Amulets and Inscribed Religious Object
Peter Arzt Grabner / Kristin De Troyer, "Introduction: Amulets and Inscribed Religious Objects," 3-4
Peter Arzt-Grabner / Kristin De Troyer, "Ancient Jewish and Christian Amulets and How Magical They Are," 5-46
In this contribution, critical questions are asked regarding the production of some ancient amulets and their use as magical objects. Why, however, are some papyri and parchments labelled amulets? What are the criteria used by scholars to identify an amulet as “magical”? And what precisely is an amulet and what makes it magical? Amulets considered are, i.a., P.Oxy. 76.5073, P.Oxy. 8.1077, the Kettef Hinnom silver scrolls.
Thomas J. Kraus, "Greek Psalm 90 (Hebrew Psalm 91) – the Most Widely Attested Text of the Bible," 47-63
The study provides a brief survey of the manifold and varied attestation of Greek Ps 90 by archaeological objects so that it turns out to be the most popular and widespread Biblical text. Objects are organized in certain categories according to material features and their use. In addition, a too careless application of terms like ‘amulet’, ‘magic’, and ‘syncretism’ is challenged and an appeal to scholars to take into account every material, textual, iconographic, symbolic and whatsoever piece of information when dealing with an individual object.
Frank Shaw, "The Transition of Ιαω from Non-mystical to Mystical Use and Its Implications for Scholarship," 65-87
The accurate dating of the use of Ιαω in mystical sources calls into question various academic presuppositions regarding this name. Data indicate that the name in magical media began later than has been previously supposed. The implications of this finding for scholarship include more careful conclusions regarding the use of Ιαω temporally and contextually, and a revamping of criteria used by those specializing in magical media.
Nils H. Korsvoll, "Bible Bible Everywhere? Reviewing the Distribution of Biblical Quotes in Ancient Amulets," 89-110
Biblical quotations are commonly considered a hallmark of Jewish and Christian amulets in Late Antiquity. In this article, however, I summarise the indices of several publications to show that while biblical quotations are certainly present, they cluster together in some of the amulets (approx. 25%) rather than being spread evenly across the corpus. In the end I discuss if this means that different amulets within the corpora belonged to different contexts.
James C. Henriques, "Paul’s Magical Mystery Tour: A Brief Survey of Christian Amulets Citing the Pauline Corpus," 111-125
The usage of gospel quotations for magical amulets in the ancient world is a well-attested and well-studied phenomenon. Less recognized by modern scholars, due to its equally rare occurrence, is the amuletic usage of quotations from the Pauline corpus. This paper collects six amulets that utilize Greek quotations from the Pauline corpus. Following a short survey of these amulets, this paper presents a short interpretation in light of recent scholarship on the topic of Christian magic and amulets.
