The event was a resounding success, with more than 300 people joining in both virtually and in-person to celebrate the rich legacy of Religion and the Decline of Magic.

While some early reviewers critiqued the book for making use of “ out of date ” anthropological approaches, Thomas’s book has since been heralded as a landmark of socio-historical research and has become a classic point of reference for scholars and students of early modern religion and culture. Originally published in 1971, Religion and the Decline of Magic offers an incredibly vast and detailed overview of the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century English supernatural. A ttend ee s were able to live react to the celebration s using the Twitter hashtag #SirKeithFest. The event was held in the Old Library of All Souls College, University of Oxford, and was also livestreamed via Microsoft Teams.

In recognition of this momentous milestone, the Past & Present Society generously supported “50 Years of Keith Thomas’s Religion and the Decline of Magic ,” an event jointly organized by Michelle Pfeffer, Jan Machielsen, and Robin Briggs. This year marks the 50 th anniversary of the publication of Sir Keith Thomas’s Religion and the Decline of Magic.

Keith thomas decline of magic