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World of the Spirits: A Christian Perspective on Traditional and Folk ReligionsOut of darknessWORLD OF THE SPIRITS This is a revised version of the author's book Unearthly Powers (1988). He is Director of Studies at All Nations Christian College, Ware, Herts. His present aims are to build respect for all societies, to assess their beliefs in the light of the Christian faith without being judgmental, and to show how folk religion is evolving in a dynamic world. As an experienced missionary and anthropologist, Dr. Burnett is able to introduce clearly to the trainee missionary and to the general reader the complexity of belief and practice outside the major religions in traditional societies. Using familiar categories like 'Gods and Spirits' and 'Ghosts and ancestors', he also reviews the attempts by anthropologists to analyse the meaning of such practices as taboo, sorcery and divination. Later in the book, Dr. Burnett charts the transformation of primal religion under the pressure of the modern world - especially through conversion, syncretism, and religions among slaves (like Voodoo). With a good bibliography and notes, the reader is given access to a wealth of old and new anthropological material. Despite the title, the author does not consider Modern Spiritualism, except for a brief reference to Spiritism (Kardecism) in South America. He makes it clear that Scripture condemns attempts to contact the world of the spirits (p.70) but concludes, 'The Bible leaves open the question whether the dead may communicate with the living.' As is common with authors who reluctantly accept that Samuel did return to Saul (I Samuel 28), he suggests the medium was more used to trickery. That seems unwarranted. In this incident, which was already dividing rabbis and church fathers 1,500 years ago, the woman is sympathetically portrayed. Reread how she cared for the doomed king, even killing the fatted calf. Dr. Burnett notes the popularity of Shamanism among New Agers, but does not review the growth of Witchcraft (or Wicca) as a rapidly growing folk religion lately invented in England (see Ronald Hutton's 'The Triumph of the Moon', Oxford, 1999). In the section on European witch persecutions (pages 134-5) Dr. Burnett is seriously out-dated in his claim that, 'Following the decree of 1484 the Inquisition spread through many parts of Europe, and it is estimated that some nine million people died in Europe accused of witchcraft.' The figure given in Brian Levack's The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe (2nd ed. Longman, 1995) is 60,000, less than 1% of this. The Inquisition actually restrained witch trials, and Levack estimates only 500 deaths in Italy and Iberia combined. It is doubtful if 'the Reformation saved Britain from the worst of the persecution', for the Scottish Reformers were keen witch hunters and claimed 1,000 lives, compared to 500 in England. If 'the famous Salem witch trials of 1692 are usually regarded as the end of the period of witch-craze in Europe', that overlooks up to 10,000 witch executions in Poland in the early 18th century. Levack has been followed by Robin Briggs's 'Witches and Neighbours; The Social and Cultural Context of European Witchcraft' and Stuart Clark's 'Thinking with Demons - the Idea of Witchcraft in early modern Europe' (1997). These are among the basic texts now. But apart from this brief section, Dr. Burnett's book will assist many to understand folk religion. A poignant case (p.137) is that of a Tanzanian grandmother exiled from her family for (supposedly) killing her grandchild by witchcraft. So said the witchdoctor. The date was 1999. How urgently the light of the gospel is needed! Leslie Price, Wallington© Evangelicals Now - May 2002 |