Witchcraft: Exploring the World of Wicca

Rating:
Summary: Great Book other Reviews Miss the Mark
Review: I know Craig Hawkins personally and took a class on the Occult from him. Craig does an excellent job in his research. Craig uses primary source material to show the "worldview of the Wicca". Craig's purpose is to show the reader what Wicca actually teaches, then seeks to show the faults of the religion compared to Christianity and logic. Craig is a Christian, he believes that Christianity is the only path to God (which Jesus promoted in John 14:6), so therefore Craig gives a defense for Christianity then shows, based off that defense, that if Christianity is right, then neopaganism is wrong (despite the postmodern desire to see all "paths" lead to God, logic dictates that all paths cannot lead to God since they contradict each other, and one of the primary laws of logic is the law of non-contradiction which states that two beliefs cannot be true at the same time or in the same sense). Craig also uses reason to show the "internal" logical errors to the Wiccan worldview. Any Christian who desires to understand Wicca, what the Bible has to say about it, and how a person might be able to dialogue with a Wiccan for evangelistic reasons, should read this book.

Rating:
Summary: A Useful Reference Work for Neo-pagans and Christians
Review: The book is divided into three parts with nine chapters as follows: PART I: The Contemporary World of Witchcraft {1 - The Contemporary Craft: A Relativistic Religion, 2 - Convictions of the Contemporary Craft: How Witches View Deities, Death, and Life, 3 - Setting the Stage: The Theoretical Framework for the Practices of Witchcraft, 4 - How Does the Witches' World Work? The Structure and Practices of Witchcraft}, PART II: The Biblical View of Contemporary Witchcraft {5 - The Word of God: What the Bible Says about Witchcraft, 6 - True Teachings? A Biblical Critique of Witches' Views}, and PART III: Philosophical Critiques of Witchcraft {7 - The Question of Truth: An Epistemological Critique of Witchcraft, 8 - The Problem of Evil: An Ethical Evaluation of Witchcraft, 9 - Conclusion}.

Part I is broad in nature and attempts to define witchcraft within the neo-pagan context by reference to many non-Christian authors of neo-pagan and witchcraft books. Apart from input from the neo-pagan community and extensive personal reading of their books, it is difficult to ascertain whether Hawkins has accurately represented them in general, so I appreciated the earlier reviews by neo-pagans. Although I am far from well-read on the subject, what I have read seems accurately reflected in Part I (e.g., Bonewits' Real Magic, Weinstein's Positive Magic, Curott's Book of Shadows, Amber K's True Magick, Starhawk's Spiral Dance, Adler's Drawing Down the Moon - These are just some of the books I own. One video I own is "The Occult Experience"). One minor problem I noticed is Hawkins' use of the term "occult". He defines it broadly on page 55 to include not only the secret, hidden, nonnormal and forbidden but also, connotatively, (among the noninitiated and nonwitches) the mysterious and supernatural (key components to Christianity). He then quotes Isaac Bonewits and Raymond Buckland to show that many occultists see magic and the occult as involving natural, not supernatural, powers of the mind. Although this is all true, Hawkins then uses the term "occult" throughout the book as synonymous with the forbidden which promotes confusion since there are mysterious and supernatural aspects to Biblical Christianity that are obviously not forbidden but included in his broad definition of "the occult".

The reason for Part II is to show what the Bible says about witchcraft in particular and forbidden practices of the "the occult" in general. Although Hawkins admits that neo-pagans don't accept the authority of the Bible (or the Christian God), he wants to refute those who try to justify their practices by appeals to the Bible. After arguing for the historical reliability of the Bible based on historical evidence to show that the early church did not tamper with the Bible to exclude certain teachings as some occultists claim, he looks at certain passages of scripture within context and references the original biblical languages to show that certain occult practices are forbidden and that neo-pagan references to biblical passages to justify certain practices are unfounded. The intent of Part II is not to prove the existence of the Christian's God or the truth of everything taught in the Bible. These are assumed by Hawkins in this book. For those who are interested in such proofs, one should refer to some of the books in Hawkins' Bibliography under Relevant Christian Works. See, for example, the works of Norman Geisler , esp. "Christian Apologetics".

