Magic and Ritual in the Ancient World

Paul Mirecki, Th.D. (1986) in Religious Studies, Harvard Divinity School, is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Kansas. He is the founding Chair of the Manichaean Studies Group (1988). His publications include a wide variety of books and articles on ancient Mediterranean religions with a primary focus on Greek and Coptic papyrology, including, with J. BeDuhn, The Light and the Darkness: Studies in Manichaeism and its World (2001) and, with C. Hedrick, The Gospel of the Savior: A New Ancient Gospel (1999). Marvin Meyer, Ph.D. (1979) in Religion, Claremont Graduate School, is Professor of Religion at Chapman University, Orange, California, and Director of the Coptic Magical Texts Project of the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity. He has published extensively on ancient Gnostic and Magical traditions, including The Magical Book of Mary and the Angels (P. Heid. Inv. Kopt. 685) (1996) and, with R. Smith, Ancient Christian Magic: Coptic Texts of Ritual Power (1994).

"…an excellent overview with enough depth to satisfy specialists interested in magic or any of the academic contexts within which the topics are found." – Jennifer Wees, in: Laval Theologique et Philosophique, 2004