This thought-provoking collection of magical texts from ancient Egypt shows the exotic rituals, esoteric healing practices, and incantatory and supernatural dimensions that flowered in early Christianity. These remarkable Christian magical texts include curses, spells of protection from "headless powers" and evil spirits, spells invoking thunderous powers, descriptions of fire baptism, and even recipes from a magical "cookbook." Virtually all the texts are by Coptic Christians, and they date from about the 1st-12th centuries of the common era, with the majority from late antiquity. By placing these rarely seen texts in historical context and discussing their significance, the authors explore the place of healing, prayer, miracles, and magic in the early Christian experience, and expand our understanding of Christianity and Gnosticism as a vital folk religion.

The Prayers of the Hours, known in the Coptic language as the Agpeya, are popular prayers used by the vast majority of the Christians of Egypt, the Copts. The Agpeya is in fact, Bible-centered prayers, composed for the most part of a selection of psalms from the Old Testament, and gospel readings from the New Testament, with some added hymns of praise and other prayers. The Agpeya prayers are usually recited by both individuals and families for prayers at home, as well as for communal prayers at Church as introductory prayers recited prior to Mass. The present book presents the "Bohairic-Coptic" text of the Agpeya. It is written according to the rites of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, Egypt, and follows the prayers and order of the contemporary Agpeya. It is presented in "Coptic-only" using the same text format used by contemporary liturgical books of the Coptic Orthodox Church. The text has been compiled from different sources, each of which based on extant and documented primary sources. It was further reviewed against a primary source, a 19th century Coptic-Arabic Agpeya manuscript hand-written by Pope Cyril V(1874-1920), one the eminent Fathers of the Coptic Orthodox Church, and a recognized authority of a high stature.

The definitive Coptic dictionary Crum's work is the result of more than thirty years of research and collaboration with numerous scholars. Originally published in 1939, it immediately became, and has remained, the definitive dictionary of the Coptic language. Each word is given with variant word-forms, its context in English summary, the original or equivalent words in Greek, and illustration of its use. Indexes of English, Greek, and Arabic words are also provided. The new Foreword by James M. Robinson provides the reader with an up-to-date summary of the current state of Coptic studies.

This volume publishes a new Coptic handbook of ritual power, comprising a complete 20 page parchment codex from the second half of the first millennium AD. It consists of an invocation including both Christian and Gnostic elements, ritual instructions, and a list of twenty-seven spells to cure demonic possession, various ailments, the effects of magic, or to bring success in love and business. The codex is not only a substantial new addition to the corpus of magical texts from Egypt, but, in its opening invocation, also provides new evidence for Sethian Gnostic thought in Coptic texts. A Coptic Handbook of Ritual Power is the first volume in the series The Macquarie Papyri, which will publish the papyri in the collection of the Museum of Ancient Cultures, Macquarie University (Sydney, Australia).

Documents and the History of the Early Islamic World presents new Greek, Arabic and Coptic material from the seventh to the fifteenth centuries C.E. from Egypt and Palestine and explores its rich potential for historical analysis.

A pioneering study of ancient and medieval Christology. Employing a range of interdisciplinary methods, Stephen J. Davis shows how Christian identity in Egypt was shaped by a set of replicable 'christological practices'. He thus enables readers to trace the Coptic church's theological and cultural transition from late antiquity to Dar al-Islam.

A reference tool for students of the classical dialect of Sahidic which was used in literary texts between the 4th and 8th centuries and was the standard language for orthodox ecclesiastical and monastic Christianity. Layton avoids all jargon and non-standard legal, scientific or magical texts, in order to provide a carefully explained grammar that is easy to use.

This volume is a Festschrift in honour of Francisca Hoogendijk, containing fifty-six editions and re-editions of (Abnormal) Hieratic, Demotic, Greek, Latin and Coptic papyri and ostraca, dating from the twelfth century BCE until the eighth century CE.