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Early Jewish and Christian Magical Traditions in Comparison and Contact

Project description

Study of early Jewish and Christian relations

There is a scholarly gap concerning the contacts between Jewish and Christian practitioners as well as the dynamics of religious assimilation, cooperation and differentiation in the everyday lives of ancient Jews and Christians. The EU-funded EJCM project will focus the study of both Mediterranean magic and Jewish-Christian relations during late antiquity. It will conduct a comparative analysis of the Jewish and Christian texts deemed 'magical' and objects, such as amulets and incantation bowls. To date, the study of early Jewish-Christian relations has not taken into serious consideration the 'magical' evidence. Also, there is lack of a sustained analysis of early Jewish and Christian magical traditions in comparison and in contact. An interdisciplinary team will address this scholarly gap.

Objective

This interdisciplinary project will contribute to the study of both Mediterranean magic and Jewish–Christian relations during late antiquity (III–VII CE) by providing a comparative analysis of the Jewish and Christian magical texts and objects (e.g. amulets and incantation bowls) that is informed by an innovative, synthetic interpretative framework. This project will investigate the contacts between Jewish and Christian practitioners as well as the dynamics of religious assimilation, cooperation, and differentiation in the everyday lives of ancient Jews and Christians.
Although scholarly study of the early Jewish and Christian practices, rituals, and texts deemed “magical” has blossomed over the past few decades, this research has tended to be divided along disciplinary lines, with historians of Judaism studying Jewish magic and historians of Christianity studying Christian magic. Independent from this line of inquiry there is a long history of scholarship devoted to early Jewish–Christian relations which has detailed the diverse ways Jews and Christians interacted in the ancient world. However, the study of early Jewish–Christian relations has not taken into serious consideration the “magical” evidence. In short, despite these respective lines of scholarship within and across early Jewish and Christian studies, there has not yet been a sustained analysis of early Jewish and Christian magical traditions in comparison and in contact.
An interdisciplinary team (PI, 1 Postdoc, and 2 PhD students) will address this scholarly gap by examining local and global features of the magical artefacts – and the literary traditions about magic – from late-antique Jewish and Christian communities. In particular, this group will focus on the similarities, differences, and contacts between these traditions in four central areas of their magical practices: biblical texts and traditions; sacred names and titles; the word-image-material relation; and references to illicit rituals.

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

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ERC-STG - Starting Grant

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) ERC-2019-STG

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Host institution

UNIVERSITA CA' FOSCARI VENEZIA
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 1 311 355,00
Address
DORSODURO 3246
30123 VENEZIA
Italy

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Region
Nord-Est Veneto Venezia
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 1 311 355,55

Beneficiaries (1)

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