Talking heads:‎ Necromancy in Jewish and Christian Accounts ‎ from Mesopotamia and beyond

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Publicado: Jul 18, 2019
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21071/cco.v16i.14595
Palabras clave:
Necromancy, Religion History, Late Antiquity, Rabbinic Tradition, Christian Tradition,

Contenido principal del artículo

Emmanouela Grypeou
Woolf Institute Cambridge (UK)

Resumen

Relations between Jewish and Christian communities in Late Antiquity involved interactions relating to a complex cultural and religious landscape. An intrinsic aspect of the exchange between Jews and Christians refers to attitudes towards pagan communities in their shared environment as a common discourse pertaining to a symbolic construction of the “Other”. More specifically, a persisting topos was the implication of “pagan” communities and their respective religious specialists in illicit magical practices including necromancy. In the following, a discussion of testimonies regarding variants of necromantic practices in ancient, rabbinic and Christian sources will explore the dissemination and special characteristics of the different necromantic accounts in Late Antiquity and contextualise this peculiar practice of a divinatory “talking head” as evidenced in contemporary Jewish and Christian traditions.

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Detalles del artículo

Número
Vol. 16 (2019)
Sección
Artículos
Biografía del autor/a

Emmanouela Grypeou, Woolf Institute Cambridge (UK)

Emmanouela completed her Diploma in Politics in Athens, Greece, her MA in Sociology and Religious Studies in Freiburg, Germany, and her PhD in Languages and Cultures of the Christian Orient in Tübingen, Germany. Between 2005 and 2008 Emmanouela was a research associate with the research project "The Exegetical Encounters between Jews and Christians in Late Antiquity", at the Centre for Advanced Religious and Theological Studies - Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge/Centre for the Study of Jewish-Christian Relations, Cambridge UK. Prior to that she was a post-doctoral research associate with the research project: "Globalisation and Regionalisation Processes in Eastern Christianity and Their Impact on the Formation, Expansion and Early Development of Islam in the 6th and 7th Centuries" under the auspices of the Chair for Muslim Religious and Cultural History, at the University of Erfurt in Germany. In 2003/4 she was Visiting Scholar at the Department of Religious Studies, University of Virginia, USA.

Emmanouela Grypeou's research focuses primarily on the study of Patristic literature and Church History of the Eastern Roman Empire. Beyond this research, her interests extend to include Christian canonical and non-canonical literature(s) in the context of the religious history of Late Antiquity and particularly in the Christian East. Another aspect of her research deals with historical relations and interactions among the three monotheistic religions, especially in two major periods of transition: that of Christianity's emergence and formation, and that of the emergence and formation of Islam.