How Evil was Faust really?: Early Modern Demonization of Magic as it is Represented in the Spiess-Faustbook
For scientists and thinkers of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, as well as for the common man, Magic was important and the belief in Magic was universal. During medieval times and the Renaissance the term magia or Magic was applied to all occult sciences, which included alchemy, astrology, divination, witchcraft, Cabala, theurgy and necromancy, to name a few. In the 16th century a divide had begun to develop between the sciences of Magic, Alchemy and Astrology, on the one hand, and other sciences including Astronomy, Medicine and Chemistry on the other hand. Magic had begun to fall into disrepute due to the popularization of magical rituals, incantations and spells in numerous books that had been published since Johann Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1456. In several of their writings during this time occult scientists, such as Paracelsus, Agrippa and Trithemius defend Magic as a science and express their concern for the responsible use of one’s knowledge when practicing Magic.
Opposing this effort to defend Magic as a reputable science, Martin Luther was very influential in the effort in the 16th century to demonize magic. Though Trithemius had already written on the historical Faust figure in 1507, Luther and his followers were very likely responsible for turning the historical Faust into a legend many years later. Luther was very much opposed to hermetic magic and viewed it as a futile attempt to attain divine knowledge through a humanistic intellectual approach rather than by relying on God’s grace. Luther linked Magic with witchcraft and explained that a person who practices Magic, was only able to do so with the help of the Devil. During the 16th century, many Lutherans, including Melanchthon, Johannes Gast, Johannes Manlius, and Wolfgang Brütner, followed Luther’s lead and wrote accounts on Faust’s life that supported the Lutheran demonization of Magic.
In this presentation, I will focus on the Faust legend because of its popularity during the 16th century and because of the attention that so many influential scholars on both sides of the argument about Magic paid to Faust. In my discussion of the Faust figure I will focus on how early modern conceptions of evil compare with the representation of Faust in the Spiess Faustbook (1587).
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