Kind of Magic: Understanding Magic in the New Testament And Its Religious Environment

This collection of articles by distinguished scholars and experts in their particular fields of research is introduced by a chapter dealing with general matters of the current hermeneutics of magic: what is the nature of magic and what is the understanding of magic in the Western world-view and what - for instance - in the African world? Centered around studies on Jesus and magic the second part contains studies on the use of the term "magic" in the New Testament and especially in Acts. The third section broadens the understanding of magic through selected case studies in different approaches to magic in the environment and background of the New Testament (Old Testament, Qumran, Apuleius, Women as Magicians). Early Christianity subsequent to the New Testament develops its own view of magic, criticizing pagan magic but not being uninfluenced by magic or magic-like practices. This development is part of the fourth and last chapter of the collection along with two different papers on the possible use of Jewish and Christian themes in later magical texts. The collection explores the importance of magic within Early Christianity, an issue shared with its Old Testament and Jewish roots and with its ancient background, implying reluctance and critique. Both magical traits and the critique of non-Christian magic have an impact on later scripture and still exert influence now on modern theoretical discussion and popular ideas.

Michael Labahn is Wissenchaftlicher Assistant for New Testament at Martin-Luther University, Halle-Wittenberg, Germany.

Dr. Michael Labahn is Wissenschaftlicher Assistant for New Testament at Martin-Luther University, Halle-Wittenberg, Germany.

Chris Keith is Research Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society, Norway. He is the author of The Pericope Adulterae, the Gospel of John and the Literacy of Jesus, a winner of the 2010 John Templeton Award for Theological Promise, and Jesus' Literacy: Scribal Culture and the Teacher from Galilee. He is also the co-editor of Jesus among Friends and Enemies: A Historical and Literary Introduction to Jesus in the Gospels, and was recently named a 2012 Society of Biblical Literature Regional Scholar.

Bert Jan Lietaert Peerbolte holds the chair in NT Studies at the Vrije Universiteit, Netherlands. He has published extensively on apocalyptic ideas in early Christianity as well as on Paul, and is one of the three General Editors (with David H. Hunter and Paul J.J. van Geest) of the Brill Encyclopedia of Early Christianity (2024).