It was previously voiced by the philosopher and critic Celsus (The True Word c. 200 CE) as we know from the rebuttal authored by the Christian apologist/scholar Origen: “It was by magic that he was able to do the miracles” (Contra Celsum 1.6).
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Archaeologist William G. Dever argues (2005) that magic is "precisely what religion is, or at least was, however much that may offend modern sensibilities."
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