Witchcraft and Magic

in
Christian Tradition
RLG 337
University of Toronto, Fall 2016
This syllabus is subject to change. Changes will never include accelerated deadlines.
Instructor: Leslie Hayes
Email: leslie.hayes@utoronto.ca
Class Time: R 2-5PM
Class Location: Alumni Hall, Room 107
Office Hour: R 5:30PM-6:30PM
Office Location: #324, JHB (NW corner St. George and Bloor)
Syllabus location: BLACKBOARD

[Some historians hold that] history is just one damned thing after another.
Arnold Toynbee

Course Description
This course observes the historical development of concepts of witchcraft and
magic in the medieval and early modern periods in Western Europe with attention to
social, political, intellectual, religious, and literary vehicles of this cultural
phenomenon. Emphasis is placed on questions of method and definition found in
both the historical materials and contemporary analyses.

Course Goals
To further develop skills of critical, analytical inquiry in the course of historical
study.
To identify and consider scholarly terms, theories, and approaches concerning
the historical study of magic and witchcraft.
To acquire an understanding of the historical dynamics, ideas and conditions
which comprise the pan-European development and social systematization of
concepts of magic and witchcraft.

Course Methods
Emphasis is placed on close readings of primary texts, contemporary scholarly
approaches, written work, and class discussion. NB: Historical, Christian, theological
categories for understanding witchcraft and magic will be considered part of the
data which belong to social, religious, and political constructions of meaning in the
historical human context. Our modern assumptions regarding the moral status of
magic and questions regarding the validity/reality of magical beliefs remain beyond

the boundaries of this course and will not be part of course instruction. Medieval and
early modern Christian assumptions regarding the moral status of magic and
questions regarding the validity/reality of magic beliefs are within the boundaries of
this course and will be a central topic of instruction and reflection.

Prerequisites
1.5 Religion courses + A generous spirit of inquiry

Course Requirements
Any historical narrative is a bundle of silences.
Michel-Rolph Trouillot

Graded Assignments:
In-Class essay (x2)
Mid-Term
In-Class (oral+written) Presentation
Term Paper
Attendance/Participation
Grading scale:
In-Class essay (x2).10
Mid-term.30
In-Class presentation25
Term Paper.........30
Attendance/Participation05
Total100
Use of Social Media: I DO NOT GIVE PERMISSION to record or broadcast lecture contents.
Please honour our academic endeavours, and the Instructor's requirements in this matter.
Assignment Guidelines: All assignments guidelines are posted on BLACKBOARD (for the Inclass presentations AND the Research paper AND the Syllabus)
Use of BLACKBOARD: All course information (changes to syllabus, additional information not
contained in course documents) will be communicated in lecture or in email announcements
via BLACKBOARD. All course documents (syllabus, assignment guidelines, some assigned
readings) will be posted on and accessed through BLACKBOARD. Students should ensure their
access to Blackboard at the beginning of the course.

Attendance and Participation: Students are expected to attend class weekly, having completed
the assigned readings for the scheduled day, and participate in class discussion. Attendance and
participation are monitored weekly and are counted in final course mark.
LATE POLICY: No late assignments will be accepted EXCEPT in case of illness. In case of
illness, two steps must be followed. First step: the instructor must be notified by email before or
on the assignments original due date of inability to meet assignments original due date. At
this time, the instructor will reschedule the due date within 6 days (missed in-class writing
assignments will require rescheduled meeting time within 6 days for duration allotted to that
assignment). Failure to notify instructor on or before due date will result in loss of opportunity
to reschedule and student will receive 0 points for assignment.
Second step: A valid doctors note is required for acceptance of late assignment on
rescheduled due date and must be received by instructor at time of rescheduled due date.
The mark for an assignment not received by rescheduled due date will be penalized at
the rate of 5% for every day that passes after the rescheduled due date.
IMPORTANT: I cannot reschedule oral presentations for any reason because of the nature of the
schedule. If you miss class on the day you are scheduled for the oral presentation, you will lose
the oral points-portion of the assignments total mark. I will still accept your written analysis by
email, if I receive your written analysis on or before the day you were scheduled for oral
presentation, and there will be no penalty attached to the written points-portion. If I receive
your written analysis after the day you were scheduled for your oral presentation, I will
penalize the mark for that written analysis 5% for every day it is late.
Rescheduling the midterm is limited to maximum window of 6 days after assigned date
of midterm.
Academic Integrity: All students are held to standards of academic honesty formulated by the
University of Toronto. Plagiarism or cheating of any kind will not be tolerated and may result in
dismissal from class and failure of the course. All course assignments are to be completed
independently. For questions about definitions of plagiarism and how to avoid plagiarism
please consult the instructor and refer to the following link (AND ASK ME -- I can answer your
questions):
For the University Code of Behavior on Academic Matters, see:
http://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/osai/students
University instructors are required to report all instances of suspected plagiarism. University
instructors play no role in the disciplinary process.
Accessibility Needs:
The University of Toronto is committed to accessibility. If you require assistance, please contact
Accessibility Services in the first week of class: disability.services@utoronto.ca
http://studentlife.utoronto.ca/accessibility

Contacting the Instructor/Email policy: Instructor is available during posted office hour.
Students unable to attend office hour may make alternative appointments. The FASTEST way to
contact Instructor and receive a response is through email.
Required Texts for Purchase (available at U of T Bookstore):
1 Alan Charles Kors and Edward Peters, eds., Witchcraft in Europe
400-1700: A Documentary History, 2nd ed. (2001).
2

Richard Kieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages (Canto edition, 2000).

