Magic has been an important term in western history and continues to be an essential topic in the modern study of religion, anthropology, sociology, and cultural history. Defining Magic is the first volume to assemble key texts which examine the nature of magic, establish its boundaries and key features, and explain its working. The Reader brings together seminal writings from antiquity to today. The texts have been selected on their strength in defining magic as a category, their impact on future scholarship, and their originality. The writings are divided into chronological sections with each essay separately introduced for student readers. Together, these texts - from Philosophy, Theology, Religious Studies, and Anthropology - reveal the breadth of critical approaches and responses to defining what is magic.

"Defining Magic offers an ideal overview of the topic. Like myth, magic connotes everything from falsity/trickery to deepest truth. The editors offer a wonderfully comprehensive presentation of seemingly all possible characterizations of the term and theories of the phenomenon. The selections start with the ancients, both pagan and Christian, and then proceed through the millennia to contemporary views. Both philosophical and social scientific authorities are represented. One of the best source books for studying magic that I have ever seen. A first-rate volume.'"

Robert Segal

"The editors do an excellent job of delineating the manifold resonances of magic - the judicious selections reproduced here trace magic from its conceptual debt to ancient Greece to decidedly modern iterations - Recommended.'"

Source: Choice

"Defining magic is tricky business, but Otto and Stausberg provide valuable guidance through difficult conceptual and theoretical terrain, with judicious introductions complementing well-chosen historical and modern 'definers' of the term.'"

Michael D. Bailey