is not widely accepted, and in Daniel 2:2<ref>{{bibleverse||Daniel|2:2|}}</ref> {{Script/Hebrew|כָּשַׁף}} is listed alongside other magic practitioners who could interpret dreams: magicians, astrologers, and Chaldeans. Suggested derivations of {{Script/Hebrew|כָּשַׁף}} include 'mutterer' (from a single root) or ''herb user'' (as a compound word formed from the roots {{Lang|he-latn|kash}}, meaning 'herb', and {{Lang|he-latn|hapaleh}}, meaning 'using'). The Greek {{Lang|grc|φαρμακεία}} literally means 'herbalist' or one who uses or administers drugs, but it was used virtually synonymously with ''[[Magic (paranormal)|mageia]]'' and ''[[Goetia|goeteia]]'' as a term for a sorcerer.{{sfnp|Dickie|2003|pp=33–35}} The Hebrew Bible provides some evidence that these commandments were enforced under the [[Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy)|Hebrew kings]]:
{{quote|And [[Saul]] disguised himself, and put on other [[clothing|raiment]], and he went, and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night: and he said, I [[prithee|pray thee]], divine unto me by the [[familiar spirit]], and bring me him up, whom I shall name unto thee. And the woman said unto him, Behold, thou knowest what Saul hath done, how he hath cut off those that have familiar spirits, and the [[Magician (paranormal)|wizards]], out of the land: wherefore then layest thou a snare for my life, to cause me to die?"<ref>I Samuel 28.</ref>}}
The Hebrew verb {{lang|he|הכרית}}, translated in the [[King James Version]] as "cut off", can also be translated as "kill wholesale" or "exterminate".<ref name="StrongH3772">{{cite web |title=Strong's Hebrew Lexicon :: Strong's H3772 - kāraṯ |url=https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3772/kjv/wlc/0-1/ |website=[[Blue Letter Bible]] |access-date=23 May 2025}}</ref>

Others point to a primitive idealist belief in a relation between bewitching and coveting, reflected in the occasional translation of the [[Tenth Commandment]] as 'Thou shalt not covet'.<ref>[http://apatheticagnostic.com/articles/reflections/ref04/ref065.html "Reflections on Ethics 65: The Tenth Commandment: The Hidden Meaning of Coveting" by Joseph Lewis (1946)], at apathetic agnostic.com, 2020.</ref> This may suggest that the prohibition related specifically to [[Maleficium (sorcery)|sorcery]] or the casting of spells to unnaturally possess something.

Some adherents of near-east religions acted as [[Mediumship|mediums]], channeling messages from the dead or from a [[familiar spirit]]. The Bible sometimes is translated as referring to "necromancer" and "[[necromancy]]" ({{bibleref|Deuteronomy|18:11|KJV}}). However, some lexicographers, including [[James Strong (theologian)|James Strong]] and Spiros Zodhiates, disagree. These scholars say that the Hebrew word ''kashaph'' (כשפ), used in Exodus 22:18 and 5 other places in the [[Tanakh]] comes from a root meaning "to whisper". Strong, therefore, concludes that the word means "to whisper a spell, ''i.e.'' to [[Incantation|incant]] or practice magic". The [[Contemporary English Version]] translates {{bibleref2|Deuteronomy|18:11|CEV}} as referring to "any kind of magic".

At the very least, older biblical prohibitions included those against '[[Magic (supernatural)|sorcery]]' to obtain something unnaturally; '[[necromancy]]' as the practice of magic or divination through demons or the dead, and any forms of malevolent '[[bewitchery]]'.

