The Metamorphosis of Magic from Late Antiquity to the Early Modern PeriodJan N. Bremmer, Jan R. Veenstra Peeters Publishers, 2002 - 317 pages Deities, demons, and angels became important protagonists in the magic of the Late Antique world, and were also the main reasons for the condemnation of magic in the Christian era. Supplicatory incantations, rituals of coercion, enticing suffumigations, magical prayers and mystical songs drew spiritual powers to the humain domain. Next to the magician's desire to regulate fate and fortune, it was the communion with the spirit world that gave magic the potential to purify and even deify its practitioners. The sense of elation and the awareness of a metaphysical order caused magic to merge with philosophy (notably Neoplatonism). The heritage of Late Antique theurgy would be passed on to the Arab world, and together with classical science and learning would take root again in the Latin West in the High Middle Ages. The metamorphosis of magic laid out in this book is the transformation of ritual into occult philosophy against the background of cultural changes in Judaism, Graeco-Roman religion and Christianity. This volume, the first in the new series Groningen Studies in Cultural Change, offers the papers presented at the workshop The Metamorphosis of Magic from Late Antiquity to the Early Modern Period held from 22 to 24 June 2000, and organised by Jan N. Bremmer and Jan R. Veenstra. The papers have been written by scholars from such varying disciplines as classics, theology, philosophy, cultural history, and law. Their contributions shed new light upon several old obscurities; they show magic to be a significant area of culture, and they advance the case for viewing transformations in the lore and practice of magic as a barometer with which to measure cultural change. |
Table des matières
Preface and Acknowledgements | vii |
Contributors | xv |
Magic in the Dead Sea Scrolls | 9 |
The Testament of Solomon from Late Antiquity to the Renaissance | 36 |
Magic in the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles | 51 |
The Figure | 71 |
Augustine and Magic | 87 |
Magic and Byzantine Law in the Seventh Century | 105 |
Magic in English ThirteenthCentury Miracle Collections | 117 |
Cultural Change | 133 |
Angels and the Intellectual Aims of Magic | 189 |
Sources and Structures of | 231 |
Magic and Religion | 267 |
307 | |
Expressions et termes fréquents
AAlatin Acta Sanctorum Acta Sanctorum Octobris ancient angels Apollonius apostle Apuleius Aramaic attested Augustine Babylonians biblical bishop Bonner bottles Bremmer Byzantine Byzantine law canon canonisation Cantilupe Christian condemnation of magic daimon Dead Sea Scrolls demons destroy the Temple DSSSE Duling edition Enoch evil example exorcism exorcism and divination exorcist Frag García Martínez Graf Greek Magical Papyri heal human hymns incantations Jewish King Koine Greek Late Antiquity light and darkness Lucian mageia Magi magical practices magical rings magical texts magician magoi magos manuscript Martínez and Tigchelaar McCown mentioned miracles narrator pagan parhedros perform perhaps Persian Peter Preisendanz priest Qumran Qumran community resurrection rites ritual Roman Salomo Seal of Solomon Simon Magus Sons of Light sorcerer spells spirit story supernatural taught the signs Testament of Solomon theurgy Thomas Cantilupe tion tolerated but actively tradition translation TSol types of magic women zodiacal sign