British New Testament Society

Malcolm Bullock will introduce a wide range of magical texts and artefacts and the following discussion, led by Malcolm, Peter Oakes and Lloyd Pietersen, will focus on issues concerning their use in the study of the NT and early Christianity (45 minutes)

Attempts to emphasise Jesus' authoritative verbal commands in order to distance him from allegations of magical activity have as their fundamental basis the misguided notion that magical behaviours can only be observed in physical ritual and not in the spoken word. On the contrary, a correlation between Jesus' spoken commands and the practice of magic was made by the opponents of early Christianity and the ability to perform miracles using words alone substantiates an accusation of magic in the anti-Christian polemical materials. Certain words and phrases within the healing accounts of Mark's Gospel, particularly the two Aramaic words in Mk. 5:38-41 and 7:31-37 and the groaning noise in Mk. 7:34, are clearly influenced by techniques common to the ancient magical tradition and the incantational nature of the healing commands suggests that the author of Mark, or even the Historical Jesus himself, understood these words to have a magical function. Furthermore, that the Synoptic authors may have been aware of the magical connotations of these healing words is implied by their attempts to edit their received traditions wherever they perceive that a technique does not fit the framework of a first-century healer, but instead comes dangerously close to describing the activities of a first-century magician.

The part that magic played in the popular culture of the early Roman empire has been exaggerated by most New Testament scholars for a number of ideological and historical reasons. When one looks closely at the uses of magic by different social, economic and geographical groups in the first century Mediterranean it becomes evident that magic was treated with scepticism by many and indifference by most. Evidence of presence of magical practices has too often been mistaken as proof of the prevalence of such beliefs. Even when magical practitioners were accessed in response to episodes of illness or misfortune, or as apotropaic insurance against such things, it was only one of a range of often mutually incompatible strategies deployed to overcome the problems faced by a client. 'Belief' in the efficacy and importance of magic varied dramatically in intensity over the life span of individuals and was, for most of those in the first century, inchoate and ephemeral at best. Putting magic in its place should, amongst other things, lead us to rethink its rhetorical importance for New Testament authors.

The archaeological record at Philippi preserves substantial evidence of several popular cults such as those of Diana, Silvanus and Isis. This paper will show a range of the evidence, including some of the astonishing set of rock reliefs carved in the hillside. The evidence is sometimes hard to interpret and primarily dates from the second century onwards. However, it gives a unique insight into aspects of popular religion in one part of the Graeco-Roman world.

1 Peter marks the earliest attempt by a Christian author to craft a more or less comprehensive response to pagan religious prejudice. Unlike later Apologists, however, the author of 1 Peter does not seek to directly influence pagan opinion. He writes, instead, for his beleaguered coreligionists, consoling them in their suffering and advising them on how to cope with their predicament. In this paper I compare the coping strategies recommended in 1 Peter to similar strategies for coping with prejudice as identified by modern social psychology, which in the past decade or so has made considerable progress in understanding prejudice from the target's perspective. I argue that a number of the major coping strategies identified by modern social psychologists are present in 1 Peter and that the recognition of these strategies provides a coherent reading of the letter.

This presentation will examine the use of the building/temple metaphor in Greco-Roman literature and compare this with Paul's use of the metaphor in 1 Corinthians. The authors and works in this section were chosen because they make some use of the building/temple metaphor and they either pre-date Paul or are unlikely to have had any contact with Paul's writings and are thus unlikely to be influenced by Paul's use. The authors examined come from a variety of geographical locations and time periods and they write in diverse styles and concerning a multitude of subjects. This study uses this broad approach to understand common uses of this metaphor in its Greco-Roman setting. The goal is not to claim that we can identify a specific text or group of texts on which Paul was dependent, but rather to understand the place and prevalence of the metaphor in the Greco-Roman literary environment. After an examination of these texts, some general comparisons with Paul's use of the metaphor in 1 Corinthians will be made, highlighting areas of similarity and contrast. This understanding of the Greco-Roman literary environment of the building/temple metaphor may inform our understanding of the particular use that Paul makes of the metaphor and, ultimately, his teaching on the church.