The Witch of Endor in History and Folklore

Owen Davies

doi:10.1080/0015587X.2022.2152252

The Witch of Endor in History and Folklore

Owen Davies

School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Education

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Abstract

The Old Testament account in 1 Samuel 28 of how the Woman or Witch of Endor apparently raised the spirit of the prophet Samuel has been a matter of much theological debate for many centuries. Hundreds of scholarly articles have also been written about it with regard to its significance in Biblical exegesis from late antiquity to the early modern period. Yet very little research has been done on the religious and cultural significance of the Endor story in the age of the folklorist. This lecture explores the influence of sermons and literary culture on folk beliefs, examines the theories of early folklorists and anthropologists regarding the Endor story, and charts the emergence of a positive view of the ‘Witch’.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1-22
Number of pages	22
Journal	Folklore
Volume	134
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/0015587X.2022.2152252
Publication status	Published - 23 Feb 2023

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10.1080/0015587X.2022.2152252Licence: CC BY-NC-ND

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© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Final published version, 3.11 MBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

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The Witch of Endor in History and Folklore

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