Ron Hutton takes on Don Frew

[justben]

Just a quick link here. Partially for my own later reference (as I don't have time to read the entire article at work), and partially because I know a handful of folks on my friends list will appreciate it.

Paganism and Polemic: The Debate over the Origins of Modern Pagan Witchcraft, by Ronald Hutton, in which the author responds directly to a

Comments

[puck]

Make sure to catch the retraction of some of these arguments in Hutton's Witches, Druids, and King Arthur.

[justben]

Good to know. Thanks!

[treecat]

The way he says things here has raised my interest in reading some of his books. I hadn't yet.

Re the possessory argument - perhaps the theurgy they are citing is the wrong place to look. Nestinarki - Anestinari are closer. Though he'll probably argue cuz it's a 'saint' and there's no reports of Wiccans walking on coals.

[elorie]

OK, haven't read the whole thing, but I did read the bit about Murray and the witch trials, and Hutton asserts that NO credible scholars are willing to say that "witchcraft" (meaning what people were being tried and executed for) has anything to do with any kind of pagan religion

[heofmanynames]

Thanks for that link (I'll finish reading it later) - I've been part of this basic conversation many times over the years, and it can always be fun (*can be

Frew weighs in

[anonymous]

It's unfortunate that Hutton's response to my Ethnologies article is widely available on the web, while my original article is not. Anyone who reads the article first and then the response will wonder if Hutton read the same article. Virtually all of his statements representing my views are incorrect, such that he ends up arguing against positions I never espoused. BTW, Hutton now admits that when he wrote in his response that I was wrong about Kelly altering texts in the BAM, HE was wrong. When Hutton wrote that, he had not yet seen the disks in question and just assumed, based on the accuracy of other disks of Kelly's in his possession, that the disks about the BAM would also be accurate. When he finally obtained the disks of Kelly's work on the BAM, he realized that I had been correct in my article and apologized to me. If you would like a copy of my original Ethnologies article, email me at DHF3@aol.com and I will send it along. Thanks.

Re: Frew weighs in

[justben]

Wow, thanks for the response!

Re: Frew weighs in

[anonymous]

Ben, I think you emailed me for the Ethnologies piece, but my spam filter trashed the email. If so, please try again. Thanks, Don

Re: Frew weighs in

[justben]

Sent!