and belts of Paul could also function in a similar way, especially in the hands of
believers who already received the Spirit themselves. From the same theory it
follows that the exorcists operating in the name of Jesus were doomed to failure,
as they were lacking the special relationto Jesus as a parhedros that one could
only acquire through initiation. Once again, the culture-specific understanding of
magical theory shapes the story that is based on cross-cultural patterns at a
deeper level. The failure of the incompetent magicians invokes comical motifs,
which is not unknown in ancient literature. In Lucian’sPhilopseudes(“Lover of
Lies”)33–6, the incompetent apprenticefloods the house with water; in Apuleius’
Metamorphoses3 the maidservant Photis changes her lover Lucius into an ass.
A less dramatic variant of this motif occurs in the synoptics, where the disciples
unsuccessfully attempt to heal the man with dropsy, which Jesus immediately
achieves (Mk 9:17–28; Matt. 17:14–18; Luke 9:38–42).
The whole Ephesian activity of Paul also belongs to the genre of“magical
contest.”Such a genre can be identified in Jewish and Christian literature, the
best-known example in the Hebrew Bible being the competition of Elijah with
the priests of Baal on Mount Carmel (1 Kgs 18:20–40). In the Apocryphal Acts
of the Apostles, the contest of Peter and Simon Magus in the Acts of Peter is a
famous example (with parallels in the Pseudo-Clementines). In the canonical
Acts, the apostles defeat two magicians: Simon Magus (Acts 7:9–24) and Bar-Jesus
(or Elymas, Acts 13:6–12). In this respect, the Ephesian episode demonstrates
that ancient readers mobilized the same cognitive mechanisms when process-
ing the respective accounts about Paul’s and the magicians’activity, making
judgments about the skill of the magical experts and the power of their
parhedroi. For the Christian reader, nevertheless, the text could testify to the
inferiority of the“others”when they were challenged by the apostle of God.
6.7 CONCLUSIONIn this chapter we have used cognitive theory to rethink the concept of magic,
suggesting that in spite of the troubled history of the concept in both ancient
and modern usage, it remains a helpful category for studying religion and
related cultural forms. In the largest part of the chapter, we focused on
cognitive mechanisms that underlie the theory and practice of magic cross-
culturally. Magic is based on the elementary learning mechanism of supersti-
tious conditioning, gains support from implicit and explicit (cross-cultural as
well as culture-specific) cognitive processes, and interacts with miracle tradi-
tions. The last component was especially strong in earliest Christianity, where
stories about the miracles of Jesus and the apostles were accompanied by
evidence of and encouragement for performing miracles by both experts and
ordinary members of the movement.
140 Cognitive Science and the New Testament