I have enjoyed this series and your flirtation with the work magic. As you point out, the real issue here is the unity of the physical and spiritual, and the place where this unity is practiced and upheld is in the sacramental life of the church in all its forms. There’s a passage in Walker Percy’s “Love in the Ruins” in which the protagonist complains about his wife’s Protestant sensibilities.
“What [Ellen] disapproves is not that I am doing public penance. No, what bothers her is an ancient Presbyterian mistrust of things, things getting mixed up with religion. The black sweater and the ashes scandalize her.... What have these things, articles, to do with doing right? For she mistrusts the Old church's traffic in things, sacraments, articles, bread, wine, salt, oil, water, ashes. Watch out! You know what happened before when you Catholics mucked it up with all your things, medals, scapulars, candles, bloody statues!”
The “Old church’s traffic in things” is the problem for the Protestant mind. And where has that gotten us Protestants? Megachurch’s that look like warehouses stripped of any tangible image of the faith, a gnostic spirituality that is unmoored from the very things that most reveal God’s God to us. We desperately need a new awareness that the world is a sacramental place, or as Hopkins put it, filled with God’s grandeur. The Celtic tradition especially has this deeply embedded awareness of God in the everyday world around us. So, yes, let’s get more weird.
After all you've written, Richard, I agree with you at the end, except for what I noted earlier. I think the group of people for whom this would be most useful would be people attracted to or exploring the esoterical. It would have to be made very clear that the point is not simply union with "the divine" but union with Christ on the basis of the Incarnation, and that humility is what lies underneath everything. Much discernment is needed for these kinds of discussions.
I think you're missing the point. Everything in the material realm is magic. Consciousness, matter, biology, birth, life, time, light, these things are all magic. And I am somewhat of an authority on these magics.
I just had the wildest synchronicity. I went directly from reading this post to resuming a youtube video at the exact chapter John Vervaeke is proposing ritual and liturgy as theurgy!
The sacred magic of pentecostals and charismatics can tip far further from the sacred to the sorcerous than prosperity doctrine - with Christian Nationalism. That's what the NAR is all about with their prophetic utterances, whipping their flocks into militancy.
Very helpful series, Dr. Beck. I get that the term theurgic might help smooth the way with some, but there is something clunky about it. Doesn’t really roll off the tongue(; . Linking the term magic with mystery, sacred, and considering that heaven speaks, firmament proclaims, the cosmos is populated by angels and so on. True magic.
I’d rather try to explain sacred magic than theurgy, but I do appreciate how it may be of benefit to some. “It’s sacred magic, but just think of it as theurgy” doesn’t quite fit me.
Thank you for this helpful, insightful series. At the risk of using the word "magical" in how God, Christ, Holy Spirit works in our lives, to me it is. Unexplainable yet real.
I have enjoyed this series and your flirtation with the work magic. As you point out, the real issue here is the unity of the physical and spiritual, and the place where this unity is practiced and upheld is in the sacramental life of the church in all its forms. There’s a passage in Walker Percy’s “Love in the Ruins” in which the protagonist complains about his wife’s Protestant sensibilities.
“What [Ellen] disapproves is not that I am doing public penance. No, what bothers her is an ancient Presbyterian mistrust of things, things getting mixed up with religion. The black sweater and the ashes scandalize her.... What have these things, articles, to do with doing right? For she mistrusts the Old church's traffic in things, sacraments, articles, bread, wine, salt, oil, water, ashes. Watch out! You know what happened before when you Catholics mucked it up with all your things, medals, scapulars, candles, bloody statues!”
The “Old church’s traffic in things” is the problem for the Protestant mind. And where has that gotten us Protestants? Megachurch’s that look like warehouses stripped of any tangible image of the faith, a gnostic spirituality that is unmoored from the very things that most reveal God’s God to us. We desperately need a new awareness that the world is a sacramental place, or as Hopkins put it, filled with God’s grandeur. The Celtic tradition especially has this deeply embedded awareness of God in the everyday world around us. So, yes, let’s get more weird.
After all you've written, Richard, I agree with you at the end, except for what I noted earlier. I think the group of people for whom this would be most useful would be people attracted to or exploring the esoterical. It would have to be made very clear that the point is not simply union with "the divine" but union with Christ on the basis of the Incarnation, and that humility is what lies underneath everything. Much discernment is needed for these kinds of discussions.
Dana
I think you're missing the point. Everything in the material realm is magic. Consciousness, matter, biology, birth, life, time, light, these things are all magic. And I am somewhat of an authority on these magics.
This has been such a helpful, thought-provoking series. Thank you.
I just had the wildest synchronicity. I went directly from reading this post to resuming a youtube video at the exact chapter John Vervaeke is proposing ritual and liturgy as theurgy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqmSW3SgzHs
"liturgy and team spirit" 1:10:41
The sacred magic of pentecostals and charismatics can tip far further from the sacred to the sorcerous than prosperity doctrine - with Christian Nationalism. That's what the NAR is all about with their prophetic utterances, whipping their flocks into militancy.
The word that comes to mind is "incarnational." Theurgic practices are incarnational.
Very helpful series, Dr. Beck. I get that the term theurgic might help smooth the way with some, but there is something clunky about it. Doesn’t really roll off the tongue(; . Linking the term magic with mystery, sacred, and considering that heaven speaks, firmament proclaims, the cosmos is populated by angels and so on. True magic.
I’d rather try to explain sacred magic than theurgy, but I do appreciate how it may be of benefit to some. “It’s sacred magic, but just think of it as theurgy” doesn’t quite fit me.
Thank you for this helpful, insightful series. At the risk of using the word "magical" in how God, Christ, Holy Spirit works in our lives, to me it is. Unexplainable yet real.
Great series. Lots of process theology and open and relational theology vibes in it, I think.