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48-529: The texts were published in a series, and individual texts are referenced using the abbreviation PGM plus the volume and item number. Each volume contains a number of spells and rituals. Further discoveries of similar texts from elsewhere have been allocated PGM numbers for convenience. The corpus of the PGM were not based on an ancient archive, but rather are a modern collection that has been added to over time. The unclear circumstances of each text's production, over

96-625: A result, Betz believes that the function of the SM is "to provide the disciple of Jesus with the necessary tool for becoming a Jesus theologian." He goes on to say that the SM is "theology to be intellectually appropriated and internalized... to be creatively developed and implemented in concrete situations in life." Thus, Betz argues that instead of viewing the SM as a list of items to do or not to do, it should be viewed critically and analytically by those who seek to follow in Jesus’ footsteps who can then take

144-772: A span of centuries, have therefore occasioned some debate. Hans Dieter Betz , the English translator of the PGM , claims that the texts form a fraction of the "magical books" that must have existed in antiquity, and considers them a form of "underground literature" subject to book-burnings at the time. He cites book-burning in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 19:19), Augustus ' orders to burn magical books according to Suetonius (Suet. Aug . 31.1), and what he terms "numerous" early Christian book-burnings. David Frankfurter, however, considers these texts productions of "innovative members of

192-477: Is a composition carefully designed out of sayings of Jesus which are grouped according to thematic points of doctrine considered of primary importance." What this means is that as opposed to the SM being intended to be viewed as "the law" or as a set of rules that believers must adhere to as has been the traditional interpretation, the SM, in Betz’s view represents a systematically organized summary of Jesus’ theology. As

240-558: Is partly the influence of Egyptian religion, in which beast cult and the terror of the divine were familiar elements; equally the context of magical texts makes such sinister deities appropriate. Hans Dieter Betz Hans Dieter Betz (born May 21, 1931) is an American scholar of the New Testament and Early Christianity at the University of Chicago . He has made influential contributions to research on Paul's Letter to

288-932: The British Museum , copying papyri. He was in close touch with Samuel Birch , then Keeper of the Oriental Department and was constantly exchanging information by correspondence with other leading Egyptologists of his day." Goodwin was appointed Assistant Judge of the British Supreme Court for China and Japan in 1865 on the founding of the court. Sir Edmund Hornby was appointed the Chief Judge. The British Supreme Court for China and Japan exercised jurisdiction over British Subjects in China and Japan pursuant to extraterritorial rights granted under treaties with China and Japan. The Court

336-916: The British Museum , the Louvre , the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, the Staatliche Museen in Berlin, and the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden. H. D. Betz, who edited a translation of the collection, states that these pieces probably came from the library of an ancient scholar and collector of late antiquity based in Thebes, Egypt . Anastasi acquired a great number of other papyri and antiquities as well. The "Thebes Cache" also contained

384-679: The Cambridge Antiquarian Society , one of the Papyri Graecae Magicae V, translated into English with commentary in 1853. In 1860 he wrote one of the articles in Essays and Reviews , to which he was the only lay contributor, writing alongside such great theologians as Rowland Williams and Henry Bristow Wilson . In a speech, "The Growth and Nature of Egyptology: an inaugural lecture" by Stephen Ranulph Kingdon Glanville , Glanville said of Goodwin: "By

432-604: The Stockholm papyrus , and Leyden papyrus X which contains alchemical texts. A similar individual, known as he who appeared in Thebes , Prince Khamwas , was the fourth son of King Ramses II and high priest of Ptah in Memphis, Egypt . According to Miriam Lichtheim : Here I should like to stress that Prince Setne Khamwas, the hero of the two tales named for him, was a passionate antiquarian. The historical prince Khamwas,

480-747: The Thesaurus Linguae Graecae database and various concordances and dictionaries have been published. Betz observes, in the introduction to his translations, that while the papyri were produced in Greco-Roman Egypt , they contain many sections that are Greek in origin and nature. He notes how Zeus , Hermes , Apollo , Artemis , and Aphrodite , among others, are portrayed not as Hellenic or Hellenised aristocrats, as in contemporary literature, but as demonic or even dangerous, much like in Greek folklore . However, Betz also emphasizes

528-666: The 500s BCE, and have been found as far afield as Athens, Asia Minor , Rome, and Sicily (as well as Egypt), this provides a degree of continuity, and suggests that some observations based on the PGM will not be altogether inapplicable to the study of the wider Greco-Roman world. Throughout the spells found in the Greek Magical Papyri, there are numerous references to figurines. They are found in various types of spells, including judicial, erotic, and curse magic. The figurines are made of various materials, which usually correspond to

