Beware the Evil Eye Volume 1: The Evil Eye in the Bible and the Ancient World—Introduction, Mesopotamia, and Egypt
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus of Nazareth makes reference to one of the oldest beliefs in the ancient world--the malignity of an Evil Eye. The Holy Scriptures in their original languages contain no less than twenty-four references to the Evil Eye, although this is obscured by most modern Bible translations. John H. Elliott's Beware the Evil Eye describes this belief and associated practices, its history, its voluminous appearances in ancient cultures, and the extensive research devoted to it over the centuries in order to unravel this enigma for readers who have never heard of the Evil Eye and its presence in the Bible.
“Evil Eye beliefs and practices are founded on coherent
pre- modern theories of vision and make sense in cultural
situations where the vagaries of chance, accidents, disease, and
death impinge on all aspects of human life. Elliott’s two volumes
offer the teacher an invaluable resource for helping students think
about practices that have had salience from the times of the
Sumerians until our day.”
“It is impossible in a review adequately to describe the breadth of
Elliott’s work, since he seems to have ferreted out of 2000 years
of ancient cultures practically every instantiation of Evil
Eye belief and practice, of which there seem to be hundreds of
variations. The two volumes are splendidly illustrated throughout
with photographs and drawings of hundreds of amulets, gurines,
mosaics, and inscriptions. This collection will become a standard
reference work in ethnography.”
---John S. Kloppenborg,
Department for the Study of Religion, University of Toronto, ON
“Evil Eye beliefs and practices are founded on coherent
pre- modern theories of vision and make sense in cultural
situations where the vagaries of chance, accidents, disease, and
death impinge on all aspects of human life. Elliott’s two volumes
offer the teacher an invaluable resource for helping students think
about practices that have had salience from the times of the
Sumerians until our day.”
“It is impossible in a review adequately to describe the breadth of
Elliott’s work, since he seems to have ferreted out of 2000 years
of ancient cultures practically every instantiation of Evil
Eye belief and practice, of which there seem to be hundreds of
variations. The two volumes are splendidly illustrated throughout
with photographs and drawings of hundreds of amulets, gurines,
mosaics, and inscriptions. This collection will become a standard
reference work in ethnography.”
---John S. Kloppenborg,
Department for the Study of Religion, University of Toronto, ON
Product Details
- Title : Beware the Evil Eye Volume 1: The Evil Eye in the Bible and the Ancient World—Introduction, Mesopotamia, and Egypt
- Author: Elliott, John H.
- Publisher: Cascade Books
- Publication Date: 2015
- ISBN: 9781498273657