This festschrift in honor of Richard Kieckhefer combines ten essays on topics ranging from the holy to the occult, while happily exploring the many points in between. An introduction by the editor helpfully frames both the purpose of the volume and the debt owed by the contributors and those in related fields of magical and religious studies to Professor Kieckhefer. A panel at the 2019 International Congress on Medieval Studies at Kalamazoo coincided with its release to celebrate both the ideas discussed and Kieckhefer's contributions.
The book is broken into four sections, each containing two or three essays. These sections proceed in a clear direction from discussing holy people to those deemed suspect or downright diabolical in their use of magical arts. Yet as the volume demonstrates, these categories—holy and profane—were subject to contemporary debate, with saints seen as suspect unless or until they could be presented in appealing terms, and with practitioners of magic integrated into more mundane and acceptable social activities and categories.
For those interested in only holy or only occult topics, the material presented, while of good quality, might be too limited for a complete read. Yet for those interested in the intersection and nuances present in both of these areas of study, the range of essays in this volume should provide plenty of food for thought.