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576-807: The Demotic for sounds not found in Greek); some contain passages written in the earlier Egyptian hieratic script or words written in a special " cipher " script, which would have been an effective secret code to a Greek reader but would have been deciphered fairly simply by an Egyptian." Many of these pieces of papyrus are pages or fragmentary extracts from spell books, repositories of arcane knowledge and mystical secrets. As far as they have been reconstructed, these books appear to fall into two broad categories: some are compilations of spells and magical writings, gathered by scholarly collectors either out of academic interest or for some kind of study of magic; others may have been

624-601: The Egyptian language known as Demotic are accounted for. Johnson adds, "All four of the Demotic magical texts appear to have come from the collections that Anastasi gathered in the Theban area. Most have passages in Greek as well as in Demotic, and most have words glossed into Old Coptic (Egyptian language written with the Greek alphabet [which indicated vowels, which Egyptian scripts did not] supplemented by extra signs taken from

672-519: The Egyptian priesthood during the third-/fourth-century decline of the Egyptian temple infrastructure," and lends them considerably less "underground" status than Betz. Alan F. Segal goes further, using the PGM to question the dichotomy of magic and religion in scholarship on the Hellenistic world. He uses the existence of hymns in the PGM to suggest that the people who wrote them in such 'magical' texts saw no distinction between such material and

720-907: The Galatians , the Sermon on the Mount and the Greco-Roman context of Early Christianity. Hans Dieter Betz was born and raised in Germany. He received his theological education at Bethel and Mainz in Germany, and at Cambridge in England. Having studied with Herbert Braun, he graduated as Doctor of Theology and "Habilitation" at Mainz (1957, 1966); Dr. h.c. Erlangen. His list of scholarly publications includes New Testament literature, esp. on Paul's letters, as well as on Hellenistic history of religions, writing in English and German. He served also as editor of

768-527: The Mount: Its Literary Genre and Function," Betz discusses the problem of scholars in attempting to determine where the Sermon on the Mount fits in terms of its literary classification. He believes that there are clues within the content of the SM which could point the seeker in the right direction of making this determination and these clues lead him to conclude that the SM falls in the category of an epitome. He explains that "the epitome

816-658: The Papyri Graecae Magicae is an elaborate syncretism of Greek, Egyptian, Christian, Jewish (see Jewish magical papyri ), and even Babylonian religious influences engendered by the unique milieu of Greco-Roman Egypt. This syncretism is evident in the Papyri in a variety of ways. Often the Olympians are given attributes of their Egyptian counterparts; alternatively this could be seen as Egyptian deities being referred to by Greek names. For example, Aphrodite (who

864-678: The SP became dissolved into discussions about Q. Betz himself acknowledges that the Two-Source Hypothesis best explains the parallel use of sayings in both Matthew and Luke which suggests that a Q document existed at one time. The location of the Sermons in Matthew and Luke suggests to Betz that there must have been some kind of sermon in Q. He believes that the evangelists received their sermons from different versions of Q which contained

912-706: The Sermon on the Mount. Given that he is part of the school of thought that the answer to the Synoptic Problem lies within the Two-Source Hypothesis , any discussion about the SM invariably requires some mention of the Sermon on the Plain and Q . In fact, Betz credits centuries of discussion of the relationship between the SM and SP for the postulation by scholars of the existence of a Q document. The first problem that scholars attempted to solve

960-910: The University of Chicago Divinity School and in the Department of New Testament and Early Christian Literature in the Humanities Division. He is an ordained member of the Presbytery of Chicago, United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. Betz is also a past president of the Chicago Society of Biblical Research (1983-1984), the Society of Biblical Literature (1997), and the international Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas (1999). In his essay "The Sermon on

1008-438: The amount of syncretism he sees in the papyri, especially between Greek, Jewish and Egyptian beliefs. Betz noted, "In this syncretism , the indigenous ancient Egyptian religion has in part survived, in part been profoundly hellenized . In its Hellenistic transformation, the Egyptian religion of the pre-Hellenistic era appears to have been reduced and simplified, no doubt to facilitate its assimilation into Hellenistic religion as

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1056-484: The early twentieth century Karl Preisendanz collected the texts and published them in two volumes in 1928 and 1931. A projected third volume, containing new texts and indices, reached the stage of galley proofs dated "Pentecost 1941", but the type was destroyed during the bombing of Leipzig in the Second World War . However, photocopies of the proofs circulated among scholars. A revised and expanded edition of

1104-415: The first to suggest that the sections of the Sermons which were common to Matthew and Luke may have come from a common written source. He believed that the versions received by the evangelists had already been redacted and was therefore not in its original form at the time that they received it. Carl Friedrich Georg Heinrici takes the work of Eichhorn further when at the turn of the 20th century he analyzed