==Early Paulian Christianity==
{{See also|Early Christianity}}

The [[Paul the Apostle|Apostle Paul]]'s [[Epistle to the Galatians]] includes sorcery in a list of "works of the flesh".<ref>{{bibleref2|Galatians|5:19-21}}</ref> This disapproval is echoed in the ''[[Didache]]'',<ref name=Didache>{{cite book|title=Teaching of the twelve Apostles, tr. from the 'editio princeps' of Bryennios, by A. Gordon|year=1884|page=7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sp8CAAAAQAAJ|author=Apostles didachē|access-date=20 October 2013|format=Original from Oxford University}}</ref> a very early book of church discipline which dates from the mid-late first century.<ref>Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (Oxford University Press {{ISBN|978-0-19-280290-3}}): ''Didache''</ref>

==Medieval views==
{{See also|Witch trials in the early modern period}}
During the [[Early Middle Ages]], the Christian Churches did not conduct witch trials.<ref name=InnerDemons>Cohn, Norman: "Europe's Inner Demons: The Demonization of Christians in Medieval Christendom." London: Sussex University Press, 1975</ref> The Germanic [[Council of Paderborn]] in 785 explicitly outlawed the very belief in witches, and the [[Holy Roman Empire|Holy Roman Emperor]] [[Charlemagne]] later confirmed the law. Among [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodox Christians]] concentrated in the [[Byzantine Empire]], belief in witchcraft was widely regarded as ''deisidaimonia''—[[superstition]]—and by the 9th and 10th centuries in the [[Western Christianity|Latin Christian West]], belief in witchcraft had begun to be seen as [[heresy]].

Towards the end of the [[Late Middle Ages|Middle Ages]] and the beginning of the [[early modern period]] (post-[[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]]), belief in witchcraft became more popular and witches were seen as directly in league with the [[Devil in Christianity|Devil]]. This marked the beginning of a period of [[witch hunt]]s among early [[Protestantism|Protestants]] which lasted about 200 years, and in some countries, particularly in North-Western Europe, tens of thousands of people were accused of witchcraft and sentenced to death.<ref>{{cite book|author-link=Brian P. Levack|last=Levack|first=Brian|title=The Witch Hunt in Early Modern Europe|date=2015|edition=4th |publisher=Routledge|page=21|quote=...European courts executed about 45,000 witches during the early modern period.}}</ref>

The [[Inquisition]] within the [[Roman Catholic Church]] had conducted trials against supposed witches in the 13th century, but these trials were to punish [[heresy]], of which belief in witchcraft was merely one variety.<ref name="InnerDemons"/> Inquisitorial courts only became systematically involved in the witch-hunt during the 15th century: in the case of the [[Madonna Oriente]], the Inquisition of [[Milan]] was not sure what to do with two women who in 1384 and in 1390 confessed to have participated in a type of [[white magic]].

Not all Inquisitorial courts acknowledged witchcraft. For example, in 1610 as the result of [[basque witch trials|a witch-hunting craze]] the Suprema (the ruling council of the [[Spanish Inquisition]]) gave everybody an Edict of Grace (during which confessing witches were ''not'' to be punished) and put the only dissenting inquisitor, [[Alonso de Salazar Frías]], in charge of the subsequent investigation. The results of Salazar's investigation was that the Spanish Inquisition did not bother witches ever again though they still went after heretics and [[Crypto-Judaism|Crypto-Jews]].<ref>1978 "A witch with three toes too many"; Out of this World Encyclopedia 23:9-12</ref>

===Martin Luther===
[[Martin Luther]] shared some of the views about witchcraft that were common in his time.<ref>{{cite book
 | first1 = Susan C. | last1 = Karant-Nunn
 | first2 = Merry E. | last2=  Wiesner-Hanks
 | title = Luther on Women: A Sourcebook | url = https://archive.org/details/lutheronwomensou00kara_298 | url-access = limited | location = Cambridge | publisher =  Cambridge U. Press | year = 2003 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/lutheronwomensou00kara_298/page/n237 228]
}}</ref> When interpreting Exodus 22:18,<ref>[[s:Bible, King James, Exodus#Chapter 22|Exodus 22:18]]</ref> he stated that, with the help of the devil, witches could steal milk merely by thinking of a cow.<ref>''Sermon on Exodus, 1526'', ''WA'' 16, 551 f.</ref> In his [[Luther's Small Catechism|Small Catechism]], he taught that witchcraft was a sin against the second commandment<ref>Martin Luther, [http://www.ProjectWittenberg.org/pub/resources/text/wittenberg/luther/little.book/web/book-1.html#b <cite>Luther's Little Instruction Book</cite>], Trans. Robert E. Smith, (Fort Wayne: Project Wittenberg, 2004), <cite>Small Catechism</cite> 1.2.</ref> and prescribed the Biblical penalty for it in a "table talk":

