I just picked up Magic of the Ordinary: Recovering the Shamanic in Judaism by Rabbi Gershon Winkler for the first time in a while. One of the first things I came across where I left my previous bookmark is this:
"Bottom line, whether a supernatural act is considered sorcery or miracle is determined not by the Bible but by the politics of organized religion."
He goes further to place value on sorcery (he defines sorcery as a supernatural event that includes mortal intervention) and distinguish between bad and good sorcery.
In this thread I'm mainly concerned with the trend Reb Gershon sees in how supernatural acts are categorized. Do you think that he is correct, that it's largely due to politics? Why do you think sorcery has been demonized in many religions? What are some examples of sorcery (based on Reb Gershon's definition) that you can think of which occur within religions that take issue with sorcery?
edit: For further clarity, according to reb gershon:
good sorcery: "channeling of supernal powers to heal, to uplift, and to do so with the awareness that the Creator is the ultimate source of all those feats and of whether they are effective or not"
bad sorcery: "the misuse of supernal powers to take advantage of people and to intimidate them"
I would challenge some of his definition for good sorcery as being too specific (though understandable if specifically meant within a jewish context) and I would encourage anyone who feels the desire to pick apart his definitions to please do so.
"Bottom line, whether a supernatural act is considered sorcery or miracle is determined not by the Bible but by the politics of organized religion."
He goes further to place value on sorcery (he defines sorcery as a supernatural event that includes mortal intervention) and distinguish between bad and good sorcery.
In this thread I'm mainly concerned with the trend Reb Gershon sees in how supernatural acts are categorized. Do you think that he is correct, that it's largely due to politics? Why do you think sorcery has been demonized in many religions? What are some examples of sorcery (based on Reb Gershon's definition) that you can think of which occur within religions that take issue with sorcery?
edit: For further clarity, according to reb gershon:
good sorcery: "channeling of supernal powers to heal, to uplift, and to do so with the awareness that the Creator is the ultimate source of all those feats and of whether they are effective or not"
bad sorcery: "the misuse of supernal powers to take advantage of people and to intimidate them"
I would challenge some of his definition for good sorcery as being too specific (though understandable if specifically meant within a jewish context) and I would encourage anyone who feels the desire to pick apart his definitions to please do so.