1152-482: The focus toward critical investigation by scholars of the SM and the SP and whereas it was originally believed that the SM originated with the historical Jesus, by the Reformation, we have John Calvin viewing the SM and the SP as collections of sayings of Jesus brought together as a synopsis of Jesus’ teachings. By the 19th century, scholars widely agreed with John Calvin’s view of the Sermons as two versions of

1200-499: The fourth son of Ramses II, had been high priest of Ptah at Memphis and administrator of all the Memphite sanctuaries. In that capacity he had examined decayed tombs, restored the names of their owners, and renewed their funerary cults. Posterity had transmitted his renown, and the Demotic tales that were spun around his memory depicted him and his fictional adversary Prince Naneferkaptah as very learned scribes and magicians devoted to

1248-407: The importance of the Greek Magical Papyri for the study of ancient religions, because most of the texts combine multiple religions: Egyptian, Greek, Jewish, and/or others. In terms of function, Pauline Hanesworth remarks that the PGM, beyond literary and intellectual purposes, have practical aims. Janet H. Johnson noted in 1996 that the texts can only be understood entirely when the parts written in

1296-775: The lexica "Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart" (4th ed. 1998-2005) and "Religion Past and Present" (2007-2014). He was a Reformed Tradition pastor until he went to the United States in 1963. From 1963 to 1978, he taught at the School of Theology (now Claremont School of Theology) and the Claremont Graduate School (now Claremont Graduate University ) in California. From 1978 on he taught as the Shailer Mathews Professor of New Testament at

1344-541: The more common formulae. These spells range from impressive and mystical summonings of dark gods and daemons, to folk remedies and even parlor tricks; from portentous, fatal curses, to love charms, and cures for impotence and minor medical complaints. In many cases, the formulaic words and phrases are strikingly similar to those found in defixiones ( curse tablets or binding spells, κατάδεσμοι in Greek), such as those we find inscribed on ostraka , amulets , and lead tablets. Since some of these defixiones date from as early as

1392-608: The more exact nature of this religious and cultural interaction remains the task of future research." He is equally undecided about the sources of the Jewish elements within the papyri, declaring that "the origin and nature of the sections representing Jewish magic in the Greek magical papyri is far from clear." However, he concludes that the syncretistic elements within the papyri were a relatively unified approach, best understood as "a Greco-Egyptian, rather than more general Greco-Roman, syncretism." He also says that Albrecht Dieterich noted

1440-454: The more overtly magical content in the same documents. Just how "underground" the practitioners that produced these texts were therefore remains contested, though Betz points to the admonitions to secrecy about the details of certain practices in certain of the papyri. The first papyri of the series were vended to purchasers of art in Egypt during the early 19th century. Another papyrus (PGM III)

1488-405: The predominant cultural reference. It is quite clear that the magicians who wrote and used the Greek papyri were Hellenistic in outlook. Hellenization, however, also includes the egyptianizing of Greek religious traditions. The Greek magical papyri contain many instances of such egyptianizing transformations, which take very different forms in different texts or layers of tradition. Again, working out

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1536-467: The presynoptic era. He stated that each of these Sermons should be treated as independent texts as the SM is close to Jewish Palestine where Jesus originated and the SP addresses the Gentiles. Each of these Sermons tries to communicate Jesus’ legacy to different audiences by secondary "reconstructions of a foundational speech of Jesus, in two versions and not depending on a common source." Betz feels that

1584-402: The same speech, both of which were redactional compositions and as such the direction of the scholarship turned toward seeking the sources that were used by the evangelists. Among the hypotheses postulated during this time, Betz particularly seems to find the determinations made by Johann Gottfried Eichhorn at the turn of the century to be particularly important. According to Betz, Eichhorn was

1632-458: The sayings of the SM and the SP and determined their structure, composition and function. In doing so, he concluded that the oral transmission of the sayings of Jesus was carried on by his disciples for the purpose of collecting and preserving his legacy and that the move toward written sources occurred at the same time. He agreed with Eichhorn that they were not the products of redaction by the gospel writers of Matthew and Luke and originated during

1680-508: The seven contributors to the much talked of Essays and Reviews (1860); and, because of his Greek and Hebrew scholarship, was frequently consulted by the Revisers of the New Testament . But throughout his life, his main interest, begun when he was at school was in the elucidation of Ancient Egyptian and Coptic texts, more especially those Egyptian texts written in the cursive script called hieratic . In London, he spent much of his time in

1728-468: The study of ancient monuments and writings. PGM XII and XIII were the first to be published , appearing in 1843 in Greek and in a Latin translation in 1885. However, according to Betz 1992, the first scholarly publication has been credited to the British scholar Charles Wycliffe Goodwin , who published for the Cambridge Antiquarian Society , one PGM V, translated into English with commentary in 1853. In

