, to see if you have full access to this publication.
Book Titles No access
Witch Hunt in Galatia
Magic, Medicine, and Ritual and the Occasion of Paul's Letter to the Galatians
Authors:
Publisher:
2020
Summary
Approximately 2,000 years ago, some Jewish communities of Galatia in central Asia Minor believed they had fallen under a curse, argues Jeremy Wade Barrier. A fellow Jew named Paul wrote the letter we call Galatians to help them escape its effects. In the letter, Barrier argues, Paul called for the Jews in Galatia to stop practicing circumcision. The rite had fallen into disuse within many Jewish communities in the Roman Empire, but Barrier argues the Galatian Jews believed it was a talisman that would protect them from harm. As a further precaution, they needed to deal with the person who had brought this evil to their community. A witch hunt was underway, and some had concluded that the witch was none other than Paul. Barrier provides a reconstruction of the original occasion of Paul’s letter to the Galatians and shows how Paul defended himself from accusations of witchcraft by countering that the ritual that would protect them from the “Evil Eye” was not circumcision, but rather baptism. Through the ritual of baptism, they could receive healing from a material, yet divine, “breath” of God. Barrier also reconstructs an earlier understanding of this pneuma that was lost to subsequent Christianity under the influence of Neoplatonism.
Keywords
Search publication
Bibliographic data
Copyright year
2020
ISBN-Print
978-1-9787-0975-1
ISBN-Online
978-1-9787-0976-8
Publisher
Lexington, Lanham
Language
English
Pages
396
Product type
Book Titles
Table of contents
ChapterPages
Contents No access
Figures No access
Preface No access
Acknowledgments No access
Prologue No access
Chapter One Introduction No access Pages 1 - 104
Chapter Two Pneuma in Ancient Physiology No access
Chapter Three Pathophysiology in Galatia No access
Chapter Four Evil Eye in a Cultural-anthropological Context No access
Chapter Five The Evil Eye and Fascinum in Galatia No access
Chapter Six Physiological Pneuma and the Doctrine of the Trinity No access
Chapter Seven Physiological Pneuma in the Apocryphon of John No access
Chapter Eight Conclusion, Possible Implications, and Further Inquiries No access
