Witch Hunt in Galatia: Magic, Medicine, and Ritual and the Occasion of Paul's Letter to the Galatians

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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 Pauls 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.

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Barrier's study adds to the work of redescription of Paul in terms of the magical, medical, and ritual context of the ancient Mediterranean world. The wealth of information on the understanding of pneuma in antiquity is impressive.

By drawing on knowledge of ancient medicine and magic, in particular issues related to disease etiology, illness, the evil eye, pneuma, and the role of the fascinum in ensuring one's health, this volume seeks to unravel the cultural script that unfolds from reading Paul's letter to the Galatians.

In his well-written and provocative book Jeremy Wade Barrier provides a fresh reading of Paul's letter to the Galatians, concentrating on intercultural differences between Paul and his addressees rather than theological discourse about "works of the law" versus "justification by faith". The focus on the cultural background of the Galatians challenges usual interpretations of the letter as a reaction to Paul's Jewish-Christian opponents. Barrier argues that Paul is criticizing his addressees for integrating circumcision in their pagan view of apotropaic rituals and is offering baptism as the appropriate and effective alternative ritual. Moreover, the emphasis on sorcery and the "Evil Eye" sharpens the view of the religious and cultural context presupposed in the letter. Future interpretation will have to look more carefully on the discourse behind the letter, particularly on the meaning of the verb "bewitch" in Galatians 3:1.

Author Bio

Jeremy Wade Barrier is associate professor of biblical literature at Heritage Christian University.