Magic in Western Culture: From Antiquity to the Enlightenment

by Brian P. Copenhaver

The story of the beliefs and practices called 'magic' starts in ancient Iran, Greece, and Rome, before entering its crucial Christian phase in the Middle Ages. Centering on the Renaissance and Marsilio Ficino – whose work on magic was the most influential account written in premodern times – this groundbreaking book treats magic as a classical tradition with foundations that were distinctly philosophical. Besides Ficino, the premodern story of magic also features Plotinus, Iamblichus, Proclus, Aquinas, Agrippa, Pomponazzi, Porta, Bruno, Campanella, Descartes, Boyle, Leibniz, and Newton, to name only a few of the prominent thinkers discussed in this book. Because pictures play a key role in the story of magic, this book is richly illustrated.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Witchcraft, Religion, Magic

612 pages, Hardcover

First published April 30, 2015

About the author

Brian P. Copenhaver is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and History at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he directed the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, editor of History of Philosophy Quarterly, past president of the Journal of the History of Philosophy, and on the boards of Harvard’s I Tatti Renaissance Library and the Italian Istituto Nazionale di Studi sul Rinascimento. He has received fellowships from the Guggenheim and Getty foundations and has authored many books, including Hermetica, The Book of Magic, and Magic in Western Culture.

Reviews

[Kit Perriman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brian Copenhaver’s Magic In Western Culture traces occult beliefs From Antiquity to the Enlightenment. His study starts in Ancient Iran, Greece, and Rome, and moves through the early Christian Church to the influential thinkers of the Renaissance. Magic is treated as a tradition that derives from classical philosophy as Copenhaver examines why European intellectuals “repudiate magic in the Enlightenment, after having previously accepted it for more than two millennia” (xiii).
Copenhaver suggests that before the Enlightenment most educated Western people believed in magic – a tradition handed down from Herodotus. But the early Catholic Church claimed any supernatural activity in The Bible was the result of divine miracles (not earthly magic), which created little problem until Thomas Aquinas insisted that if there were heavenly angels there must also be hell’s counterparts – demons. Thereafter, devils were seen as tempting the faithful with magic powers and turning them into witches. This belief persisted into the Middle Ages and beyond.
As more medical advances were made traditional magic was superseded by new therapies – regimen, pharmacy, and surgery. Doctors of Physic practiced a natural philosophy whereby physical treatment (not ritual or religious) aimed to produce the correct mix of humors in the body.
During the Renaissance natural philosophy gradually gave way to mechanical science, particularly after the invention of the telescope and microscope. Men like Descartes favored reason, method, and metaphysics over occultism but this was not a clear-cut process. Isaac Newton, for example, spent much of his scientific career as an alchemist searching for the Philosopher’s Stone and was later called “the last of the magicians” (288). But over the centuries magic succumbed to the dual pressures of religion and science until it fell out of fashion with the European intellectuals.
Magic In Western Culture is a dense, scholarly book, lightened in part by the rich illustrations. Copenhaver has sifted through the murky realms of early belief to piece together a well-researched, cohesive analysis of the occult tradition. His section on Newton is particularly fascinating. I also enjoyed the references to Shakespeare’s plays that highlight the intersection between intellectual development and common folklore.
If you have an academic or historic interest in the rise and decline of magic, you will find this book an impressive read. Highly recommended!

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

In depth guide to the preservation of magic over the ages. Copenhaver has written an extensive but clear book with detailed case studies

[Michael Leonard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great recourse to understand orgins of Western Magic in Pagan Europe Isreal and Palestine. Accurate ideas of practices and basic principles on why priests are against magic and practices. 9 dense chapters.