Hunting Magic Eels: Recovering an Enchanted Faith in a Skeptical Age

Five hundred years ago, Richard Beck argues, the world was enchanted. He writes in the opening chapter of his book, Hunting Magic Eels, that before the Protestant Reformation and the beginning of the Enlightenment, “God existed, and the devil was real. The world teemed with angels and demons. There were magical creatures and dark, occult forces. It was a world of holy wells and magic eels.” Slowly, in the centuries since, the world has become secular, skeptical, and scientific.

Richard Beck does not wish to return to the medieval ages as a cure for our modern ills. The technological advancements that have resulted from the scientific method have changed the world for the better in many ways. However, the point that Beck makes is that God is still present, but we’ve lost our ability to perceive God’s presence and glory through the world all around us. Slowly, we’ve grown skeptical, doubtful, and disenchanted. We demand facts, data, and evidence of truth claims and feel most secure when a scientist shows up to tell us what is real or not.

A professor of psychology at Abilene Christian University in Texas, Beck often finds himself wondering, “Why is everyone feeling so anxious, unsettled, and fragile in this skeptical age?” In our postmodern, secular, and technological society, the perceived absence of God results in a void that Beck calls “the Ache.” With God removed, this persistent ache creates a crisis of meaning that manifests as anxiety, depression, addiction, boredom, and loneliness.

The good news is that many of us are becoming skeptical of our skepticism and doubtful of our doubts. We are becoming “disillusioned with a world devoid of mystery, magic, and enchantment.” In fact, a profound dissatisfaction with a flattened and reductionistic understanding of the world is the first step toward discovering a renewed sense of wonder as we perceive God’s holiness shimmering through the created order.

In the first half of his book, Richard Beck peels back the layers and diagnoses the problem in contemporary language that is easily accessible. In the second half of the book, Beck explores Enchanted Christianities—four different expressions of the Christian faith that lend themselves to a broader, deeper, and more vivid vision of the world. The book is worth reading to learn why Beck thinks these traditions are worth pointing to as models of a way forward.

Always aware of “enchantment” taking the shape of new-age spirituality or a privatized smorgasbord of preferences, Beck reminds us that, “God’s love is our North Star. The cross is always our compass. Sacrificial love, even for our enemies, is the shape of enchantment when it is Christ who is speaking to us.” (Broadleaf Books)