Jesus And Magic

Author : Richard A Horsley
Publisher : James Clarke & Company
ISBN 13 : 0227904532
Total Pages : 240 pages
Book Rating : 4.34/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Jesus and Magic written by Richard A Horsley and published by James Clarke & Company. This book was released on 2015-04-30 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It has become standard in modern interpretation to say that Jesus performed miracles, and even mainline scholarly interpreters classify Jesus's healings and exorcisms as miracles. Some highly regarded scholars have argued, more provocatively, that the healings and exorcisms were magic, and that Jesus was a magician. As Richard Horsley points out, if we make a critical comparison between modern interpretation of Jesus's healing and exorcism, on the one hand, and the Gospel stories and other ancient texts, on the other hand, it becomes clear that the miracle and magic are modern concepts, products of Enlightenment thinking. 'Jesus and Magic' asserts that Gospel stories do not have the concepts of miracle and magic. What scholars constructed as magic turns out to have been ritual practices such as songs (incantations), medicines (potions), and appeals to higher powers for protection. Horsley offers a critical reading of the healing and exorcism episodes in the Gospel stories. This reading reveals a dynamic relationship between Jesus the healer, the trust of those coming for healing, and their support networks in local communities. Horsley's reading of the Gospel stories gives little or no indication of divine intervention. Rather, the healing and exorcism stories portray healings and exorcisms.

Author : Smith, Morton
Publisher : Hampton Roads Publishing
ISBN 13 : 157174715X
Total Pages : 328 pages
Book Rating : 4.50/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Jesus the Magician written by Smith, Morton and published by Hampton Roads Publishing. This book was released on 2014-08-27 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A twentieth-century classic, uncannily smart, incredibly learned."--from the foreword by Bart Ehrman This book challenges traditional Christian teaching about Jesus. While his followers may have seen him as a man from heaven, preaching the good news and working miracles, Smith asserts that the truth about Jesus is more interesting and rather unsettling. The real Jesus, only barely glimpsed because of a campaign of disinformation, obfuscation, and censorship by religious authorities, was not Jesus the Son of God. In actuality he was Jesus the Magician. Smith marshals all the available evidence including, but not limited to, the Gospels. He succeeds in describing just what was said of Jesus by "outsiders," those who did not believe him. He deals in fascinating detail with the inevitable questions. What was the nature of magic? What did people at that time mean by the term "magician"? Who were the other magicians, and how did their magic compare with Jesus' works? What facts led to the general assumption that Jesus practiced magic? And, most important, was that assumption correct? The ramifications of Jesus the Magician give new meaning to the word controversial. This book recovers a vision of Jesus that two thousand years of suppression and polemic could not erase. And--what may be the central point of the debate--Jesus the Magician strips away the myths and legends that have obscured Jesus, the man who lived.

Author : Sean Williams
Publisher : Lulu.com
ISBN 13 : 0578020726
Total Pages : 74 pages
Book Rating : 4.23/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Jesus and the Magic Mushroom written by Sean Williams and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2009-05-28 with total page 74 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book points out the undeniable similarities between the teachings of Jesus via the Gospel of Thomas, the psychedelic experience, mysticism, and the near death experience, to guide us down the road of life toward our ultimate destination, spiritual consciousness. The knowledge within this book can help you achieve for yourself what a lifetime of religion will fail to do for you.

Author : Robert P. Conner
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781906958619
Total Pages : 484 pages
Book Rating : 4.10/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Magic in Christianity written by Robert P. Conner and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 484 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The world of Jesus and the early Christians swarmed with prophets and exorcists, holy men and healers, who invoked angels and demons, gods and ghosts. Magic in Christianity: From Jesus to the Gnostics explores that world through the surviving texts of the first Christians and their pagan and Jewish contemporaries. Ecstatic spirit possession, handing opponents over to Satan, sending demons into swine, striking others dead on the spot by pronouncing curses, using articles of clothing and parts of corpses to perform magical healing and exorcism, invoking ghosts and angels for protection-these are all ancient Christian practices described in the New Testament, explained in detail by early Christian writers, and preserved by Christian amulets. Pagans and Jews accused Jesus and his followers of practicing magic and Christians accused one another of sorcery. Both pagan and early orthodox writers describe the rituals of the Gnostic sects in detail, including the magical passwords required to cross through the gates of the lower heavens. Magic in Christianity: From Jesus to the Gnostics examines evidence from the New Testament, the first Christian apologists, early apocryphal works, curse tablets and amulets to reconstruct the apocalyptic magical world of Jesus and the first Christians.

Author : Richard A Horsley
Publisher : James Clarke & Company
ISBN 13 : 0227904516
Total Pages : 186 pages
Book Rating : 4.10/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Jesus and Magic written by Richard A Horsley and published by James Clarke & Company. This book was released on 2015-04-30 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It has become standard in modern interpretation to say that Jesus performed miracles, and even mainline scholarly interpreters classify Jesus's healings and exorcisms as miracles. Some highly regarded scholars have argued, more provocatively, that the healings and exorcisms were magic, and that Jesus was a magician. As Richard Horsley points out, if we make a critical comparison between modern interpretation of Jesus's healing and exorcism, on the one hand, and the Gospel stories and other ancient texts, on the other hand, it becomes clear that the miracle and magic are modern concepts, products of Enlightenment thinking. 'Jesus and Magic' asserts that Gospel stories do not have the concepts of miracle and magic. What scholars constructed as magic turns out to have been ritual practices such as songs (incantations), medicines (potions), and appeals to higher powers for protection. Horsley offers a critical reading of the healing and exorcism episodes in the Gospel stories. This reading reveals a dynamic relationship between Jesus the healer, the trust of those coming for healing, and their support networks in local communities. Horsley's reading of the Gospel stories gives little or no indication of divine intervention. Rather, the healing and exorcism stories portray healings and exorcisms.

