Miracle and Magic: A Study in the Act of the Apostles and the Life of Apollonius of Tyana

by Andy Reimer

Overview

Miracle-workers and magicians are diffcult characters for contemporary readers of Greco-Roman narratives to comprehend and to distinguish. Hindered both by our modern definitions of "miracle" and "magic," we need to focus our attention on those ancient texts that deal with such characters and their differentiation. Two such texts, the Acts of the Apostles and Philostratus' Life of Apollonius, come from quite different religious backgrounds, but demonstrate remarkably similar subtle cultural scripts at play. A detailed investigation of the social interactions in these two narrative worlds brings these characters and their communities alive and reveals how legitimate miracle-workers were distinguished from illegitimate magicians by the Mediterranean population of the Greco-Roman world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780826462107
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	03/01/2003
Series:	The Library of New Testament Studies , #235
Pages:	298
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.69(d)

About the Author

Andy Reimer is Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies at the Canadian Bible College, Saskatchewan.