#please don't use me as a source I promise my reading comprehension is very inconsistent

[asinglesock]

I would love to see this list of magic vs miracles once you've completed it, if it's short enough to easily post here!

So my magic & miracles in Acts of John writeup is kind of long to post here (and also not my best writing, alas). But I'm using the Anchor Bible Dictionary's articles on magic and miracles as guides for my analysis.

The definition given for magic is this:

a form of communication involving the supernatural world in which an attempt is made to affect the course of present and/or future events by means of ritual actions (especially ones which involve the symbolic imitation of what the practitioner wants to happen), and/or by means of formulaic recitations which describe the desired outcome and/or invoke gods, demons, or the spirits believed to be resident in natural substances.

The article talks about how historically scholars have tended to use the description "magic" for the practices of polytheists (who are usually othered by the texts I'm studying). But there's nothing inherent to this definition that excludes Jewish or Christ-follower characters from participating in actions that could be considered magic. You need 1) a human to commit 2) a ritual with the motivation of 3) obtaining a supernatural figure's intervention. That shows up in so many Bible stories I can't list them all here.

Here's the description for miracle:

“That which causes wonder—the extraordinary—is one essential element in miracle. The other is that the extraordinary phenomenon is inexplicable in terms of familiar, everyday causation and so is ascribed to a superhuman force or agency.”

Similarly to the case of magic, miracles can happen by any supernatural force: gods, angels, demons, etc.

For a miracle, you need 1) a supernatural force 2) to do something that causes wonder or amazement. I see a pretty significant overlap between magic and miracles--in the miracle stories of the apostles, they very much are calling on a supernatural force through ritual in order to intervene in a present or future situation. The same event can involve both magic and miracle.

I'm not 100% confident on this but I think the defining component for magic is the human's actions and intentions (and the supernatural result may or may not happen), while for a miracle the supernatural force is the defining component, and human participation is optional but not necessary (except in being an audience to be amazed).

Sources:

Scurlock, J. , & Kuemmerlin-McLean, J.K. (1992). Magic. In D.N. Freedman (Eds.). The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary: K–N (p. 464). Doubleday: Yale University Press. Retrieved February 5, 2024, from http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9780300261905-347

Zakovitch, Yair , and Harold E. Remus. "Miracle." In The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary: K–N, edited by David Noel Freedman, 847. Doubleday: Yale University Press, 1992. Accessed February 5, 2024. http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9780300261905-647.