Social-scientific criticism: Perspective, process and payoff. Evil eye accusation at Galatia as illustration of the method

Note: Prof. Dr John H. Elliott is participating as a research associate of Prof. Dr Ernest van Eck, Department of New Testament Studies, Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, South Africa. This article is an English version (with minor modifications and additions) of an essay first published in French as ‘Lecture socioscientifique. Illustration par l’accusation du Mauvais Oeil en Galatie’ in Guide des nouvelles lectures de la Bible, edited by André Lacocque (Éditions Bayard, Paris, 2005:141–167). The author would like to express his gratitude to Bayard-Presse for the permission to publish this English version. Space limitations prohibit mention of numerous studies relevant to SSC and the evil eye in the ancient world that have appeared since 2005. Therefore, it was decided to limit this English version to the content of its French counterpart.