Smoke & mirrors : discourses of magic in early Petrine traditions / Shaily Shashikant Patel.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Patel, Shaily Shashikant, author.

Series:

Oxford scholarship online.

Oxford scholarship online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Bible. Luke--Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Bible.

Acts of Peter--Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Acts of Peter.

Homilies (Pseudo-Clementine).

Magic--Biblical teaching.

Magic.

Magic--Religious aspects--Christianity--History of doctrines--Early church, ca. 30-600.

Miracles--Biblical teaching.

Miracles.

Miracles--History of doctrines--Early church, ca. 30-600.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (241 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2025]

Summary:

'Smoke & Mirrors' how magic disappears & miracle emerges in a series of texts featuring the apostle Peter. Considering the contradiction of early Christian authors' approval of seemingly magical practices, such as exorcisms, Shaily Shashikant Patel examines the impact this treatment of magic had in forging key facets of Christianity like Jesus' identity, apostolic authority, community norms, Christian orthodoxy. Patel's analysis details how Christian texts featuring Peter respond to broader discourses of Roman magic. Rather than viewing magic as primarily a polemical label applied to one's theological enemies, she relies on newer, more flexible heuristics for ancient magic offered in adjacent fields & in cutting-edge interdisciplinary work.

Contents:

Cover

Half Title

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Contents

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Introduction: "Magic" and Early Petrine Literary Traditions

Making Magic: Definitions of Magic in the Study of Early Christianity

(Not) Another Definition of Magic: Magic in the Graeco-Roman Imagination

Excursus: Apuleius' Apology: A Case Study in Word and Deed

Petrine Literature's "Magic Problem"

Why "Magic"?

Why Petrine Literary Traditions?

Caveats and Conclusions

1 Magic and the Making of Miracles in the Gospel of Luke

Jesus the Magician? The Rhetoric of Lucan Miracle

Making Miracle: Lucan Redaction of Mark

Divine Power and Authority: Circumscribing Christian Miracle

Sēmeia and Terata: Taxonomies of Miracle

Jesus the Messiah and Prophet: Lucan Redescription of Magical Practices

A Wonderworker Is as a Wonderworker Says: Prophecy, Messiahship, and Magic

A Wonderworker Who Delivers: Jesus' Fulfillment of Eschatological Promises

Fulfillment of Physical Promises

Metaphysical Fulfillment of Promises

Promise or Punishment? Luke's Metaphysical Dualism

A Wonderworker to Believe In: Faith and Magical Practices

Messiahs, Magicians, and Prophets

The Origins of Petrine Magic

2 Magic and the Making of a Jesus Movement in the Canonical Acts

Peter the Apostle: Dunamis, Exousia, and the Rhetoric of Wonderworking in Acts

Excursus: Lucan Consolidation of Supernatural Agents and Expansion of Divine Dunamis

Peter the Apostle: Wonderworking and the Establishment of Apostolic Authority

Simon the Magician: Wonderworking and Usurpation

Making a Movement: Redescription of Magical Practices in Acts

A Christ-like Leader: Jesus-Peter Parallels in Wonderworking

Group Boundaries, Community Rules, and Wonderworking.

Wonderworking That Works: Group Benefits and Community Cohesion

Petrine Wonderworking and Christian Beginnings

3 Magic and the Making of (a) Christianity in the Acts of Peter

An Apostle, a Seducer, and the Lapsed: The Rhetoric of Wonderworking in the Acts of Peter

Seeing Is Believing: A Deeds-Driven Christian Orthodoxy

Peter and the Terrible Power of Christ

A Better Magician: The Superiority of Petrine Wonderworking

Simon, the Diabolical Seducer

Simon and the Power of Carmina

Simon, the Young God

Forgiveness, Conversion, and Redescription of Magical Practices in the Acts of Peter

Petrine Wonderworking and Conversion

Petrine Wonderworking and Forgiveness

The Acts of Peter and Literary Trajectories of Christian Wonderworking

4 Magic and the Making of Heresy in the Pseudo-Clementine Homilies

True and False Knowledge: The Rhetoric of Magic-Heresy in the Homilies

The Genealogies of True Prophecy and Magic-Heresy

The Genealogy of True Prophecy

The Genealogy of Magic-Heresy

The Apostle of True Knowledge: Peter and Epistemic Authority

Peter and the Unchanging, Ahistorical Truth

Peter and the Revealed Truth

The Scion of Epistemic Error: Simon and Magic-Heresy

Peter the Truth-Teller and Simon the Heretic: Redescription of Magical Practices in the Homilies

Peter the Truth-Teller

Simon the Heretic

Magic, Heresy, and Late Antiquity

Coda: Lives and Afterlives of Petrine "Magic"

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource and publisher information; title from PDF title page (viewed on September 15, 2025).

ISBN:

0-19-777055-X

0-19-777054-1

0-19-777053-3

9780197770535

OCLC:

1536080427