Ancient Christian Magic

Ancient Christian Magic PDF Author: Marvin W. Meyer
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 9780691004587
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 430

Get Book Here

Book Description
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.

Ancient Christian Magic

Ancient Christian Magic PDF Author: Marvin W. Meyer
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 9780691004587
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 430

Get Book Here

Book Description
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.

Coptic Apocrypha in the Dialect of Upper Egypt

Coptic Apocrypha in the Dialect of Upper Egypt PDF Author: Sir Ernest Alfred Wallis Budge
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Apocryphal books (New Testament)
Languages : en
Pages : 600

Get Book Here

Book Description


Coptic and Greek Texts of the Christian Period from Ostraka, Stelae, Etc. in the British Museum

Coptic and Greek Texts of the Christian Period from Ostraka, Stelae, Etc. in the British Museum PDF Author: British Museum. Department of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Christian antiquities
Languages : en
Pages : 414

Get Book Here

Book Description


Coptic in 20 Lessons

Coptic in 20 Lessons PDF Author: Bentley Layton
Publisher: Peeters Publishers
ISBN: 9789042918108
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 220

Get Book Here

Book Description
Coptic in 20 Lessons is written by the author of the most authoritative reference grammar of the Coptic language, and is based on decades of pedagogical experience. In easy steps and simple explanations, it teaches the patterns and syntax of Sahidic Coptic, along with the most useful vocabulary. Drills, compositions, and translation exercises enable the student to gain fluency. All words that occur more than fifty times in the Sahidic New Testament are introduced lesson by lesson in vocabulary lists, which are arranged by semantic field and accompanied by both Greek equivalents and English glosses. The book concludes with three chapters of the Gospel of Mark, in which all new vocabulary is glossed in footnotes. Coptic in 20 Lessons is the ideal resource for use in the classroom or for teaching oneself Coptic. Critical acclaim for this book: Coptic in 20 Lessons is the up-to-date teaching grammar that Coptic studies has long needed. ... There is no better way to learn Coptic. David Brakke, Indiana University Layton brings to this book a life-long experience of teaching, combined with the authority of his masterly Coptic Grammar, arguably the best grammar of Sahidic Coptic ever written, from which the present work is distilled... A state-of-the-art account. Ariel Shisha-Halevy, Hebrew University

Coptic Gnostic chrestomathy

Coptic Gnostic chrestomathy PDF Author: Bentley Layton
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 242

Get Book Here

Book Description
Layton's Coptic Gnostic Chrestomathy is an essential tool for scholars and students of the Gnostic corpus. This useful and accurate text edition contains a large, representative selection of works in Coptic, ranging from Sethian Gnostic classics such as the Apocryphon of John to Valentinian works like the Gospel of Truth and Gospel of Philip to the Mesopotamian Gospel of Thomas the Contender, all but one from the Nag Hammadi manuscript hoard. Laid out in a readable literary format, the Coptic text is discreetly analyzed into its component morphs, clarifying the grammatical structure at every point. Greek words are annotated in footnotes, and esoteric Gnostic vocabulary in Egyptian Coptic is covered in a separate glossary. A brief introduction to each work points to information on problems of dialect, grammar, manuscript, and scholarly bibliography. Prepared by a leading expert on Gnosticism and the Coptic language, this is the ideal Gnostic text collection, in a single volume, for the use of scholars of religion, Egyptologists, Coptologists, teachers, and students. Contents (in Coptic): Apocryphon of John, Apocalypse of Adam, Hypostasis of the Archons, Thunder-Perfect Mind, Trimorphic Protennoia, Gospel of the Egyptians, Zostrianos, Allogenes, Three Steles of Seth, Gospel of Truth, Prayer of the Apostle Paul, Treatise on Resurrection, Gospel of Philip, Gospel of Thomas, Book of Thomas the Contender. Corresponding English translations of all these works can be found in Bentley Layton, The Gnostic Scriptures.

