Magic in the Biblical World : From the Rod of Aaron to the Ring of Solomon

Klutz, Todd (EDT)

ISBN 10: 0567083624 / ISBN 13: 9780567083623

Published by T&T Clark, 2004

About this Item

Unread book in perfect condition.

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: Magic in the Biblical World : From the Rod of Aaron to the Ring of Solomon
• Publisher: T&T Clark
• Publication Date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0567083624
• ISBN 13: 9780567083623
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: As New

About this title

Synopsis

The category 'magic' , long used to signify an allegedly substantive type of activity distinguishable from 'religion', has nearly been dismantled by recent historical and social-scientific approaches to religious studies. While recognising and at times reinforcing this stance, the essays in this collection show that there is still much to be learned about the cultural context of early Judaism and Christianity by analysing ancient texts which either use 'magic' as a category for purposes of deviance labelling or promote behaviour of a broadly magico-religious variety.

Through sustained engagement with texts ranging from Exod. 7-9 and Acts 8 to the Testament of Solomon and the Late Antique alchemical treatise known as the Cyranides, this volume focuses chiefly on materials that challenge the familiar boundaries between miracle and magic and medicine; yet it also heightens awareness of the way unsuspecting use of a sick sign (e.g. 'magic') can impede critical understanding of texts and their respective contexts of production and reception.

Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement Series, Volume 245.

About the Authors

Todd Klutz is Lecturer in New Testament Studies at the University of Manchester. He is the author of Rewriting the Testament of Solomon: Tradition, Conflict, and Identity in a Late Antique Pseudepigraphon (2005), the editor of Magic in the Biblical World (2003), and the translator of the recently published translation of the Eighth Book of Moses (2013).

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.