The author’s theological
distinction between Magic and Miracles, Simon and Peter, is apparent from the
two examples: Peter continually challenges his opponent not to hide from him but
rather to join him in combat. This creates an image comparable to the final
showdown at “High Noon” in any classic Western. These challenges are often
miraculous– as illustrated by the large dog and the infant who ridicule Simon
and orders when and where he must meet Peter.
All of the encounters are public; they take place in public parts of the
city and the final confrontation happens in the Forum – before the eyes of
several members of the ruling class. One of the prefects, Agrippa, even serves
as the impartial judge at the showdown. The distinguished members of the
community all take a very active part in the confrontation, as do members of
the public in general. The confrontation thus occurs in front of an audience
presented as a vicious lynch mob who threatens – and seem very eager to – burn
the loser.
This focus on
describing the fight as a public show suggests the author regarded the contest
as an example of the ancient “Challenge-Response (or riposte) games”. Such
games of honor were part of the social interaction in the first-century
Mediterranean agonistic societies. While involving various degrees of violence,
at stake in these competitions was the honor of the champions as well as that
of their patrons.
In these public
confrontations, always between equals, the beaten competitor would be ridiculed
and he would lose part of his own and his patron's honor. The honor or the
respect at stake was divided into two: The acquired honor was the socially recognized
claim to worth that a person obtains by achievements. The ascribed honour was that
which one inherited or received from another person’s achievements. Acquiring
and retaining honour was especially important as the amount of honour available
was seen as limited (as were all the commodities of the ancient society), thus leading
to an exceptionally competitive world. Honour, this limited and pivotal
commodity, was often gained through Challenge-Response games, which may be
divided into four stages:
1) a challenge is
issued through words, deeds or both;
2) the challenge is
recognized as a challenge of honour by the involved parties and the public;
3) the defending
part's reaction is described;
and 4) the public
evaluate the reaction of the involved parties.
In the case of the
Acts of Peter all four stages are present at each of the major combats.
Whether or not the original author consciously modeled the encounter on
the Challenge-Response game-system, the danger of losing face underlies the
entire battle: Simon seeks to ridicule Jesus – stating "I will convict you (Peter) of having
believed in a mere man, a Jew and the son of a carpenter" and
elsewhere asks "Is God born? Is he
crucified? He who owns a Lord is no God".
On the other hand Peter must destroy the authority and popularity of
Simon to triumph. The patron’s honor becomes the focal point of the
confrontations as a victory for Simon would destroy the Roman congregation, the
Church, and prove Jesus a mere man.
The crowds summarize the contest and its ultimate purpose well, shouting
"Show us, Peter, who is your god, or
what is his greatness, which has given you such confidence. Do not be
ungenerous to the Romans; they are lovers of the gods. We have had evidence
from Simon, now let us have yours; convince us, both of you, whom we should
truly believe!" – adding later that "We will not only throw [the loser] out but that self-same hour we will
burn him with fire."
As mentioned, this earthly battle continues the strife between God and
Satan. The Acts of Peter states that God’s purpose in sending his Son into the
world was to repress and put an end to Satan's activities. A conflict clearly
resumed in Peter's struggle against Simon. The patrons set their champions to
battle each other and the spoils for this contest are the Roman congregation, and
it can safely be assumed that is a symbol of the entire early Church and its
faith.
This Challenge-Response game held by God and Satan leads us to the
champions themselves as presented in the Acts of Peter. (SLIDE 9) The reports reaching Rome initially
introduce Simon as one performing great deeds through the power of God: "some said that they had seen miracles done
by a man whose name was Simon. They added further "He says that he is the
great power of God, and that without God he does nothing. Is he then himself
the Christ?"
Simon is described by the
following titles: “the Great Power of God”; “God in Italy”; “Saviour of the
Romans”; and the “Young God”. His initial actions and deeds portray Simon as a
divine man.
His arrival in Rome causes such a “great disruption” that the members of
the congregation expect the coming of Christ himself. This initial positive
introduction of Simon may serve the narrative purpose of presenting him as positively
as possible in order to make his subsequent downfall all the more impressive.
But immediately when Peter enters the scene in Rome and the struggle
commences Simon is only described negatively and even derogatively: scared and
intimidated by Peter and using a weak and worthless voice. Described as “a very
evil man”, the “agent of Satan” the “enemy of the Lord”, and even given the
supernatural titles of an “inconstant demon”, “the angel of Satan" and
“the angel of the devil”.
The exegetical reasoning thus derives Peter’s power as a magus from
being this messenger and servant of Satan. The narrative portrays Simon as the
magician or sorcerer through whose “incantations and wicked tricks” Satan
“perverts” the believers. Simon performs only evil trickery, delusions and
demonic manipulation.
