Ferguson writes that
magic refers to efforts to control supernatural forces for one's own ends by means that rest on some peculiar and secret wisdom. It differs from science in being nonrational; it differs from religion in involving an element of constraint in contrast to religion's attitude, "Thy will be done." One can argue that in origin magic is more nearly akin to science than to religion. Magic and science have in common the view that the same actions, the same "formulas," under the same circumstances will produce the same results.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The boundaries between religion and magic are not sharply marked in the ancient world. Magic was a part of religion, and the two became one in later Neoplatonism. /1/
The root idea in magic was that by employing the proper means the gods or demons could be forced to do something for you. Vital was the belief in the two different planes of visible and supernatural reality and in the possibility of transferring a thing from one to the other. Magic continued ideas from older, primitive strata of religion that were given up elsewhere. /2/
Because of the ambiguity in ancient texts between what was religion and what was magic, the student must take account of the social setting. Accusations of magic were made against persons suspected of unacceptable or unexplained behavior. The factor of social deviance must be considered in description of magic. /3/
1 Ferguson, Backgrounds of Early Christianity, 212.
2 Ibid., 213.
3 Ibid., 212.