<blockquote>On 25 August 1538 there was much discussion about witches and sorceresses who poisoned chicken eggs in the nests, or poisoned milk and butter. Doctor Luther said: "One should show no mercy to these [women]; I would burn them myself, for we read in the Law that the priests were the ones to begin the stoning of criminals."<ref>''WA Tr'' 4:51–52, no. 3979 quoted and translated in Karant-Nunn, 236. The original Latin and German text is: "25, Augusti multa dicebant de veneficis et incantatricibus, quae ova ex gallinis et lac et butyrum furarentur. Respondit Lutherus: Cum illis nulla habenda est misericordia. Ich wolte sie selber verprennen, more legis, ubi sacerdotes reos lapidare incipiebant.</ref></blockquote>

Luther's view of practitioners of magic as quasi-demons was at odds with the Catholic view that emphasized choice and repentance. He also argued that one of the most serious perversions wrought by magic was the threatened degeneration of traditional female roles in the family.<ref>Sigrid Brauner "Martin Luther on Witchcraft: A True Reformer?", in: Brian T. Levack [ed.] "Demonology, Religion and Witchcraft: New Perspectives on Witchcraft, Magic and Demonology" (vol.1) pp. 217-230</ref>

==Renaissance views==
[[Image:Kircher Tree of Life.png|upright|thumb|right|The "Kircher Tree": [[Athanasius Kircher]]'s 1652 depiction of the [[Tree of Life (Kabbalah)|Tree of Life]], based on a 1625 version by [[Philippe d'Aquin]]]]
{{see also|Renaissance magic|Christian Cabala}}
In the era of the [[Inquisition]] and anti-witchcraft sentiment, there was a more acceptable form of "purely natural" occult and pagan study, the study of "natural" phenomena in general with no evil or irreligious intent whatsoever.<ref name=zambelli>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Tp6PhNsz43EC& ''White Magic, Black Magic in the European Renaissance''] by Paola Zambelli ([[Brill Publishers|BRILL]], 2007)</ref>

[[Renaissance humanism]] (15th and 16th century) saw a resurgence in [[hermeticism]] and [[Neo-Platonism|Neo-Platonic]] varieties of ceremonial magic. Both bourgeoisie and nobility of that era showed great fascination with these arts, which exerted an [[exoticism|exotic charm]] by their ascription to Arabic, Jewish, Romani, and Egyptian sources. There was great uncertainty in distinguishing practices of vain superstition, blasphemous occultism, and perfectly sound scholarly knowledge or pious ritual. The people during this time found that the existence of magic was something that could answer the questions that they could not explain through science. To them it was suggesting that while science may explain reason, magic could explain "unreason".<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Dawes|first=Gregory|title=The Rationality of Renaissance Magic|journal=Paregon|volume=30}}</ref>

