theurgy
Americannoun
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a system of beneficent magic practiced by the Egyptian Platonists and others.
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the working of a divine or supernatural agency in human affairs.
noun
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the intervention of a divine or supernatural agency in the affairs of man
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the working of miracles by such intervention
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beneficent magic as taught and performed by Egyptian Neoplatonists and others
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of theurgy
1560–70; < Late Latin theūrgia < Greek theourgeía magic. See the-, -urgy
Explanation
Theurgy is when gods intervene in the lives of people. If you believe that an actual miracle allowed your favorite football team to win an important game, you can call it an act of theurgy. One kind of theurgy is accepted and seen as true in many Christian churches — it's God getting directly involved in our affairs, through miracles or divine intervention. Other kinds of theurgy involve magic, as in casting spells and doing magical rituals. The word comes from the Greek theourgia, "sorcery," which in turn is rooted in theos, or "god."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
After this again, the Neo-Platonists joined theurgy with philosophy, which ultimately degenerated into magic and mere mysticism.
From Specimens of the Table Talk of Samuel Taylor Coleridge by Coleridge, Henry Nelson
In the days when theurgy was still an honourable profession, Apollonius of Tyana said "Knowing what people say is nothing; I know what people don't say."
From King Lear's Wife; The Crier by Night; The Riding to Lithend; Midsummer-Eve; Laodice and Dana? by Bottomley, Gordon
The arts of theurgy were employed to wean the mind from sensuous knowledge, and to fix aspiration on unseen realities.
From Monophysitism Past and Present A Study in Christology by Luce, A. A. (Arthur Aston)
If the thaumaturgus had effaced in Jesus the moralist and the religious reformer, there would have proceeded from him a school of theurgy, and not Christianity.
From The Life of Jesus by Renan, Ernest
The school of Alexandria was a noble school, but, nevertheless, it gave itself up to the practices of an extravagant theurgy.
From The Life of Jesus by Renan, Ernest
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
