BYU is in possession of a small but important collection of ancient Coptic texts. Among these are three ostraca that contain an ancient love spell that invokes Egyptian, Jewish, and Christian deities. This spell—never before translated—is unique and reveals much about the use of magic in late antiquity and the survival of Egyptian religion.

Lincoln H. Blumell is an associate professor of Ancient Scripture at Brigham Young University. Blumell specializes in Early Christianity and Greek and Coptic papyrology and epigraphy. His publications include the upcoming book Didymus the Blind’s Commentary on the Psalms 26:10–29:2 and 36:1–3 and two earlier books Christian Oxyrhynchus: Texts, Documents, and Sources (2015, with Thomas A. Wayment) and Lettered Christians: Christians, Letters, and Late Antique Oxyrhynchus (2012).