Clothing the body of Christ at Colossae
Subtitle: a visual construction of identity
By: Rosemary Canavan
Series: Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament. 2. Reihe -- 334; Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament -- 334.
Publisher: Mohr Siebeck
Published: 2012
Place of publication: Tübingen
Language: eng
Number of pages: 247
ISBN-13: 9783161517167
Subjects: Primitive and early church; Social life and customs; Bible; Social scientific criticism; Christian sociology; Ancient Cities and towns; Christianity; Early church; Social status; Identity (Psychology); Church history; Clothing and dress; Manners and customs; Social classes; Social scientific criticism of sacred works; History
Description: What we think of our bodies and what we wear says something about who we are and how we belong. This was the same in the ancient world. Rosemary Canavan explores the imagery of clothing and body in the first century CE Christian writing. An examination of statuary, funerary monuments and coins in this geographical location contemporaneous with the letter's writing reveals how clothing and body images were understood. This is then placed in dialogue with the metaphorical use of clothing and body in other texts, especially the Letter to the Colossians. Social identity and rhetorical studies draw on archaeological, epigraphical, iconographical and literary sources to formulate a new approach to biblical interpretation aptly named "visual exegesis."
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 219-229) and indexes.
Table of contents: title: Colossae : the city and the letter; title: Scholarly context; title: Methodology; title: Visual imagery of clothing; title: The "body" as visual location of identity; title: Letter to the Colossians 3:1-17; title: A visual construction of identity : dialogue between images and text.