The Library of Congress > Linked Data Service > BIBFRAME Works

Bibframe Work

Title
Making amulets Christian : artefacts, scribes, and contexts
Type
Text
Monograph
Subject
Amulets, Greek--Egypt (LCSH)
Church history--Primitive and early church, ca. 30-600 (LCSH)
Magic--Religious aspects--Christianity (LCSH)
Incantations (LCSH)
Amulets, Greek (FAST)
Church history--Primitive and early church (FAST)
Incantations (FAST)
Magic--Religious aspects--Christianity (FAST)
Egypt (FAST)
30-600 (FAST)
Language
English
Illustrative Content
Illustrations
Geographic Coverage
Egypt
Classification
LCC: BR195 .A44 2017
DDC: 270.1 full
Could not render: bf:status
Supplementary Content
bibliography
index
Content
text
Summary
Making Amulets Christian: Artefacts, Scribes, and Contexts examines Greek amulets with Christian elements from late antique Egypt in order to discern the processes whereby a customary practice-the writing of incantations on amulets-changed in an increasingly Christian context. It considers how the formulation of incantations and amulets changed as the Christian church became the prevailing religious institution in Egypt in the last centuries of the Roman empire. Theodore de Bruyn investigates what can we learn from incantations and amulets containing Christian elements about the cultural and social location of the people who wrote them. He shows how incantations and amulets were indebted to rituals or ritualizing behaviour of Christians. This study analyzes different types of amulets and the ways in which they incorporate Christian elements. By comparing the formulation and writing of individual amulets that are similar to one another, one can observe differences in the culture of the scribes of these materials. It argues for 'conditioned individuality' in the production of amulets. On the one hand, amulets manifest qualities that reflect the training and culture of the individual writer. On the other hand, amulets reveal that individual writers were shaped, whether consciously or inadvertently, by the resources they drew upon-by what is called 'tradition' in the field of religious studies.
Authorized Access Point
De Bruyn, Theodore Making amulets Christian : artefacts, scribes, and contexts