We a good story
Quick delivery in the UK

Contested Cures

About Contested Cures

Studies the people, places and objects credited with ritual cures and the elite rhetoric critical of these cures In the ancient Mediterranean world, individuals routinely looked for divine aid to cure physical afflictions. Contested Cures argues that the inevitability of sickness and injury made people willing to experiment with seemingly beneficial techniques, even if they originated in a foreign cultural or religious tradition. With circumstances of close cultural contacts, such as prevailed in Palestine, the setting was ripe for neighbouring Jews, Samaritans, Christians, Greeks and Romans to borrow rituals perceived to be efficacious and to alter them to fit their own religious framework. As a result, they employed related means of seeking miraculous cures. The similarities of these rituals, despite changes in the identity of the divine healers that they invoked, made them the subject of polemical discourse among elite authors trying to police collective borders. Contested Cures investigates the resulting intersection of ritual healing and communal identity. This innovative study synthesises evidence for the full range of healing rituals that were practised in the ancient Mediterranean world. Examining both literary and archaeological evidence, it considers ritual healing as a component of identity formation and deconstructs the artificial boundary between 'magic' and 'religion' in relation to ritual cures. Megan S. Nutzman is Assistant Professor in the History Department at Old Dominion University.

Show more
  • Language:
  • English
  • ISBN:
  • 9781399502733
  • Binding:
  • Hardback
  • Pages:
  • 264
  • Published:
  • November 30, 2022
  • Dimensions:
  • 240x161x24 mm.
  • Weight:
  • 558 g.
Delivery: 2-3 weeks
Expected delivery: July 4, 2024

Description of Contested Cures

Studies the people, places and objects credited with ritual cures and the elite rhetoric critical of these cures In the ancient Mediterranean world, individuals routinely looked for divine aid to cure physical afflictions. Contested Cures argues that the inevitability of sickness and injury made people willing to experiment with seemingly beneficial techniques, even if they originated in a foreign cultural or religious tradition. With circumstances of close cultural contacts, such as prevailed in Palestine, the setting was ripe for neighbouring Jews, Samaritans, Christians, Greeks and Romans to borrow rituals perceived to be efficacious and to alter them to fit their own religious framework. As a result, they employed related means of seeking miraculous cures. The similarities of these rituals, despite changes in the identity of the divine healers that they invoked, made them the subject of polemical discourse among elite authors trying to police collective borders. Contested Cures investigates the resulting intersection of ritual healing and communal identity. This innovative study synthesises evidence for the full range of healing rituals that were practised in the ancient Mediterranean world. Examining both literary and archaeological evidence, it considers ritual healing as a component of identity formation and deconstructs the artificial boundary between 'magic' and 'religion' in relation to ritual cures. Megan S. Nutzman is Assistant Professor in the History Department at Old Dominion University.

User ratings of Contested Cures



Find similar books
The book Contested Cures can be found in the following categories:

Join thousands of book lovers

Sign up to our newsletter and receive discounts and inspiration for your next reading experience.