Gebet, Exorzismus und Magie. Die kirchliche Konstruktion legitimer und illegitimer Rituale am Beispiel der Cyprianlegende
JbAC 6465 (2021/2022) Seiten: 52-74
The early Christian church considered magic to be pagan; thus, any individual wanting to join the church was required to avoid magical rituals. At the same time, the church created its own rituals by adapting and transforming forms of magical rituals and presenting them under the garb of Christianity. This process was accompanied by an artificial separation of rituals into legitimate and illegitimate ones, although this demarcation is not always clear today. This paper examines this construction of legitimate and illegitimate rituals on the basis of the legend of Cyprian to elucidate the gray areas between prayer, exorcism, and magic in Late Antiquity. The survival of amulets and exorcisms in Christian times clearly indicates that the ban on magic did not succeed.
Daniel Vaucher