Putting Witch Convictions On The Missiological Agenda Summary

This article is about witchcraft and its different varieties of practices in different cultures. This article explains how witchcraft exists and plays an essential part in structural and functional aspects of a society. It also sheds the light on the journey of witchcraft from being profane and wicked to acceptable part of a culture.

What was the Salem Witch Trials? During 1692 and 1693, colonial Massachusetts accused more than 200 people and executed twenty women for practicing witchcraft. Witchcraft at the time was known as the Devil’s magic. Several centuries ago, many religions had a strong belief in the Devil. Among these religions was Christianity. The religions believed that the Devil would give the witches the power to harm others. The witches, in return, would offer the Devil their loyalty. Between the 1300s and the end of the 1600s, more than ten thousand women were executed due to be involved with witchcraft. The Salem Witch Trials occurred when Reverend Samuel Parris’s daughter and niece started to behave strangely. Samuel Parris was Salem’s first ordained minister

Witch-Hunt: Mysteries of the Salem Witch Trials. Marc Aronson. (New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, November 1, 2003. 272.)

In such a field, the lesser agents of misfortune, the witches could flourish” (Ashforth, p. 102). Furthermore, with high unemployment rates and pervasive poverty, jealousy was seen as the principle motivator for the practice of witchcraft. In the same interview, Madumo continues, “It’s also about jobs. It’s the lack of jobs that’s contributed to the high volume of witchcraft. Because if someone is having a job, then his neighbors become jealous and will witch him so as to make him lose that job” (Ashforth, p. 102). Madumo cites these societal circumstances as a sociological causation for the rise of purported witchcraft.

The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a play that shows how the Salem witch trials unfold. As a Puritan society, Salem functions as a theocracy. Unlike today 's United States government in which Church and State are entirely separate entities, a theocracy is essentially the Church acting as the government. Because of the theocratic nature of Salem 's governing body, religion plays a principal role in the lives of every character and has a major effect on the progression of the plot. In The Crucible, theology is used as a tool to accomplish ulterior motives of greed and vengeance, allowing the witch trials to gain momentum. The theocratic governing body in Salem is ultimately responsible for the witch trials due to laws based on religion rather than reason that are enforced by a corrupt criminal justice system.

The large-scale witch-hunts that occurred from 1638 to 1651 gathered momentum via major happenings in the political, societal, and religious domains developing at the time. Individuals who had either political, religious or economic power in society, also known as elites, together had absolute control over the pursuit and prosecution of individuals who partook in witchcraft. The clergy played a crucial role in the witchcraft prosecutions and were slower than the state and localities to desert their beliefs in the reality of witches as the prosecution of witchcraft was, in their eyes, an effective tool to eradicate social deviance. Though local authorities and the Parliament did contribute to the witch-hunts significantly, without the kirk of Scotland declaring and encouraging this sanction on witchcraft, both other parties would not have taken the actions they ultimately did. This essay will provide a brief description of events that took place from 1638 to 1651 and then utilize evidence from a multitude of sources to argue that the religious elites were the most influential of these forces during the witchcraft prosecutions that occurred in the 1640s.

History shows the remarkable things that society has done over the years, it also shows where society failed and mistakes were made. This is the case of the Salem Witch Trials. The people of Salem experienced an event that would change them and the course of this country forever. The mass hysteria and rampant paranoia that swept New England in 1692, is what turned neighbor against neighbor. The Salem villagers would accuse one another of casting spells, consorting with the devil, and being witches, all of which was a punishable crime in the 17th century. ("Search")

    Have you ever been intimidated by fear? Fear is in our everyday lives. We tend to let fear control us and how we live our lives. For example, The Salem Witch Trials, which caused over hundreds of people to lose their lives just because they were accused of being witches, along with the Nazi Party and Hitler, who had control over millions of people and killed thousands because they were jewish.

The Salem witch trails were in an age of superstition. There were great tensions with the fact that some individuals were changing religions, or they were leaving to gain different religious opinions. Although the Massachusetts colony was under a lot of stress and tension that did not give them the right to hang or burn individuals because they were witches. Now, some of the members of this colony that participated in the Salem witch trial might have had a psychological and issues, but that still did not give them the right to hang innocent people.

Historians called this period the dark time when men and women hunted for witches known as the Salem Witch trials. European descents brought them the belief in witches and the devil. These beliefs that they believed in so much were from the teaching of the catholic church. During the seventeenth century, people were executed for being believed they were witches and followers of Satan. Most of these executions were performed in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. Mainly all of the accused victims were women, many historians believe that the charges of witchcraft were a way to control the women who threatened to take the power away from the men. During the Salem Witch trials how did the outbreak of the trials start and did religious beliefs of the European descents affect the relations of the Salem witch trials?

In the start of something new, the Salem witch Trials brought distress and panic to the town of Salem,

Imagine the Wicked Witch of the West flying on her broomstick about 2,000 feet above your head. She is starting to fly down and is about to crash into you. She’s wearing all black with a black hat that looks as tall as The Empire State Building. She’s now staring at you with her extremely ugly, green face and making scary cackling noises that are worthy of nightmares for weeks. She’s screaming to the top of her lungs “I’ll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too!”.

One of the biggest events to ever shake the small town of Salem, Massachusetts took place in 1692. During this time many people, both men and women, were being accused of witchcraft, which was very frowned upon and had lethal consequences if the “witch” was caught. Throughout the entire Salem Witch Trials, a total of one hundred and forty one people were accused and arrested for witchcraft. Out of those one hundred and forty one who were arrested, nineteen of them were hanged, and one person was crushed to death. Many researchers have come to

Have you ever been accused before? Ever been someone you shouldn't be? Well there is this crazy thunderstorm at the Salem, Massachusetts about witches. There are witches that been accused and executed in 1692. Some witches were hanged but also one of them got piled up with rocks .

The Salem Witch Trials have gone down in history as a very brutal and cruel time, due to the fact that several innocent people were convicted and murdered because of false accusations. Today we look back on the trials seeing that it has not only affected our mentality, but incredibly so, our government as well.