[[Marsilio Ficino]] advocated the existence of spiritual beings and spirits in general, though many such theories ran counter to the ideas of the later [[Age of Enlightenment]], and were treated with hostility by the [[Roman Catholic Church]]. Ficino however theorised a "purely natural" magic that did not require the invocation of spirits, malevolent or malicious.<ref name=zambelli/> [[Benedictine]] [[abbot]] [[Johannes Trithemius]] reportedly created [[incantations]] of his own related to beneficial communication with spirits. His works, including the ''[[Steganographia]]'', were immediately placed on the ''[[Index Librorum Prohibitorum]]''.<ref name=zambelli/> However these works were later revealed to be concerned with [[cryptography]] and steganography, and the "magical" formulae were [[stegotext|cover text]]s for cryptographic content.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Reeds|first1=Jim|title=Solved: The ciphers in book III of Trithemius's Steganographia|journal=Cryptologia|date=1998|volume=22|issue=4|pages=191–317|doi=10.1080/0161-119891886948}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Ernst|first1=Thomas|title=Schwarzweiße Magie: Der Schlüssel zum dritten Buch der Stenographia des Trithemius|journal=Daphnis: Zeitschrift für Mittlere Deutsche Literatur|date=1996|volume=25|issue=1|pages=1–205}}</ref> Behind their methods however, is an underlying theological motive for their contrivance. The preface to the ''[[Polygraphia (book)|Polygraphia]]'' establishes the everyday practicability of Trithemian cryptography as a "secular consequent of the ability of a soul specially empowered by God to reach, by magical means, from earth to Heaven".<ref>Brann, Noel L., "Trithemius, Johannes", in ''Dictionary of Gnosis & Western Esotericism'', ed. Wouter J. Hanegraff (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2006), pp. 1135-1139.</ref>

[[Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa]] (1486–1535), a German magician, occult writer, theologian, astrologer, and alchemist, wrote the influential ''[[Three Books of Occult Philosophy]]'', incorporating [[Kabbalah]] in its theory and practice of Western magic. It contributed strongly to the [[Renaissance]] view of ritual magic's relationship with Christianity.<ref name="Farmer, S.A 1486">Farmer, S.A; "Syncretism in the West: Pico's 900 Theses (1486)", Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies, 1999, {{ISBN|978-0-86698-209-2}}</ref> [[Giambattista della Porta]] expanded on many of these ideas in his ''[[Magia Naturalis]]''.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=qZxtq29LYSQC& ''The Occult Sciences in the Renaissance: A Study in Intellectual Patterns''] by Wayne Shumaker ([[University of California Press]], 1972)</ref> [[Giovanni Pico della Mirandola]] promoted a [[syncretism|syncretic]] worldview combining [[Platonism]], Neoplatonism, [[Aristotelianism]], Hermeticism, and Kabbalah.<ref name="Farmer, S.A 1486"/>

Pico's Hermetic syncretism was further developed by [[Athanasius Kircher]], a [[Jesuits|Jesuit]] priest, hermeticist, and polymath, who wrote extensively on the subject in 1652, bringing further elements such as [[Orphism (religion)|Orphism]] and [[Egyptian mythology]] to the mix.<ref>Schmidt, Edward W. "The Last Renaissance Man: Athanasius Kircher", SJ. Company: The World of Jesuits and Their Friends. 19(2), Winter 2001–2002.</ref>
Lutheran Bishop [[James Heiser]] recently evaluated the writings of Marsilio Ficino and [[Giovanni Pico della Mirandola]] as an attempted "Hermetic Reformation".<ref>Heiser, James D., ''Prisci Theologi and the Hermetic Reformation in the Fifteenth Century'', Repristination Press: Texas, 2011. {{ISBN|978-1-4610-9382-4}}</ref>

