Charlotte Spence and Ryan Denson of the University of Exeter are preparing what looks to be a fascinating volume for publication. Here is their pitch:

Magical spells, even for so benign a purpose as healing one’s sick horse, are anathema to God — ̶ so
declared the sixth-century hermit Barsanuphius of Palestine in response to a letter from a fellow
Christian. Such healing incantations and other customs such as apotropaic amulets were commonplace
within the cultures of the ancient Mediterranean, but were frequently denounced by Christian
authorities as inherently sinful. These practices were, in effect, deemed as inappropriate or demonic
uses of the supernatural. Yet, no consensus ever existed among Late Antique Christians on defining and
delimiting one’s relationship(s) with supernatural forces. Some, such as Barsanuphius, deemed the only
appropriate source to be derived directly from the Christian God through prayer or another means.
Other Christians of the Late Antique world would be less hostile towards these traditional practices and
customs. The corpus of amulets examined in Theodore De Bruyn’s Making Amulets Christian (2017)
serves as an example of the latter, negotiating a different relationship with the supernatural,
incorporating, rather than shunning, such conventional means of utilizing supernatural power into a
Christian worldview.
Recent works, such as Mark Letteney’s The Christianization of Knowledge in Late Antiquity (2023), have
examined shifting knowledge in contexts such as historiographical and legal texts as a result of
Christianization. Relatively few studies, however, have devoted attention directly towards examining the
transitioning nature of the supernatural itself due to trends in Christianization. The primary focus of this
volume is just such an examination, exploring how earlier conceptions of the supernatural intersected
with, impacted upon, and reacted against Christian thought in Late Antiquity. Here, we broadly define
the ‘supernatural’ as an indefinite classification for ideas and beliefs that stand outside of what is
deemed to be ‘natural’ in the modern secular imagination. The term serves as a convenient, albeit
artificial, category for a broad range of phenomena in folkloric, mythological, and religious contexts from
monsters and divinities to marvels and extraordinary abilities. Studying the cultural conceptions of the
supernatural allows us a window into possibilities and alternative means of considering reality beyond
the arbitrary dictates of modern ‘rationality.’
Our edited volume, entitled The Christian and the Supernatural in Late Antiquity, is under contract with
Trivent as part of their Advances in the History of Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion series. We seek
additional contributions of c. 10,000 words that explore this complex nature of the relationship between
Late Antique Christians and the supernatural as we have broadly defined it here. Chapters already
included within the volume involve topics such as healing spells on Aramaic incantation bowls, curse
tablets, dreams, and conceptions of demonic bodies.
Other contributions might include, but are not limited to:

Uses and perceptions of supernatural power(s) by Late Antique Christians
The (un)reality of monstrous figures and other supernatural entities
Marvels/adynata and their place within Christian epistemology
Veneration/rejection of different supernatural forces
Narratives and folkloric motifs involving supernatural elements

Abstracts of c. 250 words, a provisional title, and a short bio should be sent to Dr. Ryan Denson
(r.denson@exeter.ac.uk) and Dr. Charlotte Spence (c.spence2@exeter.ac.uk) by March 1, 2024.