he history department introduced a new course for the spring semester of 2014 called “Medieval Magic Then and Now,” taught by Dr. Máire Johnson, a visiting assistant professor at Elizabethtown College.

The content included in the “Medieval Magic Then and Now” course will “explore the ways in which the medieval world understood the concepts of magic and the supernatural,” Johnson said. The course will also continue to examine how and where these understandings of the past exist in modern society.

The course examines how the concept of magic was defined at various times during the Middle Ages. “We also look at a number of practices and activities considered magical, such as late antique curse tablets, Anglo-Saxon elf charms, magic in the Irish sagas, medieval ghost stories and ritual magic from the late Middle Ages,” Johnson said.

“Medieval Magic Then and Now” is a four-credit elective that satisfies requirements for Etown students majoring or minoring in history or for students majoring or minoring in religious studies. There are no prerequisites to enroll in the course because background information is included in the course.

Johnson chose to teach this course as her upper-level seminar class this semester because of the course’s previous popularity among her students. “It allows an avenue of exploration into the Middle Ages that may not have been considered by many students,” Johnson said.

She became interested in the topics of magic and the supernatural through literature and popular culture. Johnson is captivated by the magical aspects of books by J.R.R. Tolkien and “The Chronicles of Narnia” by C.S. Lewis. “I think most folks have that little spark of curiosity that wants to believe something magical is possible,” Johnson said. “There’s something about magic and the supernatural that feeds some element of the human intellect.”

Johnson hopes that students at Etown taking the “Medieval Magic Then and Now” course will have “their intellects piqued by the subject material, and that they’ll come away from it having had fun delving into the medieval roots of modern attitudes toward magic and the supernatural,” she said. If there is enough interest from students currently in the course and from potential students in the future, she hopes to offer this course again during the spring semester in 2015.