Insiders look to Oldridge’s book and a bit of kitchenfire’s book
I think the author, Darren Oldridge, did a good job expressing his points of view. However, he was incapable of persuading his audience the way he justifies the witchcraft executions. For instance, he put an underlying assumption that society must be religious; therefore we must all resist the existence of the demonic power. Well, this is not always the case, and if this assumptions or thoughts were common in medieval ages, it would not convince someone in today's society despite the beliefs they hold. The author used one of the common logical fallacies; appeal to popularity. Just because most people value religion, doesn't mean that they all do. Moreover, he used the either/ or fallacy, this only works in a black-and-white world because the execution of the witches has a moral consideration. Subsequently, we cannot regard the issue or discuss it in this way. The author tried to justify the executions of the witches by religion means instead of just explaining it. He lost me from the very beginning because he was not able to engage me in his ideas.
Darren Oldridge put heresy and Christianity on two different ends and that they cannot co-exist. Witchcraft and heresy were considered a threat as we have gleaned from the book Magic in the Middle Ages earlier in the semester. The number that the textbook, strange history, states is huge and the reason given does not justify such a foolish act even if it was done by the government. "3,000 people were executed for heresy between 1520 and 1565" (Oldridge 151.) This is about how many people were killed in 9/11 attack. Do we believe that there might be any reasons to justify the murder of those innocent people? The question is for your conscience.
In the 16th century a new form of magic has arose; it was a new idea of witchcraft that flourished which was the practice of harmful magic- maleficium. Whishes would use sorcery to harm people for personal... [continues]
I think the author, Darren Oldridge, did a good job expressing his points of view. However, he was incapable of persuading his audience the way he justifies the witchcraft executions. For instance, he put an underlying assumption that society must be religious; therefore we must all resist the existence of the demonic power. Well, this is not always the case, and if this assumptions or thoughts were common in medieval ages, it would not convince someone in today's society despite the beliefs they hold. The author used one of the common logical fallacies; appeal to popularity. Just because most people value religion, doesn't mean that they all do. Moreover, he used the either/ or fallacy, this only works in a black-and-white world because the execution of the witches has a moral consideration. Subsequently, we cannot regard the issue or discuss it in this way. The author tried to justify the executions of the witches by religion means instead of just explaining it. He lost me from the very beginning because he was not able to engage me in his ideas.
Darren Oldridge put heresy and Christianity on two different ends and that they cannot co-exist. Witchcraft and heresy were considered a threat as we have gleaned from the book Magic in the Middle Ages earlier in the semester. The number that the textbook, strange history, states is huge and the reason given does not justify such a foolish act even if it was done by the government. "3,000 people were executed for heresy between 1520 and 1565" (Oldridge 151.) This is about how many people were killed in 9/11 attack. Do we believe that there might be any reasons to justify the murder of those innocent people? The question is for your conscience.
In the 16th century a new form of magic has arose; it was a new idea of witchcraft that flourished which was the practice of harmful magic- maleficium. Whishes would use sorcery to harm people for personal... [continues]
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