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

Description

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 Exodus 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 sign such as "magic" can impede critical understanding of texts and their respective contexts of production and reception.

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).

"...K. can realign the manuscript traditions of the Testament for a more coherent reading." -The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 67, 2005 "Interesting and engaging...richly suggestive in subject matter....the breadth of the anthology is impressive. Klutz's introductory essay provided a very good overview of the issues surrounding magic in academic studies of religion and society." - The Bible and Critical Theory, Vol. 1 No. 3, 2005