===John Dee===
{{see also|Enochian magic}}
[[John Dee]] was an intense Christian, but his religiosity was influenced by Hermetic and [[Renaissance Neo-Platonism]] and pervasive [[Pythagoras|Pythagorean]] doctrines.<ref name="WIT">{{Cite journal |journal=Journal of the History of Ideas |jstor=2708083 |title=God and Expansion in Elizabethan England: John Dee, 1527–1583 |author=Walter I. Trattner|volume=25 |issue=1 |date=January 1964 |pages=17–34 |doi=10.2307/2708083}}</ref> From [[Hermeticism]] he drew a belief that man had the potential for divine power that could be exercised through mathematics.<ref name="SJ">{{Cite web |title=The identity of the mathematical practitioner in 16th-century England |url=http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/staff/saj/texts/mathematicus.htm|author=Stephen Johnston |publisher=Museum of the History of Science, Oxford |date=1995 |access-date=27 October 2006}}</ref> He immersed himself in [[Magic (supernatural)|magic]], astrology, and Hermetic philosophy. Much effort in his last 30 years went into trying to commune with [[angels]], so as to learn the [[universal language]] of creation and achieve a pre-apocalyptic unity of mankind.<ref name="StClair">{{Cite book |title=The Secret Lives of Colour |last=St. Clair |first=Kassia |publisher=John Murray |year=2016 |isbn=9781473630819 |location=London |pages=268–269 |oclc=936144129}}</ref> His goal was to help bring forth a unified world religion through the healing of the breach of the [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] and [[Protestantism|Protestant]] churches and the [[restorationism|recapture]] of the pure [[theology]] of the ancients.<ref name="IHR">{{Cite web |url=http://www.history.ac.uk/eseminars/sem2.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930073802/http://www.history.ac.uk/eseminars/sem2.html |archive-date=2007-09-30 |title=John Dee and the English Calendar: Science, Religion and Empire |author=Dr. Robert Poole |publisher=Institute of Historical Research |date=6 September 2005 |access-date=26 October 2006}}</ref>

==Modern views==
During the [[Age of Enlightenment]], belief in the powers of witches and sorcerers to harm began to die out in the West. <ref name="Hayes" /> But the reasons for disbelief differed from those of early Christians. For the early Christians the reason was theological—that Christ had already defeated the powers of evil. For the post-Enlightenment Christians in West and North Europe, the disbelief was based on a belief in [[rationalism]] and [[empiricism]].

It was at this time, however, that Western Christianity began expanding to parts of Africa and Asia where premodern worldviews still held sway, and where belief in the power of witches and sorcerers to harm was, if anything, stronger than it had been in [[Northern Europe]]. Many [[African Initiated Church|African Independent Churches]] developed their own responses to witchcraft and sorcery.<ref name="Hayes">Hayes, Stephen. 1995. Christian responses to witchcraft and sorcery, in Missionalia, Vol. 23(3) November. Pages 339-354.  {{cite web |url=http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/WITCH1.HTM |title=Untitled |access-date=2007-04-15 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070415185117/http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/WITCH1.HTM |archive-date=2007-04-15 }}</ref>

The situation was further complicated by the rise of [[new religious movements]] that considered witchcraft to be a religion. These perspectives do not claim that witches actually consciously enter into a pact with Satan because Satan is not normally believed to exist in [[Wicca]] or other modern neo-pagan witchcraft practices.<ref name="Hayes"/><ref>U.S. Department of the Army, "Religious Requirements and Practices of Certain Selected Groups: A Handbook for Chaplains": "It is very important to be aware that Wiccans do not in any way worship or believe in "Satan", "the Devil", or any similar entities."</ref>

===Christian opposition to witchcraft===
Several Christian groups believe in witchcraft and view it as a [[Theistic Satanism|negative force]]. Many [[Fundamentalist Christianity|fundamentalist Christians]] believe that witchcraft is a danger to children.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Cockrell |first=Amanda |date=2006-02-10 |title=Harry Potter and the Witch Hunters: A Social Context for the Attacks on ''Harry Potter'' |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1542-734x.2006.00272.x |journal=The Journal of American Culture |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=26 |doi=10.1111/j.1542-734x.2006.00272.x |issn=1542-7331|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The 2006 documentary ''[[Jesus Camp]]'', which depicts the life of young children attending Becky Fischer's summer camp, shows Fischer [[Religious debates over the Harry Potter series|condemning]] the ''[[Harry Potter]]'' novels and telling the students that "Warlocks are enemies of God".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schaefer |first=Donovan O. |title=Religious affects: animality, evolution, and power |date=2015 |publisher=Duke University Press |isbn=978-0-8223-5982-1 |location=Durham}}</ref> While Fischer's summer camp has sometimes been identified as [[Pentecostal]], Fischer is most closely associated with the [[Neo-Pentecostal|neo-Pentecostal movement]] known as the [[New Apostolic Reformation]] (NAR).<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Weaver |first=John |title=The new apostolic reformation: history of a modern charismatic movement |date=2016 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-2421-1 |location=Jefferson, North Carolina |pages=95–96}}</ref>