1776-433: The texts was published in 1973-4 in two volumes. Volume 1 was a corrected version of the first edition volume 1, but volume 2 was entirely revised and the papyri originally planned for vol. III were included. The indexes were omitted, however. An English translation of Preisendanz's edited papyri, along with some additional Greek and Demotic texts, was produced in the 1980s by Hans Dieter Betz. The PGM can now be searched in

1824-408: The time Goodwin left Cambridge, he was a first class Greek scholar, an accomplished Hebraist, and an authority on Anglo-Saxon with valuable editions of new texts to his credit. He also had a considerably knowledge of natural history, especially geology. In London, where his practice was not large, he wrote music and art criticism; was for a time editor of Literary Gazette ; was the only layman among

1872-471: The type of spell. Such figurines have been found throughout the Mediterranean basin , usually in places that the ancient Greeks associated with the underworld: graves, sanctuaries, and bodies of water, all of which stress the border between life and death, which is a common theme in Greek magic. Some have been discovered in lead coffins, upon which the spell or curse has been inscribed. The religion of

1920-424: The values from his words and turn them into practical application for everyday life. Betz worked out these assumptions in his Hermeneia Commentary entitled "The Sermon on the Mount" (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1995). For an assessment of Betz' entire work see William Baird, "History of New Testament Research," vol. 3 (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2013), 659-87. Betz has devoted a great deal of scholarship discussing

1968-729: The version of the sermon that is reflected in their respective gospels. In 2000, Betz was awarded the Burkitt Medal by the British Academy . It is granted 'in recognition of special service to Biblical Studies'. Betz is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Charles Wycliffe Goodwin Charles Wycliffe Goodwin (1817–1878) was an English Egyptologist , bible scholar, lawyer and judge . His last judicial position

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2016-407: The work of Heinrici has been unduly overlooked by scholarship given that he offers an important perspective on the transmission of the message of Jesus and how we ended up with two speeches which are very similar and yet very different at the same time. However, scholarship went in a different direction at that time and focused on reconstructing the hypothetical source Q and discussions about the SM and

2064-486: The working manuals of travelling magicians, containing their repertoire of spells, formulae for all occasions. Some of these spells would allow an individual to subordinate another of a higher social standing. The pages contain spells, recipes, formulae, and prayers (e.g., the Prayer of Thanksgiving ), interspersed with magic words (such as charaktêres or the voces magicae ) and often in shorthand, with abbreviations for

2112-733: Was acquired by the diplomat Jean-François Mimaut (1774–1837) and were deposited in the French Bibliothèque Nationale . The major portion of the collection is the so-called Anastasi collection. About half a dozen of the papyri were purchased in about 1827 by a man calling himself Jean d'Anastasi , who may have been Armenian, and was a diplomatic representative at the Khedivial court in Alexandria. He asserted that he obtained them at Thebes (modern Luxor ), and he sold them to various major European collections, including

2160-470: Was also an appellate court from British consular courts in China and Japan. Goodwin served as assistant judge to Sir Edmund Hornby . Goodwin was based in Shanghai until 1874. In that year he moved to Yokohama where he was based until early 1877 when he returned to Shanghai. Goodwin became Acting Chief Judge in 1876 after Edmund Hornby retired. Goodwin died in Shanghai on 17 January 1878. He

2208-655: Was as Acting Chief Judge of the British Supreme Court for China and Japan . Goodwin was born on 2 April 1817 in King's Lynn , Norfolk . He studied at St Catharine's College, Cambridge and graduated, in 1838, 6th Classic and senior optime in Mathematics. He became a fellow of the College. He was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1843. He lost his fellowship of St Catharine's in 1847. The first papyrus publication has been credited to Goodwin, who published for

2256-557: Was associated with the Egyptian Hathor ) is given the epithet Neferihri , from Egyptian Nfr-iry.t 'nice eyes' (PGM IV. 1266). Within this profusion of cultural influences can still be seen classical Greek material, and perhaps even aspects of a more accessible "folk-religion" than those preserved in the mainstream literary texts. Sometimes the Greek gods depart from their traditional Olympian natures familiar to classicists, and seem far more chthonic , demonic, and bestial. This

2304-424: Was to determine whether the Sermon on the Mount and the Sermon on the Plain were the result of two speeches given by Jesus or two versions of the same speech. Origen believed that the SM and SP were two versions of the same speech given by Jesus, whereas Augustine believed that they were two speeches; with the SM having been delivered to the disciples and the SP given to the general public. The Enlightenment changed

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