The ideas of what constituted witchcraft, what made someone a witch, evolved over many centuries. Magic and magical operators were ubiquitous in the Graeco-Roman world, but when Christianity became the state religion, Christian theology introduced people to a particular view of Satan, and his evolving role in the eternal scheme of things made a major difference to the way magic was viewed, particularly by the authorities. The Church had to explain why Christian miracles were …showed first 75 words of 980 total…

…showed last 75 words of 980 total…nature of political authority and order. Inevitably, its authors took up particular intellectual positions in relation to these four major topics of early modern thought. Quite simply, their views about witchcraft depended on concepts and arguments drawn from the scientific, historical, religious and political debates of their time’. SOURCES C. Larner, Enemies of God: The Witch-Hunt in Scotland, (Oxford, 1983) P. G. Maxwell-Stuart, Witchcraft: A History, (London, 2000) K. Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, (London, 1971)