adjustment to, or a successful control over, the supernatural....
The cultural mind viewed as the product of a long and hazardous
process of accumulation.... Spontaneous generation of superstitions.
Prevalence of symbolism, mana, animism, magic, fetishism, totemism;
the taboo (cf. our modern idea of 'principle'), the sacred, clean
and unclean; 'dream logic'--spontaneous rationalizing or 'jumping at
conclusions';... The 16th book of the Theodosian Code contains
edicts relating to the Church issued by the Roman Emperors during
the 4th and 5th centuries. They make it a crime to disagree with the
Church; they provide harsh penalties for heretical teaching and
writing, and grant privileges to the orthodox clergy (exemptions
from regular taxes and benefit of the clergy).... Christianity
becomes a monopoly defended by the state.... Psychological power and
attraction in the elaborate symbolism and ritual of the church....
Allegory put an end to all literary criticism.... Flourishing of the
miraculous; any unusual or startling occurrence attributed to the
intervention of either God or the Devil.... Older conceptions of
disease as caused by the Devil.... Our legal expression 'act of God'
confined to unforseeable natural disasters. How with a growing
appreciation for natural law and a chastened taste in wonders,
miracles have tended to become a source of intellectual distress and
bewilderment.... Protestants shared with Roman Catholics the horror
of 'rationalists' and 'free-thinkers.' The leaders of both parties
agreed in hampering and denouncing scientific discoveries....
Witchcraft in its modern form emerges clearly in the 15th
century.... Great prevalence of witchcraft during the 16th and 17th
centuries in Protestant and Catholic countries, alike.... Trial of
those suspected of sorcery. Tortures to force confession. The
witches' mark. Penalties, burning alive, strangling, hanging. Tens
of thousands of innocent persons perished.... Those who tried to
discredit witchcraft denounced as 'Sadducees' and atheists.... The
psychology of intolerance. Fear, vested interests, the comfortable
nature of the traditional and the habitual. The painful
appropriation of new ideas.... The intolerance of the Catholic
Church: a natural result of its s