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Ba'al Zebul: The Lord of the Manor. Magic and Sorcery in the Early Church I
124 pp. Printed on 100 gsm natural paper.
Contents:
Preface to the series.
Methodologies: Creating a compass
Miracle: Towards a definition
Ba'al Zebul: The Lord of the Manor
Bibliography for the series
From the Preface:
"The earliest depictions we have of Jesus portray him as a magician, using a wand or staff as an aid in his wondrous feats. For many modern Christians, however, such images would be considered heretical because the Church today assumes that Jesus performedmiracles and the power of magic is given by God's adversary: Satan.
The concept of a 'miracle', however, is anachronistic because today it means something that happens outside of the natural order but this concept was foreign to people in the first century. For the gospel writers and their audiences these events may have been extra-ordinary, they may have also carried divine significance and symbolism, but they were not dependent on an outside, 'supernatural' intervention for their occurrence. These 'signs and wonders' were considered part of the inherent, albeit infrequent, operations of nature.
Another apologetic is to set the category of magic against one of religion and attempt to make a distinction between the two. The term 'religion,' however, is also a modern invention and, again, there is no equivalent word or concept to be found in Greek, the language used by the writers of the New Testament (NT), nor in the Jewish conceptualization of the ancient and Classical periods. What we term 'religion' was a dynamic that was not isolated from the larger culture in ancient times.
We cannot separate magic from religion simply by the modern construction and definition of words. The further we examine religions, the more we see that they are steeped with strains of sorcerous forces. The term 'sorcery' is closely related to magic and, in this series, it will be used to mean communicating with entities in the spirit world so as to be empowered by them in the material dimension.
In this book, the first of a comprehensive series, we will explore the feats attributed to Jesus and his followers which demonstrate that magic and sorcery were integral to the dynamics of the early Church. The evidence for this is so solid that the debate has already been conceded by many conservative Christian apologists.
Our focus here, therefore, is not so much *that* the early Church performed magic but, rather undertsanding *how* they achieved these wonders."
Contents:
Preface to the series.
Methodologies: Creating a compass
Miracle: Towards a definition
Ba'al Zebul: The Lord of the Manor
Bibliography for the series
From the Preface:
"The earliest depictions we have of Jesus portray him as a magician, using a wand or staff as an aid in his wondrous feats. For many modern Christians, however, such images would be considered heretical because the Church today assumes that Jesus performedmiracles and the power of magic is given by God's adversary: Satan.
The concept of a 'miracle', however, is anachronistic because today it means something that happens outside of the natural order but this concept was foreign to people in the first century. For the gospel writers and their audiences these events may have been extra-ordinary, they may have also carried divine significance and symbolism, but they were not dependent on an outside, 'supernatural' intervention for their occurrence. These 'signs and wonders' were considered part of the inherent, albeit infrequent, operations of nature.
Another apologetic is to set the category of magic against one of religion and attempt to make a distinction between the two. The term 'religion,' however, is also a modern invention and, again, there is no equivalent word or concept to be found in Greek, the language used by the writers of the New Testament (NT), nor in the Jewish conceptualization of the ancient and Classical periods. What we term 'religion' was a dynamic that was not isolated from the larger culture in ancient times.
We cannot separate magic from religion simply by the modern construction and definition of words. The further we examine religions, the more we see that they are steeped with strains of sorcerous forces. The term 'sorcery' is closely related to magic and, in this series, it will be used to mean communicating with entities in the spirit world so as to be empowered by them in the material dimension.
In this book, the first of a comprehensive series, we will explore the feats attributed to Jesus and his followers which demonstrate that magic and sorcery were integral to the dynamics of the early Church. The evidence for this is so solid that the debate has already been conceded by many conservative Christian apologists.
Our focus here, therefore, is not so much *that* the early Church performed magic but, rather undertsanding *how* they achieved these wonders."
124 pages, Paperback
Published March 1, 2021
About the author
Steve Seven
18 books75 followersSteve Seven is a psychologist, mystic and founding editor of Spiritual Instinct Press. His writing sits at the intersection of depth psychology and spiritual experience, connecting the latest research in neurology and the social sciences with ancient Hermetic wisdom.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 5, 2021
This series was born out of what was intended to be a single volume work on the role of magic in the early Church. There was so much information and detail that an entire series was needed to do justice to the huge topic. I have had a lot of fun delving into this controversial subject and look forward to the ensuing volumes.
December 20, 2021
This was an insightful and enjoyable read!
This book explores magic and sorcery as they would have been understood at the time the gospels were written, and the unique contribution that the Jesus tradition offers concerning miracles and exorcism(catharsis/demon possession).
This author is well versed in source and text criticism/analysis, explaining how various threads of written Jesus tradition were shared and built upon and can be unwoven to obtain a clearer understanding of the uniqueness of the historical Jesus and the earliest of the Christian communities.
The book applies the fore mentioned lens to provide commentary on a particular gospel narrative that mentions the infamous Baalzebub(al) character, providing insight into Jesus’ allegorical teaching of the soul as a house and how this relates to the earliest Jesus traditions of emotional(and physical) healing.
The book sets up a groundwork for exploring magic and sorcery from this time period in the volumes that will follow, and offers an extensive bibliography. The author is meticulous and manages to explain a complex subject in a clear and concise manner.
I enjoyed this book and I am looking forward to reading Volume 2 of this Magic and Sorcery in the Early Church series.
This book explores magic and sorcery as they would have been understood at the time the gospels were written, and the unique contribution that the Jesus tradition offers concerning miracles and exorcism(catharsis/demon possession).
This author is well versed in source and text criticism/analysis, explaining how various threads of written Jesus tradition were shared and built upon and can be unwoven to obtain a clearer understanding of the uniqueness of the historical Jesus and the earliest of the Christian communities.
The book applies the fore mentioned lens to provide commentary on a particular gospel narrative that mentions the infamous Baalzebub(al) character, providing insight into Jesus’ allegorical teaching of the soul as a house and how this relates to the earliest Jesus traditions of emotional(and physical) healing.
The book sets up a groundwork for exploring magic and sorcery from this time period in the volumes that will follow, and offers an extensive bibliography. The author is meticulous and manages to explain a complex subject in a clear and concise manner.
I enjoyed this book and I am looking forward to reading Volume 2 of this Magic and Sorcery in the Early Church series.
February 8, 2023
With a great depth and breadth of scholarship, Steve Seven illustrates the departure of orthodox Christianity from an earlier conception of "magic" based on inherent human psychological and creative capabilities, deemed commonplace in the context of a bygone era. The prospect of a rebirth of those dormant powers keeps the reader fully engaged.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews