Description
Ancient Christians and the Power of Curses offers a groundbreaking examination of curse practices in early Christian communities, revealing how these seemingly marginal practices were deeply intertwined with aesthetic, theological, and legal concerns. Laura Salah Nasrallah investigates the material evidence of curses—inscriptions, texts, and artifacts—to understand how Christians negotiated their relationship with magic and supernatural power.
Rather than presenting early Christians as uniformly opposed to magical practices, Nasrallah demonstrates how Christian thinkers engaged with curse traditions, sometimes condemning them, sometimes appropriating their power for theological purposes. The book explores how curses functioned as expressions of justice, divine retribution, and social boundary-marking in late antique society.
Through careful analysis of literary and material sources, this work reshapes our understanding of magic in early Christianity and challenges modern assumptions about the relationship between religion, magic, and justice in the ancient Mediterranean world.
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