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.

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.

A selection of essays on magic and divination in relation to the biblical world, including Mesopotamian demonology, Akkadian literary influences, exorcism, healing, calendars, astrology, bibliomancy, dreams, ritual magic, priestly divination, prophecy, magic in the Christian Apocrypha and the New Testament, magic in rabbinic literature, and Jewish Aramaic magic bowls.

In the religious systems of ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Mediterranean, gods and demigods were neither abstract nor distant, but communicated with mankind through signs and active intervention. Men and women were thus eager to interpret, appeal to, and even control the gods and their agents. In Prayer, Magic, and the Stars in the Ancient and Late Antique World, a distinguished array of scholars explores the many ways in which people in the ancient world sought to gain access to--or, in some cases, to bind or escape from--the divine powers of heaven and earth. Grounded in a variety of disciplines, including Assyriology, Classics, and early Islamic history, the fifteen essays in this volume cover a broad geographic area: Greece, Egypt, Syria-Palestine, Mesopotamia, and Persia. Topics include celestial divination in early Mesopotamia, the civic festivals of classical Athens, and Christian magical papyri from Coptic Egypt. Moving forward to Late Antiquity, we see how Judaism, Christianity, and Islam each incorporated many aspects of ancient Near Eastern and Graeco-Roman religion into their own prayers, rituals, and conceptions. Even if they no longer conceived of the sun, moon, and the stars as eternal or divine, Christians, Jews, and Muslims often continued to study the movements of the heavens as a map on which divine power could be read. The reader already familiar with studies of ancient religion will find in Prayer, Magic, and the Stars both old friends and new faces. Contributors include Gideon Bohak, Nicola Denzey, Jacco Dieleman, Radcliffe Edmonds, Marvin Meyer, Michael G. Morony, Ian Moyer, Francesca Rochberg, Jonathan Z. Smith, Mark S. Smith, Peter Struck, Michael Swartz, and Kasia Szpakowska. Published as part of Penn State's Magic in History series, Prayer, Magic, and the Stars appears at a time of renewed interest in divination and occult practices in the ancient world. It will interest a wide audience in the field of comparative religion as well as students of the ancient world and late antiquity.

Inductive analysis of ancient biblical texts yields shocking conclusions in this controversial, in depth look at the magical practices of such well loved characters as Moses, Abraham, and even Jesus himself.

"Carl Gallups challenges both believers and non-believers to consider the consequences of either accepting or rejecting the countless and timeless truths he presents. Based on biblical, scientific and logical theory, Pastor Gallups provides startling insight into the many, often unanswered questions of evolutionary theory and life's deepest mysteries."--Page 4 of cover.

Our culture today is saturated with magic, witchcraft, witches, celebrations of the dead, casting spells, and much more. Our kids are trapped in a world of movies, books, video games, cartoons, and more. They are at the mercy of this encroaching paganism and few in church leadership ever take the time to explain what it is all about. It is all anti-God and anti-Bible! Even most Christian parents see to be speechless in trying to explain why these things are wrong, and why we don't celebrate Halloween, etc. Well, this book aims to solve all of that. the time has come to spell it out clearly in black and white. No more pussy-footing around! In Magic and the Bible, we tell it like it is. There are 51 full color pages, and each page covers one topic. We discuss things like: Angels * Demons * Satan * The Invisible World * Witches * Zombies * Vampires * Magic * Ghosts * Casting Spells * Witchcraft * Talking to the Dead* Seances* Psychics* Fortune Telling* Ouija Boards* Halloween* Watching movies about Witchcraft * Bible Stories about Magic and Witches What are Christians supposed to do about these things? Great for family discussions or lessons for Sunday School or children's church! It's time to let our kids know the truth and prepare them to confront the culture in which they live with confidence. A beautiful way to let them discover how relevant the Bible is to everyday situations. Dozens of scripture references!

Cultures, for as long as we have had history, have had some sense of magic. This book contends that some of it, at least, is real; it describes what that is, and why the Bible is so negative about it. However, to say 'magic is real' in our contemporary culture could be very misleading. In fact, wrong. For what our culture thinks of as 'magic' - as vague and diffuse as that is - is likely to be very different from what was practised in the Ancient Near East (the things that modern English translations of the Old Testament call, for instance, sorcery or witchcraft) or in the Greco-Roman world (what the New Testament calls magic). It also may be very different from what is called 'magic' or 'witchcraft' in animistic or ancestor-worshipping cultures today. This book unpacks the background and explores the implications of the biblical teaching about the supernatural. There is a supernatural world, and it contains more than just God in Trinity; but Christians should not be afraid of it. Kirsty Birkett is Latimer Research Fellow at Oak Hill College, where she is responsible for Learning Architecture and Educational Development, and teaches Ethics, Philosophy and Church History. Her many publications cover the whole area of relationships between science and religion. She has also written on psychology, feminism and the family for both a popular and academic audience.