Texts and Studies

Texts and Studies PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Bible
Languages : en
Pages : 966

Get Book Here

Book Description


Pistis Sophia

Pistis Sophia PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781892139030
Category : Gnosticism
Languages : en
Pages : 907

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Coptic Gnostic narrative theme which attempts to explain the dilemma of humanity's predicament as a realm of intelligence amidst many realms of Life, both visible and invisible. It also emphasizes the role of female disciples in the ministry of Jesus the Christ.The later chapters contain much information concerning the soul and its origin: exploring how the soul comes to birth through the Virgin of Light and departs from earth-life. The text also explains how the soul works within the Light-power and the spiritual elements in humanity, all being connected with the striving's of Wisdom/Sophia.

Recording Village Life

Recording Village Life PDF Author: Jennifer Cromwell
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
ISBN: 0472123114
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 321

Get Book Here

Book Description
Recording Village Life presents a close study of over 140 Coptic texts written between 724–756 CE by a single scribe, Aristophanes son of Johannes, of the village Djeme in western Thebes. These texts, which focus primarily on taxation and property concerns, yield a wealth of knowledge about social and economic changes happening at both the community and country-wide levels during the early years of Islamic rule in Egypt. Additionally, they offer a fascinating picture of the scribe’s role within this world, illuminating both the practical aspects of his work and the social and professional connections with clients for whom he wrote legal documents. Papyrological analysis of Aristophanes’ documents, within the context of the textual record of the village, shows a new and divergent scribal practice that reflects broader trends among his contemporaries: Aristophanes was part of a larger, national system of administrative changes, enacted by the country’s Arab rulers in order to better control administrative practices and fiscal policies within the country. Yet Aristophanes’ dossier shows him not just as an administrator, revealing details about his life, his role in the community, and the elite networks within which he operated. This unique perspective provides new insights into both the micro-history of an individual’s experience of eighth-century Theban village life, and its reflection in the macro social, economic, and political trends in Egypt at this time. This book will prove valuable to scholars of late antique studies, papyrology, philology, early Islamic history, social and economic history, and Egyptology.

A Guide to Early Jewish Texts and Traditions in Christian Transmission

A Guide to Early Jewish Texts and Traditions in Christian Transmission PDF Author: Alexander Kulik
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0190863072
Category : Bibles
Languages : en
Pages : 559

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Jewish culture of the Hellenistic and early Roman periods established a basis for all monotheistic religions, but its main sources have been preserved to a great degree through Christian transmission. This Guide is devoted to problems of preservation, reception, and transformation of Jewish texts and traditions of the Second Temple period in the many Christian milieus from the ancient world to the late medieval era. It approaches this corpus not as an artificial collection of reconstructed texts--a body of hypothetical originals--but rather from the perspective of the preserved materials, examined in their religious, social, and political contexts. It also considers the other, non-Christian, channels of the survival of early Jewish materials, including Rabbinic, Gnostic, Manichaean, and Islamic. This unique project brings together scholars from many different fields in order to map the trajectories of early Jewish texts and traditions among diverse later cultures. It also provides a comprehensive and comparative introduction to this new field of study while bridging the gap between scholars of early Judaism and of medieval Christianity.

Coptic

Coptic PDF Author: James P. Allen
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 1646020863
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 141

Get Book Here

Book Description
Coptic is the final stage of the ancient Egyptian language, written in an alphabet derived primarily from Greek instead of hieroglyphs. It borrows some vocabulary from ancient Greek, and it was used primarily for writing Christian scriptures and treatises. There is no uniform Coptic language, but rather six major dialects. Unlike previous grammars that focus on just two of the Coptic dialects, this volume, written by senior Egyptologist James P. Allen, describes the grammar of the language in each of the six major dialects. It also includes exercises with an answer key, a chrestomathy, and an accompanying dictionary, making it suitable for teaching or self-guided learning as well as general reference.