Jeffrey Burton Russell and Brooks Alexander, A History of

Witchcraft, Sorcerers, Heretics, and Pagans, 2nd ed. (2007).

Additional Required Readings will be available on Blackboard and are indicated in the

"Course Schedule."

THE LONG CONCEPTUAL ARC

Whoever therefore who believes that anything can be made, or that any creature can be changed or
transformed to better or to worse or be transformed into another species or likeness, except by the Creator
himself who made everything and through whom all things were made, is beyond doubt an infidel.
Regino of Prm, A Warning to Bishops,
The Canon Episcopi (early 9th century)
Secondly, with regard to a man who believes or maintains that a creature can be made, or changed for
better or worse, or transformed into some other kind or likeness by anyone save God, the creator of all
things, alone, is an infidel and worse than a heathen. Wherefore on account of these words changed for
the worse they say that such an effect if wrought by witchcraft cannot be real but must be purely
phantastical. But inasmuch as these errors savour of heresy.
Kramer and Sprenger, Malleus Maleficarum I.1 (late 15th century)
Finally, consider this infernal architect, who, in the winking of an eye, can break, remove, disassemble,
replace and reconstruct, at his pleasure, the doors, windows, roof-tiles, lattices and stones of a house. That
is how lost one becomes, when one goes beyond the limits of Nature, and when one wants to go
beyond revelation. For where does Reason teach us anything of all that? Or where indeed is the
Scripture which imputes such acts to the Devil? What does it serve man, thus, to believe what is said of
all this?
Balthasar Bekker, The Enchanted World (late 17th century)

COURSE SCHEDULE
Discussion is the beginning of every work, and counsel precedes every
undertaking.
The mind is the root of all conduct.
Sirach 37:16-17

NOTE: ALL ASSIGNED READINGS ARE TO BE COMPLETED BY THE DAY MARKED ON

THE SCHEDULE FOR DISCUSSION ON THAT DAY
BRING THE KORS & PETERS VOLUME TO EVERY CLASS

Half of writing history is hiding the truth, Captain Malcolm Reynolds, Firefly

Week One/Sept 15
Introduction to the study of magic and witchcraft in the medieval and early modern periods.
Read: Excerpts from Mauss, Durkheim, Malinowski, and Frazer on anthropological definitions
of magic. These assigned Excerpts are located on Blackboard
Read: Introduction in Kors & Peters
Begin student sign-ups for In-Class oral+written presentation
Make friends with Index Cards
Week Two/Sept 22
Read: Kieckhefer, pp.1-55
Read: Stuart Clark, Witchcraft and Science (located on Blackboard)
Read: Russell: 8-54
Write: In-Class essay (reflection essay, hand-written, paper and question are provided at start of
class, preparation desired but not necessary for success)
Finish student sign-ups for In-Class oral+written presentation
Week Three/Sept 29
Read: Kors & Peters, pp. 41-57, Christianizing the Traditions, 400-900
Read: Kors & Peters, pp. 58-86, Sorcery in Christendom, 900-1300
Read: Kieckhefer, pp. 56-94
In-class student oral presentations
Week Four/Oct 6
Read: Kors & Peters, pp. 87-147, Thomas Aquinas on Sorcery and the Nature of Evil AND
Popes, Theologians, Preachers, Lawyers, and Judges, 1230-1430
Read: Russell, pp. 55-89
In-class student oral presentations
Week Five/Oct 13
Read: Kors & Peters, pp. 149-175, The Sect of Diabolical Witches, 1430-60

Read: Kieckhefer, pp. 95-175

Midterm Review
In-class student oral presentations
Week Six/Oct 20
MIDTERM (in-class, hand written, test-booklets provided)
Week Seven/Oct 27
Read: Kors & Peters, pp. 176-229, The Hammer of Witches. "... she has had congress with
the devil?" Firefly
Read: Kieckhefer, pp. 176-201
In-class student oral presentations
Week Eight/Nov 3
Read: Kors & Peters, pp. 230-328, Humanists, Sorcerers, Preachers, and Popes + The
Problem of Sorcery and Witchcraft in the Age of the Reformation
In-class student oral presentations
Week Nine/Nov 10
Read: Kors & Peters, pp. 330-391, Witchcraft Prosecutions in the Seventeenth Century.
Read: Russell, pp. 90-108
In-class student oral presentations
Week Ten/Nov 17
Read: excerpts, The Trial of Tempel Anneke, (located on Blackboard). Including the medical
merits of stork-poo.
In-class student oral presentations
Week Eleven/Nov 24
Read: Kors & Peters, pp. 392-448, Belief, Skepticism, Doubt, and Disbelief in the Sixteenth,
Seventeenth, and Eighteenth Centuries.
Read: Russell, pp. 109-137
In-class student oral presentations
Week Twelve/Dec 1, last day of class
Write: In-Class essay
Term paper DUE in class

NB: There is no final exam in this course. Instead, your term paper (due Dec 1, 2016) constitutes a
comprehensive review, analysis, and creative reflection on course ideas and materials.

Course Responsibility Statement

RLG 337
University of Toronto

I have read the course syllabus.

I have understood the expectations of the course, including the
required readings, assignments, due dates, grade scale, the policy
regarding late assignments, restrictions on recording and
broadcasting lecture contents, and instructions concerning
cheating and plagiarism.
I agree to participate in this course according to the terms of the
syllabus.

Print Name______________________________________
Signature _______________________________________
Date ___________________________________________

Return this form with your name, signature, and date to the instructor.