Magic And Paganism In Early Christianity

Klauck describes the religious world into which Christianity was born, by looking at it from the many experiences of the first Christians as recorded in Acts. You will journey with Peter as he encounters Simon the magician, the people of Lystra want to offer sacrifices to Paul and Barnabas, and a soothsaying slave-girl is the occasion for conflict in Philippi. Your travels continue with Paul to Athens and find a city full of idols but also discovers an altar “to an unknown god” where Paul then delivers the famous Areopagus speech. In Ephesus, where some are burning their books of magic formulae, while others are provoking a riot in the name of Artemis.
Hans-Josef Klauck is Professor of New Testament and Early Christian Literature at the University of Chicago. He has published commentaries and monographs on 1 Corinthians, the Johannine epistles, New Testament theology, noncanonical gospels, and the history of religion in the Graeco-Roman world.