Privatdozent Dr. Christa Agnes Tuczay (born 1952) is an Austrian ancient Germanist, medievalist and cultural scientist living in Vienna.
From 1971 she studied several subjects at the University of Vienna, including German philology, philosophy, psychology and Finno-Ugrian studies to name a few. With her thesis on the fairy tale motif 'The fiend without a soul' she received her doctorate in Vienna in 1981. Until 2006 she was a collaborator in the project of the Austrian Academy of Sciences 'Motiv-Index der deutschsprachigen weltlichen Erzählliteratur von den Anfängen bis 1400.' She has been a lecturer at the Institute of German Studies in Vienna since 1991 and a visiting professor in Chiang Mai (Thailand), Innsbruck and Klagenfurt since 2008. Her research interests include narrative studies, cultural studies, history of magic, and psychohistory of the Middle Ages, on which she has also written numerous articles and books and participated in international congresses. She has published numerous articles in the Encyclopedia of Fairy Tales and in the anthologies 'Myths of the Middle Ages' by the editors Ulrich Müller and Werner Wunderlich. Since her publication 'Magic and Magicians in the Middle Ages' (2003), she also devoted herself to the special research area of witchcraft research from the perspective of mentalities and cultural studies, which was followed by quite a few more relevant articles in English and German anthologies.
Interview quotes:
"Christian magic differs from the so-called demonic in that in a different form, so to speak, with the supernatural power. This means, that with the Christian magic, or prayer - one asks, while with an incantation one demands something certain. So there you also have a different goal. Sometimes the goals are very similar and the form is a bit different. And you can see that very well in the 'Merseburger Spells' that the way the gods are addressed is always very similar. Therefore, one could simply exchange the names of the gods and put a Christian saint in this place. So the old incantation was handed down and then christianized."
Anufa Ellhorn
Dr. Georgi Mishev