ENGLISH

The Devil's Dominion: Magic and Religion in Early New England

By Richard Godbeer

Book information

Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Year
1994
ISBN
9780511528644, 9780521403290, 9780521466707
DOI
10.1017/CBO9780511528644
Google Books ID
iHQpBARCuJ4C
Open Library ID
OL7741885M
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
3 MB (3518767 bytes)
Pages
266\266
Orientation
yes
Scanned
yes
Time added
2011-08-31 04:54:40

Description

Early New Englanders used magical techniques to divine the future, to heal the sick, to protect against harm and to inflict harm. Protestant ministers of the time claimed that religious faith and magical practice were incompatible, and yet, as Richard Godbeer shows, there were significant affinities between the two that enabled layfolk to switch from one to the other without any immediate sense of wrongdoing. Godbeer argues that the different perspectives on witchcraft engendered by magical tradition and Puritan doctrine often caused confusion and disagreement when New Englanders sought legal punishment of witches.

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