Part III is philosophical in nature and, in my opinion, incomplete. Although he strongly points out contradictions by proponents of witchcraft by using the law of non-contradiction, he fails to expound on the deeper, mystical and miraculous elements of true, biblical Christianity that would make it a positive, desirable alternative to witchcraft and magick. Also, how does Christianity deal with the problem of evil? Hawkins criticizes witches with committing the "naturalistic fallacy" but he fails to show how evil fits into a world supposedly created by a good God who sustains it all, including evil, in existence by an act of will. Although neo-pagans and witches can certainly learn from this book as the other non-Christian reviewers have pointed out, this book is incomplete in its approach. (Hawkins may point out that the book assumed a Christian audience, but this doesn't reduce the need to show the deeper side of Christianity to self-professing Christians who need to be well-grounded. Also, non-Christians are obviously reading this book.) Also, some Christian readers may be left with wondering whether magick really works although Hawkins' point is that regardless of whether it works, the Bible forbids the practice. Some Christian authors - such as professional illusionist Andre Kole (the Christian counterpart to the secular humanist and magician James Randi) - argue that there is more fraud than psychic powers in much that goes on in occult circles. But Kole goes so far as to deny the existence of any psychic powers and denies that Satan and demons can give such powers or perform miracles. He also criticizes other Christians who believe in psychic powers or the possibility of Satanic miracles. His point, however, is worth considering: If Satan, demons, and occultists can perform "miracles", then the argument of miracles as an apologetic for the deity of Christ must be considered worthless. Personally, I'm still studying the whole issue, including the nature of so-called "magick" as it relates to supposedly natural (and God-given) powers of the human mind (as occultists affirm), but coming from a Pentecostal and Charismatic background, I do believe in divine miracles and that they can be manifested through faithful Christians who are being led by the Holy Spirit as revealed in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 in the New Testament of the Bible. This chapter was referenced in a quote by Gavin and Yvonne Frost from their book "The Magic Power of Witchcraft" on pages 89 - 90 of Hawkins' book, but he failed to give the Christian perspective on these spiritual phenomena. Many Christians believe such phenomena went out with the apostles and are not for today - Hawkins (and Andre Kole) may be one of them (Norman Geisler is definitely one of them). I, however, am NOT one of them and sincerely believe that there is a deeply spiritual and miraculous side to Christianity that some Christians, real or just professing, are missing out on.

Rating:
Summary: Pagans, not Christians, should read this book
Review: This is a book that all Pagans should read, not because it is insightful or well balanced but because it is necessary for Pagans to understand what Christians think about their religion and the attack on ones religious beliefs Christians will make. I will be the first to say that it is a difficult book to read. Many pagans are either infuriated or amused at the strange notions about our religion the Mr. Hawkins has.

Because Pagans are generally tolerant of other religions we are often blindsided by well intentioned though misinformed individuals who feels the need to change our religion to theirs their religion for their own good. This book provides some small insight into the Christian mind and worldview and offers some hint as to just why Christians use the arguments they use against other religions.

Does Mr. Hawkins provide a clear accurate picture of the Neopagan religion? Well...not really. The description of Wicca is drawn entirely from readings form popular text on the subject. Recognize that popular does not mean either good or accurate. Mr. Hawkins quotes liberally from a number of texts on Wicca, Witchcraft and the New Age but he misses an essential element. While Mr. Hawkins has read extensively it is painfully obvious that he did not actually talk to Witches and Pagans about their religion. If he has had conversations with experienced and educated members of the Neopagan religions he has apparently only made attempts to convert these individuals but not actually to learn from them.

The third section of the book, "Philosophical Critiques of Witchcraft" is the most interesting. Mr. Hawkins attempts to makes four points
1.the Bible condemns witchcraft and the occult
2.the Wiccan worldview is obviously false
3.that Wiccans dispute both logic and science in a self-defeating fashion
4.that Wiccan beliefs are unethical

As for the first point, no one is arguing that, the Bible condemns many things from eating shellfish to wearing particular fabrics.

As to the second point: I believe that Mr. Hawkins was trying to build an argument against religious pluralism but missed the mark. He indicates that pluralism is illogical but does not actually provide any evidence to that effect; he just states that it is obvious that it is so. Mr. Hawkins goes on to attack relativism. Despite the fact that relativism is a pretty easy target he does not do this very well arguing against it. Mr. Hawkins operates under the notion that Pagans are relativists, he arrives at this by , which does not appear to be the case. Like many people, including other reviewers of this book, he confuses relativism with subjectivism.

As to the third point: Mr. Hawkins spends a great deal of time talking about the experiential nature of Wicca. Hawkins states that Witches have difficulty distinguishing experience from truth, he does this by quoting Margot Adler who was quoting Aidan Kelly who did not in fact say that everything one experiences is true. Kelly argues for the exact opposite, that experience does not equal truth, that we cannot know what is and what is not true. Of note in this section was the paragraphe where Mr. Hawkins states that "Witches disdain the idea that there is only one truth." Immediately after this Hawkins criticizes that Starhawk and "many witches like Starhawk" for believing there is only one truth.

As for the fourth point: Mr. Hawkins indicates that Pagan beliefs are unethical because the Pagan worldview "results in an inability to morally distinguish between good and evil, right and wrong." The main thrust of his argument is based on the "fact" the all Pagans are relativists and relativists (as everyone knows) are incapable of making such distinctions. Mr. Hawkins is very critical of both the Wiccan Rede and the three fold law, both indicate that one is responsible to ones actions. Exactly why being responsible for one's actions is unethical is a mystery that Mr. Hawkins did not go into.
The problem of evil is brought out as a weapon against Paganism. Hawkins argues that since the writers he has read do not discuss evil to any great extent they are ignoring it in the false pretense that it will just not be real. Unfortunately he fails to realize that Pagans can utilize the same defense for the problem of evil that Christians have used for years, free will.

Ultimately Mr. Hawkins fails to find a fatal flaw in the word view of Witchcraft. His arguments are largely based on assumption that have no baring in the real world and as such they fall apart when they are looked at in the light of reason. What shines through most of all is Mr. Hawkins lack of respect for the beliefs of others. What is truly disappointing is that Mr. Hawkins could have made this a great book, one that helped start and foster interfaith dialogs. While the book is a good place to start a better place would be in talking to people of different religions for yourself.

Pagans need to read this book, but the need to read and understand the worldview espoused in it does not make the book either good or well balanced