Jesper Sørensen (2007) elaborated on the idea of transfer, a concept that was
earlier developed by nineteenth-century scholars of religion, such as in Fra-
zer’s theory of sympathetic magic (Frazer, 1911, pp. 52–219). Sørensen (2007,
pp. 95–139) distinguished two types of magic. In“transformative magical
action,”essential qualities are transferred from elements belonging to one
domain to elements belonging to another domain (e.g., the bread becomes the
body of Christ). In“manipulative magical action,”magical practices change
the state of affairs inside a domain by manipulating elements in another
domain (e.g., sunset is delayed by placing a stone on a tree). Here the relation
between elements is changed, whereas essential qualities remain the same.
With the help of cognitive blending theory (Fauconnier & Turner, 2002),
Sørensen explained how people establish a link between two domains (spaces),
relying on either part-whole structures or conventional and perceptual like-
ness. Whereas the transfer of essential qualities seems to rely on exactly the
same cognitive mechanism as intuitions about moral contagion in the experi-
ments of Nemeroff and Rozin, the magical manipulations that change rela-
tions might present a more complex case. In the example cited above (delaying
sunset), there is no physical contact between the objects manipulated by the
magician and the events that are influenced by the manipulation. There is a
certain parallel between this example and the induction of pain from a
distance by manipulating a voodoo doll (and other similar instances not
mentioned in this chapter) in the Pronin experiment discussed above. As
other religious phenomena, such as widespread beliefs in the“evil eye,”
suggest, the idea of agency acting from a distance provides, besides contagion,
a complementary or alternative intuitive explanatory framework of magic.
The cross-culturally attested intuitions about agency, contagion, and prob-
ably other, hitherto less explored, cognitive mechanisms provide a cognitive
framework that helps people make sense of the “success”of superstitious
behavior. In addition to such intuitive or“naïve”appraisals of magical acts,
religious traditions develop more formalized theories of magical efficacy (that
is, theories of why magic works). In the New Testament, an important point in
case is the power of God as communicated by the Holy Spirit, the name of
Jesus, and other means. In the ancient theory of magic, the mediation of divine
assistance was formalized in the concept of theπάρεδρος. The parhedros
(literally meaning “one that sits nearby”) was afigure of a supernatural
assistant who collaborated with the magician (Graf, 1996, 2002; Graf et al.,
2005, pp. 85–9, 289–90). To acquire a parhedros, one had to undergo specific
initiatory rituals. The parhedros could assume one of four different forms
(Scibilia, 2002; Pachoumi, 2011, 2013): it might be (temporarily) materialized
in human shape; assimilated to a deity, for example “Eros as assistant”;
identified with an object, such as an iron lamella inscribed with Homeric
verses; or represented by a demon. After his initiation, the magician could
mediate between the divine and human realms, but only in so far as the
130 Cognitive Science and the New Testament