Sorcery, Wheels, and Mirror Punishment in the Apocalypse of Peter
The Apocalypse of Peter depicts a scene where the punitive fate of sinners in the afterlife is described with great specificity. The Apoc. Petr. asserts that each sinner will be divinely punished "according to his works," and much recent scholarship on the work has attempted to demonstrate...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Johns Hopkins Univ. Press
2010
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| In: |
Journal of early Christian studies
Year: 2010, Volume: 18, Issue: 1, Pages: 29-49 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | The Apocalypse of Peter depicts a scene where the punitive fate of sinners in the afterlife is described with great specificity. The Apoc. Petr. asserts that each sinner will be divinely punished "according to his works," and much recent scholarship on the work has attempted to demonstrate that the majority of these punishments correspond logically with the sins that prompted them. However, the curious depiction of the sin of sorcery being paired with the punishment of sorcerers being bound to a revolving wheel has posed a problem for scholars, for this seems to defy the pattern of intelligible correspondence between a sin and its subsequent punishment. In this article I will propose a solution to this seeming incongruity. Using the model of mirror punishment as how the author envisioned "according to his work" as functioning, along with an examination of implements considered to have been used in magic in antiquity, I suggest that a logical correspondence between this sin and its punishment becomes intelligible. |
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| ISSN: | 1086-3184 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of early Christian studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1353/earl.0.0304 |