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1. Term and Meanings The term “magic” derives by way of Lat. magia and Gk. mageia from OPer. magu-, a word of uncertain etymology denoting a priestly clan. In antiquity the term came to denote the more general practice of magic. Supernatural ability, rituals (Rite), automatic writing, and secret information were its stock-in-trade. Despite Christian opposition, it persisted in the Christian era. The study of comparative religion (Religious Studies) made the concept a basic category in the 19th century, treating magic as no less fundamental than religion. In 1931 B. Malinowski (1884–1942) classically formulated the separate spheres of magic and religion. As he saw it, religion gives rise to ultimate values and reaches its ends directly, while magic makes use of acts that have practical value and are only means to ends. Historical and ethnographic research (Ethnology), however, does not support so clear-cut a distinction, for magic and religion are closely related both in outlook (Worldview) and in ritual acts. Nor may we oversharply differentiate…

Dualism, in contrast to monism, assumes that two antagonistic principles underlie existence. It found classic expression in Zoroastrianism, in some tendencies in early Judaism, and in Gnosticism and its aftermath. In milder form it also appears implicitly in the worldviews of prescientific cultures. A characteristic of modern scientific culture is to find in such hostile factors as disasters and illnesses a challenge to human knowledge and ability. Prescientific cultures, however, push such anom…

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1. Religious and Biblical Aspects 1.1. Religious, Psychological, and Sociological The terms “sacred” and “profane” are significant in the vocabulary of comparative religion (Religious Studies). When the 19th century found that we do not encounter ideas of God always and everywhere, but that God “is a late comer in the history of religion” (G. van der Leeuw, Religion,…

[German Version] I. History of Religion – II. Jewish and Christian Antiquity – III. Middle Ages to Modern Times I. History of Religion Hypocrisy as a deliberate feigning of non-existent situations is a special case of concealment. F. Bacon made a distinction between a morally necessary silence and a passive secretiveness, and between both of these and active hypocrisy or pretence. As a sociologist, G. Simmel regarded non-disclosure as a necessary means for enabling social relationships. Here, social distance and pr…

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[German Version] I. Terminology The word society ( societas, société) has changed from a term denoting …