Forbidden Oracles?
The Gospel of the Lots of Mary
by AnneMarie Luijendijk
Paperback (Published)
(August 2014)
ISBN: 9783161528590
6.06 x 9.06 inches
Price: $112.00
In stock
In this volume, AnneMarie Luijendijk presents for the first time a new early Christian divinatory text, preserved in a fifth-or sixth-century Coptic miniature codex, entitled The Gospel of the Lots of Mary, and places it within the context of practices of and debates about divination in the ancient Mediterranean world. Casting lots to obtain answers was applied in decision-making on all levels of ancient society. As a religious practice, lot divination was also highly contested, as access to these practices and thus to the divine meant control of powers, religiously and socially. The text, replete with biblical phrases but fundamentally materialistic in worldview, disrupts our concepts of what is religious in the ancient world. Luijendijk contributes to discussions in the study of religion that question the categories of religion and magic. She also contributes to scholarship on the production and use of books.
In this volume, Anne-Marie Luijendijk presents for the first time a new early Christian divinatory text, preserved in a fifth-or sixth-century Coptic miniature codex, entitled The Gospel of the Lots of Mary, and places it within the context of practices of and debates about divination in the ancient Mediterranean world. Casting lots to obtain answers was applied in decision-making on all levels of ancient society. As a religious practice, lot divination was also highly contested, as access to these practices and thus to the divine meant control of powers, religiously and socially. The text, replete with biblical phrases but fundamentally materialistic in worldview, disrupts our concepts of what is religious in the ancient world. Luijendijk contributes to discussions in the study of religion that question the categories of religion and magic. She also contributes to scholarship on the production and use of books.
- By (author) AnneMarie Luijendijk
"This book contains everything a scholarly reader could wish to have in a book: a hitherto unknown ancient text in its original language with an English translation, a short commentary, an extensive introduction, photos of the complete manuscript, a full list of the text's vocabulary, various indexes, and a bibliography. [...] The book is a welcome addition to the dossier of 'non-orthodox' Christian material from late antiquity. The author shows her competence in this field at every page. And the book is written in a lively and fluent style which makes it a pleasure to read. Every student interested in early Christian divination should read it." -- Pieter W. van der Horst, Bryn Mawr Classical Review
—
Other Titles in this Series
Eschatologie im agyptischen Monchtum
Die Rolle christlicher eschatologischer Denkvarianten in der Geschichte des fruhen agyptischen Monchtums und seiner sozialen Funktion
Volume 59
Die Nag-Hammadi-Schriften in der Literatur- und Theologiegeschichte des fruhen Christentums
Volume 106
Syrien im 1.-7. Jahrhundert nach Christus
Akten der 1. Tubinger Tagung zum Christlichen Orient (15.-16. Juni 2007)
Volume 62
Religion im romischen Thessaloniki
Sakraltopographie, Kult und Gesellschaft 168 v. Chr. - 324 n. Chr.
Volume 47
Die Vita Sinuthii
Form- und Uberlieferungsgeschichte der hagiographischen Texte uber Schenute den Archimandriten
Volume 45
Die Strafe des Exils in der Spatantike
Kirchen- und rechtsgeschichtliche Untersuchungen zur Verbannung in der ersten Halfte des vierten Jahrhunderts nach Christus
Volume 138
An Ancient Christian Hymn with Musical Notation
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1786: Text and Commentary
Volume 65
Der Mensch als Gottes Bild im christlichen Agypten
Studien zu Gen 1,26 in zwei koptischen Quellen des 4.-5. Jahrhunderts
Volume 34
Scribal Traditions in Coptic Magical Texts
Edition and Materiality of the Berlin Magical Archive, the Unpublished Coptic Magical Texts of the Papyrussammlung of Heidelberg and the Bibliothèque nationale et universitaire de Strasbourg
The Sermons on Joseph of Balai of Qenneshrin
Rhetoric and Interpretation in Fifth Century Syriac Literature
Volume 50
Similar Books
‘For You I Study, For You I Work, For You I Live, For You I Am Ready To Even Give My Life’
Essays in Honour of Francis (Frank) J Moloney, SDB
A Late Antique Harrowing of Hell and Its Medieval Reception
Eusebius of Alexandria's Sermons 15 and 17 (CPG 5524; 5526) and their Latin Rewritings
Volume 99
Ars Prophetica
Theology in the Poetry of Twentieth-Century Hebrew Poets Avraham Halfi, Shin Shalom, Amir Gilboa, and T. Carmi
Drunk the Potion, No Whit Charmed
The Doctrine of Pure and Perfect Souls from Iamblichus to Damascius
Extracanonical Traditions and the Holy Land
Texts, Rituals, and Material Culture in Late Antique Palestine
Fear, Fear of God, God-Fearers
Philological and Historical Perspectives on the World of Ancient Judaism and Christianity
Legal Visuality
Exegesis, Ambiguity, and Dissimulation of the Donation of Constantine in the Early Modern Period
Liturgia semper reformanda
Adaptations and accommodations in the liturgy in light of canon 838 of the Code of Canon Law
Pre-Christian Religions, Rituals, and Beliefs in Central and Northern Europe
Interdisciplinary Investigations
Volume 5
The Therapeutae as the Best Paradigm for the Contemplative Life
A Contextual Reading of Philo of Alexandria's De Vita Contemplativa
