Ritual Boundaries: Magic and Differentiation in Late Antique Christianity

Joseph E. Sanzo

Open Access Published by University of California Press 2024

Ritual Boundaries

Magic and Differentiation in Late Antique Christianity

Joseph E. Sanzo

Volume 14 in the series Christianity in Late Antiquity

https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520399198

Overview
Contents

About this book

A free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press's Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more.

In Ritual Boundaries, Joseph E. Sanzo transforms our understanding of how early Christians experienced religion in lived practice through the study of magical objects, such as amulets and grimoires. Against the prevailing view of late antiquity as a time when only so-called elites were interested in religious and ritual differentiation, the evidence presented here reveals that the desire to distinguish between religious and ritual insiders and outsiders cut across diverse social strata. The magical evidence also offers unique insight into early biblical reception, exposing a textual world in which scriptural reading was multisensory and multitraditional. As they addressed sickness, demonic struggle, and interpersonal conflicts, Mediterranean people thus acted in ways that challenge our conceptual boundaries between Christians and non-Christians; elites and non-elites; and words, materials, and images. Sanzo helps us rethink how early Christians imagined similarity and difference among texts, traditions, groups, and rituals as they went about their daily lives.

Author / Editor information

Sanzo Joseph E. :

Joseph E. Sanzo is Associate Professor of History of Religions at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and author of Scriptural Incipits on Amulets from Late Antique Egypt: Text, Typology, and Theory.

Topics

Frontmatter Open Access Download PDF	i
Contents Open Access Download PDF	xi
Preface Open Access Download PDF	xiii
Abbreviations Open Access Download PDF	xvii
Introduction Open Access Download PDF	1
Part I. The Discursive Boundaries of Rituals and Groups
1 Ritual Boundaries in Late Antique Lived Religion Open Access Download PDF	27
2 Religious Boundaries in Late Antique Lived Religion Open Access Download PDF	42
Part II. The Discursive Boundaries of Texts and Traditions
3 Words, Images, Materials, and Gestures Open Access Download PDF	65
4 From Torture to Triumph The Crucifixion of Jesus in Early Christian Lived Religion Open Access Download PDF	89
Conclusions Open Access Download PDF	109
Notes Open Access Download PDF	115
References Open Access Download PDF	147
Index Open Access Download PDF	167

Language: English
Publisher: University of California Press
Pages
- Main content: 188

eBook

Published: April 3, 2024
ISBN: 9780520399198