Excerpt from Occult Phenomena in the Light of Theology
The number of books that have in recent years been written on the subject of occultism is very large indeed, and the number of its adherents and of the periodicals concerned with it grows continually; this is a sign that it has become a serious problem, one which disturbs men"s souls like a spiritual epidemic. Professor Feldmann, to whom the writer is obliged for many valuable suggestions, states in his Okkulte Philosophie that a second-hand bookseller in Munich sent him a catalogue of books on occult sciences consisting of four volumes, each of which contained between 600 and 800 titles. A number of firms are engaged in the printing and distribution of publications on the occult both at home and abroad. The causes of this general widespread interest reside first of all in the great hunger for the preternatural which the various philosophical systems are unable to assuage, however high-sounding their names; this epidemic, however is also a violent reaction against the materialism which "holds matter to be the sole reality and the mother of all living things", which assumes no difference between spirit and matter, and refers to man simply as "a digestive tract open at both ends".
The religion of Christ satisfies this hunger; but many have forsaken God, the fountain of living water, and have built unto themselves "cisterns that hold no water" (Jer. 2. 13.). They have no knowledge of the means of salvation, and, although they consider themselves educated, are ignorant of Christian doctrine. They stand in particular fear of the Catholic Church because of her moral code, live like heathens and are ready to accept any superstition that in some slight way promises to lead them beyond the material.
Others seek the occult because of the childish curiosity which the unusual inspires, or because of the astonishing cures which, as they believe, could not be explained if there were not an element of truth in Spiritualism.
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