Miracles in Greco-Roman Antiquity: A Sourcebook for the Study of New Testament Miracle Stories (The Context of Early Christianity, 1) (Paperback)

~ We Cotter C.S.J (Author) "The significance of a hero's healing miracle is profoundly affected by any likeness it bears to actions of gods or heroes already known to the..." (more)
Key Phrases: fasting saliva, exorcism stories, leprous sores, Pliny the Elder, Natural History, Inscriptiones Graecae (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...all those interested in the miraculous in the New Testament, will benefit from Cotter's work." -- Review of Biblical Literature

... helpful... insightful... This is an excellent collection and will be a helpful textbook.
–Fred W. Burnett, Religious Studies Review

...all those interested in the miraculous in the New Testament...will benefit from Cotter's work.
–Review of Biblical Literature

...all those interested in the miraculous in the New Testament...will benefit from Cotters work.
–Review of Biblical Literature

...very useful... An extensive bibliography, indices to the ancient texts cited and to the miracles of Jesus as well as a general index to the volume, all make this text eminently user friendly... a rich resource... All those studying these miracle traditions will indeed be in her debt.
–Journal of Early Christian Studies

Product Description

Miracles in Greco-Roman Antiquity presents a collection in translation of miracle stories from the ancient world. The material is divided up into four main categories including healing, exorcism, nature and raising the dead.
Wendy Cotter, in an introduction and notes to the selections, contextualizes the miracles within the background of the Greco-Roman world and also compares the stories to other Jewish and non-Jewish miracle stories of the Mediterranean world. This sourcebook provides an interdisciplinary collection of material which will be of value to students of the New Testament.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (July 20, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415118646
• ISBN-13: 978-0415118644
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,705,857 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars New Testament Miracles In Context !!, May 8, 2007

By	David Stump - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The new testament content comes from the ancient mediterranean, a time when and where there were tales of "miracles". It may surprise some bible believers but the time and culture in and around the new testament had stories of wonders and miraculous deeds done by other figures. This book is an introductory compilation to some of the more well known ones at the time. What is so good about this book is that it has compiled many tales of miracles from ancient times, and it would take a long time to look them all up on your own, but in this book many of them are documented all in one cover. Reading these will wake one up to the ideological context of the "miraculous" in the culture that the new testament stems from. This need not be taken as showing that the new testament miracles are simply tales of it's time though. Some go that way, some don't. I think it's somewhere in the middle. The new testament miracles are most plausibly real deeds done by Jesus (and some from the apostles), and these deeds were indeed spectacular, and as such they may have been remembered and/or written using some of the wonder worker tales of the day back then. This doesn't make the new test. miracles any less real, it just means that the reality behind the miracle events may not be exactly as presented- this does not deny or undervalue the true significance of the things done by Jesus and the apostles though. Anyhow, for those who want to wrestle with this a bit more, new testament scholar Craig Blomberg has a pretty good conservative treatment of this in his book, The Historical Reliability of The Gospels. (look for a new edition of this due out in Jan. 2008) Another work that provides miraculous tales of antiquity in relation to the new testament is Documents For The Study of The Gospels by David Cartlidge.