Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live, says the Bible. Or does it?
The English minister, John Webster, in 1677, is convinced that the holy book has been translated wrong. Along with other scholars, he joins the growing number of learned people who take a sceptic view of sorcery and belief in witches. Up through the renaissance, not everybody is convinced of the power of the Devil.
As early as the 1560s, Johan Weyer, a medical man and demonologist, explains the abnormal behaviour of the accused as due to mental illness or hallucinogenic drugs. He recommends medication and religious guidance instead of punishment. However, such sceptics are widely scattered across Europe and have a tough time fighting the beliefs of ordinary people as well as the clergy and judiciary.
Turning the tide is a long, hard slog for these sceptics, and the fight rages on through the 16th, 17th, 18th and even the 19th centuries, before they manage to convince people that the supernatural has a natural explanation – that misfortune and disease is not caused by the Devil, and that cures must be sought through science and medicine, not magic and superstition.