Know What You Believe with Michael Horton What Caused Secularization? Yale Historian & Michael Horton on Radical Mystics and the Reformation
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Jan 27, 2026 
Carlos Eire, Yale historian of late medieval and early modern religious history, explores miracles, levitation, and how radical mystics shaped modern thought. They trace Renaissance magic, inquisitorial skepticism, and Reformation debates. The conversation highlights why many today lean spiritual-but-not-religious and how heterodox thinkers seeded modern enchantment.
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Rise Of Well-Documented Miracles
- Levitation and bilocation reports spike in the 16th–17th centuries and often link to intense mystical ecstasy.
- Carlos Eire argues many testimonies come from sworn, detailed canonization inquests that resist easy dismissal as lies.
Teresa And Joseph's Famous Flights
- Teresa of Avila reportedly levitated even while cooking and begged God to stop because of the attention.
- Joseph of Cupertino allegedly flew repeatedly, once over a Lutheran prince who then converted to Catholicism.
Florence's Magical-Neoplatonic Melting Pot
- Renaissance Florence mixed medical, magical, and Neoplatonic thought, with figures like Marsilio Ficino blending natural magic and healing.
- Michael Horton says this blurred line led some magicians to compete with the church for spiritual authority.
