In the Study of the Witch: Women, Shadows, and the Academic Study of Religions
This article examines historically competing categories of magic and religion and their gendered traces in the history of religious studies. On one hand, we have a genealogy that traces the term, “magic”, back to an early modern European Christianity trying to understand itself through contrast with...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2018-04-01
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| Series: | Religions |
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| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/9/4/105 |
| _version_ | 1818536447539412992 |
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| author | Laurel Zwissler |
| author_facet | Laurel Zwissler |
| author_sort | Laurel Zwissler |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article examines historically competing categories of magic and religion and their gendered traces in the history of religious studies. On one hand, we have a genealogy that traces the term, “magic”, back to an early modern European Christianity trying to understand itself through contrast with an imagined heresy that comes to be personified with a woman’s face. On the other, we have contemporary political and religious communities that use the identification as Witches to reverse this version of dichotomous Christian gaze and legitimize religious difference, which also comes to be symbolized by a female body. Between these historical moments we have the beginning of the academic study of religion, the theoretical turn in which Christian-dominant scholarship comes to see itself on a continuum with, rather than opposed to, different religions, as first characterized by cultural evolution theories about the origins of religion. Especially given the field’s theological roots, examining the constructed relationships between religion and magic, both of which represent crucial foci for early theorists, through the analytical lens of gender, which does not, provides opportunities to surface implicit assumptions of the current field about what is and is not worth studying. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-11T18:38:04Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-947c87162be646b4b65985c2163d14b3 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2077-1444 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T18:38:04Z |
| publishDate | 2018-04-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Religions |
| spelling | doaj.art-947c87162be646b4b65985c2163d14b32022-12-22T00:54:42ZengMDPI AGReligions2077-14442018-04-019410510.3390/rel9040105rel9040105In the Study of the Witch: Women, Shadows, and the Academic Study of ReligionsLaurel Zwissler0Central Michigan University, Philosophy and Religion Department, AN 288, Mount Pleasant, MI 48859, USAThis article examines historically competing categories of magic and religion and their gendered traces in the history of religious studies. On one hand, we have a genealogy that traces the term, “magic”, back to an early modern European Christianity trying to understand itself through contrast with an imagined heresy that comes to be personified with a woman’s face. On the other, we have contemporary political and religious communities that use the identification as Witches to reverse this version of dichotomous Christian gaze and legitimize religious difference, which also comes to be symbolized by a female body. Between these historical moments we have the beginning of the academic study of religion, the theoretical turn in which Christian-dominant scholarship comes to see itself on a continuum with, rather than opposed to, different religions, as first characterized by cultural evolution theories about the origins of religion. Especially given the field’s theological roots, examining the constructed relationships between religion and magic, both of which represent crucial foci for early theorists, through the analytical lens of gender, which does not, provides opportunities to surface implicit assumptions of the current field about what is and is not worth studying.http://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/9/4/105genderwomen’s spiritualitywitchcraftanthropologyearly modern Europematriarchyprehistoryfeminismmagiccultural evolution |
| spellingShingle | Laurel Zwissler In the Study of the Witch: Women, Shadows, and the Academic Study of Religions Religions gender women’s spirituality witchcraft anthropology early modern Europe matriarchy prehistory feminism magic cultural evolution |
| title | In the Study of the Witch: Women, Shadows, and the Academic Study of Religions |
| title_full | In the Study of the Witch: Women, Shadows, and the Academic Study of Religions |
| title_fullStr | In the Study of the Witch: Women, Shadows, and the Academic Study of Religions |
| title_full_unstemmed | In the Study of the Witch: Women, Shadows, and the Academic Study of Religions |
| title_short | In the Study of the Witch: Women, Shadows, and the Academic Study of Religions |
| title_sort | in the study of the witch women shadows and the academic study of religions |
| topic | gender women’s spirituality witchcraft anthropology early modern Europe matriarchy prehistory feminism magic cultural evolution |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/9/4/105 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT laurelzwissler inthestudyofthewitchwomenshadowsandtheacademicstudyofreligions |