Resurrecting Amulets and Ostraca within New Testament Textual Criticism

Abstract

Abstract This article explores the value of amulets and magical ostraca for New Testament textual criticism. We begin by defining amulets and magical ostraca and describing how New Testament text is recorded on them. We then survey which amulets and magical ostraca were used in twentieth-century critical editions of the Greek New Testament and why these categories were added and then subsequently removed from the Kurzgefaßte Liste. After presenting the status quaestionis on these artifacts, we describe a shift in New Testament textual criticism toward an increasing appreciation of and curiosity about the social milieu of those who used the biblical text. This has generated fresh perspectives on the value and merit of amulets and magical ostraca, which justify their inclusion in the ECM, CBGM, and the Kurzgefaßte Liste. We discuss the necessary stipulations for the inclusion of these items and explain why the “talisman” and “ostracon” categories in the Kurzgefaßte Liste have been resurrected. Finally, we bring the Kurzgefaßte Liste up-to-date by cataloging amulets up to T39 and magical ostraca up to Os30, outlining how their inclusion affects already cataloged witnesses and how images and transcriptions of these new additions are already accessible in the NTVMR (New Testament Virtual Manuscript Room).