Network

Temporally, our research extends from the earliest evidence of verbal magic, up to the Early Modern period; a core mission is investigating links to current discourses and modern debates. Many principles of verbal magic have been practised in identical ways for thousands of years, and have not lost their fascination to this day – as evidenced by their contemporary reception in art and culture. The ambitions of harnessing supernatural powers, gaining authority or wisdom, and performing miracles, may be based on universal anthropological constants, which our analyses aim to identify. These include questions about the future, protecting health and material goods, longing for love, and fear of death.

Interdisciplinary Work on Script-Bearing Artefacts

With an initial basis in the field of medieval German studies, the network integrates numerous historically oriented disciplines from related fields: the history and study of religions, Assyriology, Egyptology, Islamic studies, Jewish studies, and Christian liturgical studies, as well as classical philology (Greek and Latin studies) and the history of medicine. This inclusive approach to diverse academic fields is designed to foster synergies, and lead to new theoretical frameworks. Methodologically, we conduct material-based research, analysing not only texts, but also script-bearing artefacts and other early sources. In the interdisciplinary research discourse, issues that are common to diverse disciplines are examined from various perspectives, providing the impetus for the development of research methods and for networking among smaller academic disciplines.

The broad thematic and temporal approach allows universal anthropological constants to be identified: What challenges have people attempted to solve with words, language, and writing since early times? How is the desired effect envisioned? What are the similarities and differences in the potency of verbal magic in its incarnations across various religious, magical, and medical traditions? While also engaging with modern discourses, our analyses will address questions that have interested humanity since its beginnings – ever since humans began to use language and its written notation to distinguish themselves from other living beings and sought to exert power over them.