This paper is based upon our President's article on Magic in the Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics and on a book by the Archbishop of Upsala, Gudstrons Uppkomst, of which a German translation (with additions by the author) appeared in 1916 (Das Werden des Gottesglaubens).
The position taken in this paper will perhaps come out most clearly if it is contrasted with that maintained by Sir James Frazer in the second edition of his Golden Bough. His position is that magic "has probably everywhere preceded religion," and that the essence or distinguishing mark of religion is that it assumes the course of nature and of human life to be controlled by personal beings superior to man. A proof, or at least an instance and a confirmation of this theory, is supposed to be afforded by the Australian black-fellows, who practice magic and do not seem to believe that personal beings, superior to man, control the course of nature and of human life.
The first thing to notice is that "magic" is an ambiguous term; we, who do not believe in magic, employ the term to designate both proceedings which are intended to injure an individual or a community, and proceedings which are intended to work good. But for those who do believe in magic there is a world of difference between the two sets of proceedings. The one set is condemned by public opinion, the other is approved. To call them both "magic"