In a fascinating little side story within the Acts of Peter Simon even
uses magic to steal gold from an old woman.
Interestingly it is said in this context that no one should touch the
stolen gold in order to "avoid pollution".
In a vision to Peter Jesus informs him, while smiling, that Simon only works
"charms and illusions of magic". Thus Simon's magic results solely in
deceit, destruction and death – Simon never performs any beneficial acts in the
Acts of Peter. His magic is described as short-lived, often relying on magical
powders, trickery, delusions and illusions.
In contrast, Peter is, as befits the hero of the story, presented
entirely positively. The Acts of Peter presents Peter as a savior - Peter is on
a mission from God and arrives as an answer to the prayers of the remaining Roman
congregation.
The presentation closely parallels that of Christ in the Gospels – possessing
divine power and appearing after death. Endowed with miraculous power Peter may
persuade the congregation to return to Christ.
As such he serves God as his earthly sword or gladiator who in the
absence of Christ on earth is charged to go and combat Simon.
The permanent miracles he performs results from invoking the name of
Jesus Christ. An example is the resurrection of the fish:”In thy name, Jesus
Christ, in which they still fail to believe, in the presence of all these be
alive and swim like a fish".
One exceptions to this is that Peter informs
that a broken statue may be repaired if the owner will "Take some
running water in your hands and pray to the Lord; then sprinkle it in his name
over the broken pieces of the statue and it will be restored as before.” But
even in this case the prayer and the name are emphasised.
Otherwise the miracles are either worked
through the name of Jesus Christ or part of a prayer to Christ.
Through that name Peter combats Simon and persuades the Roman
congregation to return. Again the reaction of the crowds summarizes his victory
as they all cry out at the end of the final confrontation: "there is but one God, the one God of Peter"
and "Thou art God the Savior, thou
the God of Peter, the invisible God, the Savior."
Concluding remarks upon Magic and Miracles in the Acts
of Peter.
To sum up, the
analysis of the supernatural fight between magic and miracles allows the following
conclusions: The main difference between Simon and Peter lies in the theological
distinction between magic and miracles. Simon performs his deeds by using magical
powders and his tricks are called delusions and deceits.
Peter, on the other hand, performs miracles, which are presented as
divinely sanctioned deeds – deeds granted by requests made in the name of Jesus
Christ.
The dichotomy thus exists between Satan’s magic and God’s miracles. The
narrative presents the two as a clear case of evil versus good. The magician is
a trickster whose actions cause misery and danger to both soul and property.
The chosen champion of God, on the other hand, can safely channel the
power granted by God. The granted power from God is not magical, according to
the rationale of the Acts of Peter, but rather miraculous, because all magic belongs in the realm of Satan. Miracles are
beneficial and contrary to the magician’s tricks, permanent when needed. The
one exception to the beneficial nature of the miracles is in the later parts of
the story where Peter sees Simon flying above Rome. Peter then "cried out
to the Lord Christ Jesus, "Make haste, Lord, with thy grace; and let him
fall down from this height, and be crippled, but not die; but let him be
disabled and break his leg in three places"
The Acts of Peter clearly represents a theological author's effort to
differentiate between magic and miracles – arguments that there exists no
apparent difference between the two supernatural terms is disputed by the
author. He clearly saw a fundamental difference between the two. Instead of
providing a tale for amusement the author wrote this treatise into the
socio-historic context of the young church as an argument in favour of a
“magic-free” church.
Indeed, the purpose of the Acts of Peter may be to present a theological
document that could end the struggle regarding the place of magic within early Christianity.
As part of this argument the accusations of Jesus as a magician (as found in Justin
Martyr's First Apology (30.1) and Dialogue with Trypho (69.7)) are also
countered in the Acts of Peter, which refines the distinction found in the New
Testament (e.g. Acts 19:13-19).
The Acts of Peter presents a clear theological distinction between the
two: magic is short termed and deceitful – miracles are permanent and
beneficial. It emphasizes the fact that all magical practices belong in the realm of
Satan whereas miracles derive from the name of and through the power of Christ.
The Acts of Peter is a battle between evil, as personified by Simon, who serves Satan, and good, as represented by
Peter, the servant of God.
It served to inform its intended audience that Magic was regarded as purely
evil and had no place within the Church.
Perhaps these theological attempts at demonstrating the evil nature of
magic explain why the Acts of Peter will never become a blockbuster like Harry
Potter and similar work: Instead of conveying the popular "magic is
believing in yourself, if you do that, you can make anything happen," the Acts of Peter states gloomily that
"magic is the destruction of truth and the wicked seeds of
corruption."
And that will never be the punch line of a blockbuster :-).
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