Among Christian organizations, the NAR is especially aggressive in [[spiritual warfare]] efforts to counter alleged acts of witchcraft; the NAR's globally distributed ''Transformations'' documentaries by filmmaker George Otis Jr. show charismatic Christians creating mini-utopias by using [[spiritual mapping]] to locate and drive off [[Territorial spirit|territorial spirits]] and by banishing accused witches.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lampman |first=Jane |date=September 23, 1999 |title=Targeting cities with 'spiritual mapping,' prayer |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1999/0923/p15s1.html |access-date=2024-05-01 |work=[[Christian Science Monitor]] |issn=0882-7729}}</ref><ref>{{Cite thesis |url=https://dspace.library.uu.nl/bitstream/handle/1874/29340/holvast.pdf?sequence=2 |title=Spiritual Mapping: The Turbulent Career of a Contested American Missionary Paradigm, 1989-2005 |first=René |last=Holvast |publisher=[[Utrecht University]] |pages=98–99 |access-date=2008-10-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150919034958/https://dspace.library.uu.nl/bitstream/handle/1874/29340/holvast.pdf?sequence=2 |archive-date=2015-09-19}}</ref> During the 2008 United States presidential election, footage surfaced from a 2005 church ceremony in which an NAR apostle, Kenyan bishop [[Thomas Muthee]], laid hands on [[Sarah Palin]] and called upon God to protect her from "every form of witchcraft".<ref>{{Cite news |last=MacAskill |first=Ewen |date=2008-09-24 |title=Video shows Palin in anti-witchcraft prayer |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/sep/25/sarahpalin.republicans |access-date=2024-05-01 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=August 19, 2011 |title=The Evangelicals Engaged In Spiritual Warfare |url=https://www.npr.org/transcripts/139781021 |access-date=May 1, 2024 |work=[[NPR]]}}</ref><ref name=":0" />

===Magic in literature===
{{See also|Religious debates over the Harry Potter series}}
Magic in literature, while condemned by some Christians, is often viewed by Christians as non-evil. The key distinction would be between real-life magic and pretend magic. This view holds that in real life, the practice of supernatural abilities (i.e. magic) must have a supernatural power source or origin, which would be either holy or evil. Thus born of Holy Spirit or of demons. (See [[Spiritual gift]] and [[Christian demonology]] for details on these teachings.) Thus, magic in the Biblical context would be viewed as only an act of evil, whereas in literature, pretend magic is a morally neutral tool available to conduct both good and bad behaviors.

In literature, magical abilities have many different power sources. Technological ability (science) can appear as magic.<ref>, Arthur C. Clarke. "Profiles of The Future", 1961 (Clarke's third law)</ref> Often, wielding magic is accomplished by imposing one's will by concentration and/or use of devices to control an external magical force.  This explanation is offered for [[the Force]] in ''[[Star Wars]]'', magic in ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'', and magic in ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia]]'' and ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''.

The latter two works are by notable Christians, [[C. S. Lewis]] and [[J. R. R. Tolkien]], respectively. In the first book in ''The Chronicles of Narnia'', ''[[The Magician's Nephew]]'', Lewis specifically explains that magic is a power readily available in some other worlds, less so on Earth. The Empress Jadis (later, the [[White Witch]]) was tempted to use magic for selfish reasons to retain control of her world Charn, which ultimately led to the destruction of life there. Lewis related questions of the morality of magic to the same category as the morality of technology, including whether it is real, represents an 'unhealthy interest', or contravenes the basic divine plan for our universe.<ref>[[Matthew T. Dickerson]], David O'Hara. "Narnia and the Fields of Arbol: The Environmental Vision of C.S.Lewis", 2009</ref>

