Why secret magical names of God and Jesus actually bother me

Описание: I am bothered by the idea, popular on the internet generally, that God has "magical names" or secret name pronunciations that one can invoke in prayer or to get things. But why? There are some obvious reasons, but then some deeper problems lurk beneath the surface. I ruminate. With reference to a new article in the Journal of Biblical Literature involving "The Watchers" and magical knowledge in 1 Enoch as a context for 1 Timothy 4:1!

Holly Beers, NT professor at Westmont: https://www.westmont.edu/people/holly...

Holly Beers in JBL (December 2025), The “Teachings of Demons” as “Magical” Practices in 1 Timothy 4:1: https://scholarlypublishingcollective...

Excerpt on defining "magic" in Beers's article cited above (from p. 766, footnotes and references excluded): "The term magic is elusive and difficult to define, especially if by defining it we assume a universal phenomenon with clear boundaries.Some have argued that magic obtains results through coercion and is thus in opposition to religion, though one may ask what “coercion” entails. Others have seen magic as marginal and religion as mainstream, though a broader global awareness has led many to categorize this distinction as unhelpful, especially since such a binary 'did not exist in antiquity except among a few intellectuals.' Some have focused on the social implications, seeing magic as a label used to identify deviants, but some magical texts apply the word to their own approved and internal magical practice. In other words, the term magic can be both an etic and an emic term. Others have seen these problems and refused to use the term altogether, though that often carries its own difficulties, especially if the pretense is academic neutrality."

Another look at the term "magic" by a major scholar: David Frankfurter, "Magic and the Forces of Materiality" (2019): https://classics.osu.edu/sites/defaul...

Luke 18, Parable of the Unjust Judge // Persistent Widow: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/...

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