ABSTRACT
The topic under discussion lies at the intersection of two categories which have proven contentious and difficult to define. The debate over the sense in which we should understand “Gnostic” (not to mention the modern neologism “Gnosticism”), and indeed the value of the category in the ancient world, is of course longstanding, and is treated elsewhere in this volume. No less, however, has the probity of using the term “magic” for the set of ancient practices traditionally covered by the term, and indeed the integrity of the category as an analytical field, been called into question in recent decades: a representative sample of thoughts on this issue may be found in essays in Mirecki and Meyer 2002, Meyer and Mirecki 2001, and Faraone and Obbink 1991.
