Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Magick, the Supernatural & Re-Enchantment

I read the Wildhunt Blog today, a Blog that provides some interesting perspectives on spiritual issues from a Pagan perspective. The Blog recently posted some comments on magick and the supernatural, and in the process alerted me to an article by Peggy Flatcher Stack in The Salt Lake Tribune titled "Where faith, magic meet". The article contains a number of items worthy of consideration. Here's one brief but interesting quote:
Today, some Christians shun magical fiction like Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings or "The Matrix," fearing their allure will replace religious faith.
Unfortunately I think the statement above is accurate, as the plethora of evangelical books, as well as website and newsletter articles condemning Potter, and Lord of the Rings demonstrate. With the forthcoming Narnia film in December this issue will take center stage once again, and may be accompanied by further articles and books expressing alarm at the magic of C. S. Lewis.

In the acceptance of a sacred-secular split in Western Christendom with the Enlightenment, and the resulting disenchantment of the world, did the church go too far in banning the "magical" activity of the Divine in the cosmos? With the postmodern emphasis on re-enchantment, can we rethink the place and extent of Divine activity in the creation that articulates a robust biblical worldview and properly distinguishes it from Pagan magickal ideas?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

In a recent online Christian-Wiccan dialogue, discussion arose between myself and other Christians as to how we personally relate to the creation.

Whilst noting that "brother sun, sister moon language" can be problematic in light of Jesus' idiosyncratic use of the words, nevertheless we noted the propensity of the bible to invoke poetic language when speaking of nature (eg mountains leaping for joy) and the bankruptcy of viewing nature as a souless machine.

I think there is a deparate need to articulate how we relate to nature in more poetic, enchanted language, but yes...how do we properly distinguish this from paganism to avoid being mistaken for affirming things we do not.

Matt
http://mattstone.blogs.com