New Testament Texts on Greek Amulets from Late Antiquity

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Brice C. Jones presents a comprehensive analysis of Greek amulets from late antique Egypt which contain New Testament citations. He evaluates the words they contain in terms of their text-critical value. The use of New Testament texts on amulets was common in late antiquity. These citations were extracted from their larger Biblical contexts and used for ritual purposes that have traditionally been understood in terms of the ambiguous category of 'magic'. Often, these citations were used to invoke the divine for some favour, healing or protection. For various reasons, however, these citations have not played a significant role in the study of the text of the Greek New Testament. As such, this is the first systematic treatment of Greek New Testament citations on amulets from late antique Egypt. Jones' work has real implications for how amulets and other such witnesses from this era should be treated in the future of the discipline of New Testament textual criticism.

Reviews

Brice Joness New Testament Texts on Greek Amulets from Late Antiquity is thus an undeniably exacting and captivating study that successfully models how a particular class of noncontinuous manuscriptsamuletscan serve as witnesses for understanding the textual history of the Greek New Testament and contribute to its textual reconstruction. * Review of Biblical Literature *
This is a fascinating and carefully conducted study of one class of non-continuous Greek New Testament texts, the amulets ... This volume will serve as an important reference work for those interested in early Christian amulets in their own right, but more widely it opens up larger discussions about the use of non-continuous texts for understanding the transmission of the early text of the New Testament, and for contributing more evidence concerning how the New Testament text was used by some early Christian believers. * The Expository Times *
Jones has accumulated a valuable repository of information concerning the select amulets ... Such helpful collection of materials, conveniently translated into English, would make this book useful for scholars of early Christianitynot to mention Joness careful analyses and interesting tangential discussions along the way. * Journal of Theological Studies *
This is a fine work that will no doubt be of use for those engaging in textual criticism. * Journal for the Study of the New Testament *

Author Bio

Brice C. Jones is an ancient historian specializing in papyrology and Early Christianity. He received his Ph.D. in Early Christianity from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, and his M.A.R. from Yale University, USA.