Tolkien, a devout Catholic, had strict rules imposed by the ruling powers, angels who had assumed the 'raiment of the earth', for the use of magic by their servants. These included a general discouragement of magic in all but exceptional circumstances, and also prohibitions against use of magic to control others, to set the self up as a political power, or to create a world that violates the natural order.<ref>[[J. R. R. Tolkien|Tolkien, J. R. R.]] 'The Istari', in "Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth", edited with commentary by Christopher Tolkien; published posthumously, George Allen & Unwin: 1980, pp.390-391.</ref>  He did however allow his wizard character to entertain children with magical fireworks.<ref>[[J. R. R. Tolkien|Tolkien, J. R. R.]] "The Hobbit", 1937; 4th edition, George Allen & Unwin, 1978: p.14</ref><ref>[[J. R. R. Tolkien|Tolkien, J. R. R.]] 'A long-expected party', in "The Fellowship of the Ring", 1954; 15th impression, George Allen & Unwin, 1966, pp. 35-36.</ref>

==See also==
{{magic sidebar}}
{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|
* {{annotated link|Thomas Ady}}
* {{annotated link|Christian Kabbalah}}
* {{annotated link|Christian views on astrology}}
* {{annotated link|Christian views on Freemasonry}}
* {{annotated link|Christianity and paganism}}
* {{annotated link|Christo-Paganism}}
* {{annotated link|The Demon-Haunted World|''The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark''}}
* {{annotated link|The Discoverie of Witchcraft|''The Discoverie of Witchcraft''}}
* {{annotated link|Enochian magic}}
* {{annotated link|Esoteric Christianity}}
* {{annotated link|Robert Felkin}} – Anglican missionary, ceremonical magician and occult writer, chief of the 
* {{annotated link|Stella Matutina}}
* {{annotated link|Folk Catholicism}}
* {{annotated link|Folk religion#Folk Christianity|Folk Christianity}}
* {{annotated link|Islam and magic}}
* {{annotated link|Arthur Machen}} – Anglican writer, member of the [[Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn]]
* {{annotated link|Magic and religion}}
* {{annotated link|Malleus Maleficarum|''Malleus Maleficarum''}}
* {{annotated link|Anton Praetorius}}
* {{annotated link|Rosicrucianism}}
* {{annotated link|Saducismus Triumphatus|''Saducismus Triumphatus''}}
* {{annotated link|Evelyn Underhill}} – Anglican mystic, member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
* {{annotated link|Charles Williams (British writer)}} – Anglican theologian, mystic, member of the Fellowship of the Rosy Cross
* {{annotated link|Fellowship of the Rosy Cross}}
* {{annotated link|Wonders of the Invisible World|''Wonders of the Invisible World''}}
* {{annotated link|Pentecostalism}}
* {{annotated link|Christian mysticism}}
}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
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  | first = Norman
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  | publisher = Sussex University Press
  | year = 1975
  | location = London
  | isbn = 0-435-82183-0 }}
* {{Cite book
  | last = Fox
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  | title = Pagans and Christians
  | publisher = Knopf
  | year = 1987
  | location = New York
  | isbn = 0-394-55495-7 }}
* {{Cite book
  | last = Hutton
  | first = Ronald
  | title = Pagan religions of the ancient British Isles
  | publisher = Blackwell
  | year = 1991
  | location = Oxford
  | url = https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780631172888
  | isbn = 0-631-17288-2
  | url-access = registration
  }}
* {{Cite book
  | last = Williams
  | first = Charles
  | title = Witchcraft
  | publisher = Meridian
  | year = 1959
  | location = New York
  }}

==Further reading==
* ''Ancient Christian Magic: Coptic Texts of Ritual Power'' by Marvin W. Meyer and Richard Smith, Princeton University Press. 1999

==External links==
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11197b.htm ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' "Occult Art, Occultism"]
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15674a.htm ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' "Witchcraft"]

[[Category:Christianity and paganism]]
[[Category:Magic (supernatural)]]
[[Category:Witchcraft]]
[[Category:Religious controversies]]