Defense of the Talents

In Defense of the Talents, St. Helen the Talented argues persuasively that The Talent is a gift from God, not the work of the devil. Christ himself, she maintains, endorsed and sanctified the Talent in his Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25). Many manifestations of the Talent are mentioned by St. Paul as gifts of the Holy Spirit in the first letter to the Corinthians (Ch. 12), and many saints, such as Patrick who spoke to animals and Katherine of Alexandria who produced earthquakes, also demonstrated the Talent. The Talent is itself a gift of the Holy Spirit, and is therefore not evil. For those with the Talent to use their gift is not sin, St. Helen says, so long as they do not use it to sin. Indeed, to refuse to use a gift from God is itself a sin. To drive home her point, St. Helen again refers to the Parable of the Talents: in that story, Christ condemns the worthless servant who does not multiply his talent but hides it in the earth. Magic, therefore, can be used morally and with the blessing of God and the Church, so long as it is used for lawful and moral purposes. 
The Defense of Talents was highly influential in the medieval period (where magic was considered lawful if used for good purposes), and its philosophy and defense of magic influenced De Magorum and the Broad Pearl Code.

Type

Manuscript, Religious

Medium

Vellum / Skin

Authoring Date

c. 1100

Authors

• St. Helen the Talented