The sixteenth century spans the difference between the time of Luther and the time of Shakespeare. It was a period that witnessed a profound shift in the center of gravity of perceptions of evil, from the world of spirits to the world of humanity. The Reformation of the sixteenth century produced a divergence in theology between Protestant and Catholic, a divergence that was narrow at first but widened rapidly, eventually encouraging the growth of the non-Christian and secular views that have come to dominate Western society…. Whereas two radically different world views — those of hermetic magic and material science — were beginning to emerge and challenge the whole traditional Christian system, the Reformation debate focused narrowly on competing views within the old Augustinian-Aristotelian tradition….
Neither the scientific nor the hermetic view of the world had much room for the Devil. Yet Satan, far from being ready to retire, reached his height of power just at the moment when the intellectual structures supporting him were beginning to shake. The theology of Luther and the beginning of the witch craze both encouraged belief in the Devil. And no one seemed aware that three radically divergent world views — Aristotelian Christianity, hermetic magic, and material science — were in conflict. It was a collision of galaxies, an interpenetration on so vast a scale that an individual scarcely noticed it. The result was an inevitable confusion of terms, one of the worst of which was the confusion of magic and witchcraft….When the magical world view was defeated, partly owing to this unfair connection, science emerged unscathed above the rubble of both Aristotelianism and magic.
The witch craze had roots in the Middle Ages, but its ugly maturity occurred in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. According to Christian theology of that era, witches were people who had formally given themselves to the Devil by making a pact with him: in return for their service, Satan rewarded them with magical powers, which they used for evil purposes. They rendered people impotent or sterile, they blighted crops, they caused diseases, they dried up cattle. In short, any natural disaster could be blamed on them. They formally renounced Christ and worshipped the Devil. They met at night, often flying to their “sabbat” on brooms, fences, or animals or simply levitated through the air. They held incestuous orgies. They kidnapped and sacrificed Christian babies, eating their flesh in parody of holy communion or rendering their fat for use in ointments and poisons.
European History 