Magika Hiera

This collection challenges the tendency among scholars of ancient Greece to see magical and religious ritual as mutually exclusive and to ignore "magical" practices in Greek religion. The contributors survey specific bodies of archaeological, epigraphical, and papyrological evidence for magical practices in the Greek world, and, in each case, determine whether the traditional dichotomy between magic and religion helps in any way to conceptualize the objective features of the evidence examined. Contributors include Christopher A. Faraone, J.H.M. Strubbe, H.S. Versnel, Roy Kotansky, John Scarborough, Samuel Eitrem, Fritz Graf, John J. Winkler, Hans Dieter Betz, and C.R. Phillips.

Miracle-workers and magicians are diffcult characters for contemporary readers of Greco-Roman narratives to comprehend and to distinguish. Hindered both by our modern definitions of "miracle" and "magic," we need to focus our attention on those ancient texts that deal with such characters and their differentiation. Two such texts, the Acts of the Apostles and Philostratus' Life of Apollonius, come from quite different religious backgrounds, but demonstrate remarkably similar subtle cultural scripts at play. A detailed investigation of the social interactions in these two narrative worlds brings these characters and their communities alive and reveals how legitimate miracle-workers were distinguished from illegitimate magicians by the Mediterranean population of the Greco-Roman world.

"Faith and Freedom in Galatia and Senegal" reads Galatians 2:11-15 and 3:26-29 through the lens of the 19th-20th century experiences of French colonialism by the Diola people in Senegal, West Africa, and portrays the Apostle Paul as a "'sociopostcolonial hermeneut who acted on his self-understanding as God s messenger to create, through faith in the cross of Christ, free communities' -- a self-definition that is critical of ancient Graeco-Roman and modern colonial lore that justify colonization as a divine mandate." Aliou C. Niang ingeniously compares the colonial objectification of his own people by French colonists to the Graeco-Roman colonial objectifications of the ancient Celts/Gauls/Galatians, and Paul's role in bringing about a different portrayal.

In Stations of the Sun and The Triumph of the Moon Ronald Hutton established himself as a leading authority on the historian of Paganism. His wealth of unusual knowledge, complemented by a deep and sympathetic understanding of past and present beliefs that are often dismissed as strange or marginal, and an ability to write lucidly and wittily, gives his work a unique flavour. The essays which make up Witches, Druids and King Arthur cover elegantly and entertainingly a wide range of beliefs, myths and practices.

This is a collection of essays by leading American and European scholars. Its purpose is to remedy the tendency among scholars working in Greek religion to ignore the evidence for what have traditionally been called "magical" practices in ancient Greece. Because this neglect seems to arrive from adherence to a preconceived notion about a clear dichotomy between magical and religious ritual, the editors focus on the relationship between these two areas.

Magic and the Supernatural in Fourth Century Syria presents an in-depth investigation of a variety of ‘magical’ practices with a focused study in the late antique Syria and Palestine. Offering new research using both archaeological and literary sources, and blending Classical, Jewish, and Christian traditions from both regions, Silke Trzcionka examines a myriad of magical activities such as: curses, spells and amulets accusations related to chariot races, love and livelihood methods involved in protection, healing, possession and exorcism. The information is provided with clarity and theoretical sophistication which enables students to develop an understanding of these beliefs and their place within the social context of the time. Altogether, a useful, enlightening and enjoyable book which students studying religion and/or social history will find invaluable.

The letter to the Ephesians is missional to its core. It effectively exhorts its readers to understand, support, and participate in God's mission to rescue humanity and all creation from the damage and distortion of sin, and so bring about a renewed creation filled with God's glorious fullness. Working at the creative intersection of biblical studies and missiology, this study adopts a missional hermeneutic to overcome the scholarly neglect of mission in Ephesians. The book systematically explores each passage in Ephesians, delving into the characterization of God and his mission; allusions to Old Testament missional texts in Ephesians; and the portrayal of the apostle Paul and believers as participants in God's mission. A multi-faceted vision of mission emerges which encompasses God's actions in salvation history; the church as mediator of God's glory, reconciliation and grace to the nations; prayer; ethical witness; and verbal proclamation of the gospel. Reading Ephesians through this missional lens yields fresh insights into its purpose and context, and the richness of its portrait of mission.