(Please excuse my email if it comes out looking like my last one with '='
and '20' all over the place. I don't know why thta was, new computer I
guess. I must say I hate an ugly looking email).
Hi Stephen,
>>The title of Robert K. Ritner's book is _The Mechanics of Ancient Egyptian
>>Magical Practice_ and he doesn't use the gloss "magic" for Heka/u lightly
>>or
without cause. His chapter dealing with terminology is very well argued, in
my opinion. Ritner *never* "calls religion magic," btw. He does discuss
the points at which these two classes of belief/behavior intersect, however.
I highly recommend reading this work (a good idea in general if you're going
to critique it on this forum!) In any case, the chapter on "Spitting,
Licking and Swallowing" alone is worth the price of admission!<<
Yes, I'd like to read it. Our university library doesn't seem to have the
book which is infuriating. I do have an article of Ritner's called "The
Religious, Social and Legal Parameters of Traditional Egyptian Magic" from
M. Meyer and P. Mierecki's "Ancient Magic and Ritual Power" which I'll have
to make do with. I wasn't realy "critiquing" Ritner, I was simply asking
Mogg if that's what the title of the book was - not because I thought Mogg
wouldn't know a title of his own book, but just because of the lecture I'd
just attended which I mentioned in my previous email which questioned using
'magic' in regards to ancint Egyptian religion - I rudely jumped to
conclusions that Mogg might have hastily typed "magic" instead of something
else. It was lazy of me not to go look up a bibliography (which I later did
do) and confirm that yes, that was indeed the correct title of Ritner's
book. I wouldn't dare critique a book I hadn't read.
~Caroline.
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