Marvin W. Meyer is Professor of Religion at Chapman University and director of the Coptic Magical Texts Project of the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity. Richard Smith teaches at Claremont Graduate School and was managing editor of The Nag Hammadi Library (revised edition).

The authors make a grand tour of Western philosophy, theology, and ethics. They provide brilliant analyses of pertinent thinkers, including Aristotle, Aquinas, Hobbes, Kant, Rousseau... The writing is fluid and engaging... Library Journal

• AcknowledgmentsIntroductionPt. 1Ritual Power in EgyptCh. 1Old Coptic Texts of Ritual PowerCh. 2Greek Texts of Ritual Power from Christian EgyptCh. 3Ritual Power in Coptic Gnostic TextsPt. 2Coptic Spells of Ritual PowerCh. 4Healing SpellsCh. 5Protective SpellsCh. 6Sexual SpellsCh. 7CursesCh. 8Spells with Other ApplicationsPt. 3Coptic Handbooks of Ritual PowerCh. 9Collections of RecipesCh. 10A Portfolio of Spells from the British LibraryCh. 11The Coptic Hoard of Spells from the University of MichiganCh. 12The Coptic Book of Ritual Power from LeidenCh. 13A Coptic Book of Ritual Power from HeidelbergAfterwordAppPreviously Unpublished Coptic Texts of Ritual Power in the Beinecke Library, Yale UniversityTextual NotesGlossaryIllustration CreditsBibliography

Marvin W. Meyer is Professor of Religion at Chapman University and director of the Coptic Magical Texts Project of the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity. Richard Smith teaches at Claremont Graduate School and was managing editor of The Nag Hammadi Library (revised edition).

The authors make a grand tour of Western philosophy, theology, and ethics. They provide brilliant analyses of pertinent thinkers, including Aristotle, Aquinas, Hobbes, Kant, Rousseau... The writing is fluid and engaging... Library Journal

• AcknowledgmentsIntroductionPt. 1Ritual Power in EgyptCh. 1Old Coptic Texts of Ritual PowerCh. 2Greek Texts of Ritual Power from Christian EgyptCh. 3Ritual Power in Coptic Gnostic TextsPt. 2Coptic Spells of Ritual PowerCh. 4Healing SpellsCh. 5Protective SpellsCh. 6Sexual SpellsCh. 7CursesCh. 8Spells with Other ApplicationsPt. 3Coptic Handbooks of Ritual PowerCh. 9Collections of RecipesCh. 10A Portfolio of Spells from the British LibraryCh. 11The Coptic Hoard of Spells from the University of MichiganCh. 12The Coptic Book of Ritual Power from LeidenCh. 13A Coptic Book of Ritual Power from HeidelbergAfterwordAppPreviously Unpublished Coptic Texts of Ritual Power in the Beinecke Library, Yale UniversityTextual NotesGlossaryIllustration CreditsBibliography