We Have Been Modern After All: Differentiating Magic in Modernity
We survey recent scholarship on magic that rejects the disenchantment narrative about modernity for drawing boundaries between magic and science as well as between the modern West and its Others. This scholarship denies that magic is differentiated in modernity and, indeed, challenges the reality of...
| Authors: | ; |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2025
|
| In: |
Journal of the American Academy of Religion
Year: 2025, Volume: 93, Issue: 2, Pages: 187-207 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | We survey recent scholarship on magic that rejects the disenchantment narrative about modernity for drawing boundaries between magic and science as well as between the modern West and its Others. This scholarship denies that magic is differentiated in modernity and, indeed, challenges the reality of modernity itself. We draw from theories of societal differentiation to argue for an alternative account of modernity that implies neither disenchantment nor Western superiority but does allow for theorizing the reality of modernity and the differentiation of magic within it. The argument is relevant for religious studies more broadly to the degree that questions about the differentiation of magic overlap with questions about the differentiation of religion. Further, the communicative, constructive approach developed here is offered as a complement to discursive, deconstructive approaches prominent in religious studies. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1477-4585 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: American Academy of Religion, Journal of the American Academy of Religion
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1093/jaarel/lfaf048 |
