New Testament Texts on Greek Amulets from Late Antiquity (Library of New Testament Studies | LNTS)
Overview
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.
- Presents the first systematic treatment of non-continuous artifacts
- Establishes a comprehensive database of one category of non-continuous artifacts
- Examines reasons why non-continuous manuscripts of the New Testament are considered problematic for textual research
- Introduction and Survey of Scholarship
- Terminology and Criteria
- Method of Textual Analysis
- Amulets and Their Texts
- Conclusions and Results
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 Christianity-not to mention Jones’s 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
- Title: New Testament Texts on Greek Amulets from Late Antiquity
- Author: Brice C. Jones
- Editor: Chris Keith
- Series: Library of New Testament Studies (LNTS)
- Publisher: T&T Clark
- Publication Date: 2016
- Pages: 240
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Topic: New Testament