Author : Marvin W. Meyer
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780691004587
Total Pages : 430 pages
Book Rating : 4.87/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Ancient Christian Magic written by Marvin W. Meyer and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 1999-04-04 with total page 430 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This thought-provoking collection of magical texts from ancient Egypt shows the exotic rituals, esoteric healing practices, and incantatory and supernatural dimensions that flowered in early Christianity. These remarkable Christian magical texts include curses, spells of protection from "headless powers" and evil spirits, spells invoking thunderous powers, descriptions of fire baptism, and even recipes from a magical "cookbook." Virtually all the texts are by Coptic Christians, and they date from about the 1st-12th centuries of the common era, with the majority from late antiquity. By placing these rarely seen texts in historical context and discussing their significance, the authors explore the place of healing, prayer, miracles, and magic in the early Christian experience, and expand our understanding of Christianity and Gnosticism as a vital folk religion.

Author : Baal Kadmon
Publisher : Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN 13 : 9781539325390
Total Pages : 50 pages
Book Rating : 4.93/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Jesus Magick written by Baal Kadmon and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2016-10-03 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When one looks back in ancient history, there are a few great magicians that stand out. Magicians that shook the world so intensely that their influence continues to inform not only the occult, but history in general. We have Apollonius of Tyana, the great wizard and Neopythagorean philosopher, the famed Hermes Trismegistus who has influenced occultism far and wide. From the Old Testament we have the witch of Endor, Balaam and King Solomon to name a few. From the New Testament we have Simon Magus, Paul and so on and so forth. We can be here for days naming each and every magician and occultist who has influenced all of us, whether we know they have or not. One magician, however, stands out. To most he is not considered a magician at all but a prophet of God, the messiah himself...Jesus. No matter how one views Jesus, there is no doubt it that his "miracles" as people like to call them, were in fact, acts of magick. In this book we will be discussing Jesus magick and how we can tap into his power. Whether you believe Jesus truly existed as a flesh and blood human being or as simply an archetype representing an idea, there is no doubt that Jesus changed the world with his teachings or the teachings ascribed to him. In saying that, I would like to point out that this book will not argue for or against the historicity of Jesus; that is for you, the reader to decide. My goal here is to provide a way to use some of the symbology of Jesus to perform magick. It may not be the same exact magick he himself performed. As you may know from my other books, I like to give some background before I go into the rituals themselves. This book will follow the same pattern. In fact, this book will be quite heavy on history so if you want to skip right to the rituals you may if the history is not something that interests you. I for one think every occultist and magician should also be an historian. It helps put everything in context. History of humanity is in many ways the history of magick, it is very much worth learning. With that in mind, we will be discussing Jesus and his magick in context of the New Testament, with some smattering of extra canonical gospels thrown in for good measure. Before we do that, we will discuss the time in which Jesus existed and the general ideas of magick preceding and during Jesus time. Enjoy!

Author : John P. Meier
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.38/5 ( download)

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Download or read book A Marginal Jew written by John P. Meier and published by . This book was released on 1991 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Robert Conner
Publisher : Tellectual Press
ISBN 13 : 9781942897163
Total Pages : 194 pages
Book Rating : 4.62/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Apparitions of Jesus written by Robert Conner and published by Tellectual Press. This book was released on 2018-05-23 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Could the folklore of ancient ghost stories be the basis for the resurrection accounts of the New Testament? Recent scholarship surveyed in Apparitions of Jesus suggests that early Christians poured their heady new wine--a man saved the world by rising from the dead--into the old wineskins of familiar legend. Combining his own research with the insights of publications past and present, Conner leads us down haunted hallways of Greco-Roman ghost lore to illuminate neglected corners of the gospels. Along the way, finding yet another human side to the beloved old tales, we understand how ghostly apparitions were spoken about for much the same reason modern-day people still see them: a psychological response vividly experienced by those suffering great loss.

Author : T.M. Luhrmann
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691211981
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.85/5 ( download)

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Download or read book How God Becomes Real written by T.M. Luhrmann and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-10-27 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The hard work required to make God real, how it changes the people who do it, and why it helps explain the enduring power of faith How do gods and spirits come to feel vividly real to people—as if they were standing right next to them? Humans tend to see supernatural agents everywhere, as the cognitive science of religion has shown. But it isn’t easy to maintain a sense that there are invisible spirits who care about you. In How God Becomes Real, acclaimed anthropologist and scholar of religion T. M. Luhrmann argues that people must work incredibly hard to make gods real and that this effort—by changing the people who do it and giving them the benefits they seek from invisible others—helps to explain the enduring power of faith. Drawing on ethnographic studies of evangelical Christians, pagans, magicians, Zoroastrians, Black Catholics, Santeria initiates, and newly orthodox Jews, Luhrmann notes that none of these people behave as if gods and spirits are simply there. Rather, these worshippers make strenuous efforts to create a world in which invisible others matter and can become intensely present and real. The faithful accomplish this through detailed stories, absorption, the cultivation of inner senses, belief in a porous mind, strong sensory experiences, prayer, and other practices. Along the way, Luhrmann shows why faith is harder than belief, why prayer is a metacognitive activity like therapy, why becoming religious is like getting engrossed in a book, and much more. A fascinating account of why religious practices are more powerful than religious beliefs, How God Becomes Real suggests that faith is resilient not because it provides intuitions about gods and spirits—but because it changes the faithful in profound ways.