Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Jim West <jwest AT highland.net>]

You are clearly mistaken from a purely historical point of view.  You 
should read Marvin Meyer's Ancient Christian Magic.  Further, it is no 
attack on the faith to tell the truth.  That for some people prayer is 
"magical" is utterly indisputable.  Utterly. 

Jim


Peter Kirk wrote:

> On 22/07/2005 18:45, Jim West wrote:
>
> > ... If some early Christians believed in magic (and some clearly 
> > did!)... and prayer is the most "magical" of all vocalizations.
> >  
>
> I know this is well off topic, but I can't allow this attack on the 
> Christian faith to pass without comment. Christian prayer is not 
> magic. The early Christians clearly distanced themselves from magic, 
> as is clear in Acts 8 and 19. The two have nothing in common. 
> Christians, along with most other religious believers, believed and 
> still believe that (at least in some circumstances) a personal God 
> acts when asked to in prayer. That is quite different from magic which 
> is a belief in some kind of impersonal supernatural force.

--
D. Jim West

Biblical Studies Resources -  http://web.infoave.net/~jwest
Biblical Theology Weblog -  http://biblical-studies.blogspot.com