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Full Description
John Nelson presents the first full length study of the Gospels' treatment of Jesus' appearance, exploring precisely why, though Christ's image is recognised throughout the modern world, he is not physically described in the texts. Nelson argues that while the Gospels resemble Graeco-Roman biographies in their focus on a single individual, they also frequently depart from the genre's conventions; one of their most glaring omissions, picked up in recent scholarship, is their total silence on what Jesus looked like.
Nelson thus explores how the evangelists as Jewish authors might have uniquely engaged both the genre of the Gospels and the topic of Jesus' physical appearance. He makes clear the distinction between two broad attitudes Jewish authors took to Greek genres: to assimilate that genre's conventions, and to 'indigenise,' or adopt the conventions of Jewish narrative prototypes in their adaption of Greek forms. Utilising genre theory, masculinity studies and post-colonial theory, Nelson consequently argues against the common view that Jewish writers simply adopted the same obsession with appearances that their gentile neighbours expressed, suggesting instead that the Gospels' reticence to describe Jesus' body may have been influenced by the reticence of biblical texts to describe the Lord's body.
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
Chapter One: Introduction: Behold the Man: The Puzzle of Jesus' Missing Appearance
Chapter Two: The Topos of Physical Appearance in Ancient Biography
Chapter Three: Adapting Biography: The Gospels' Indigenising Techniques
Chapter Four: The Christology of Appearances: King, Servant, Lord
Chapter Five: Keeping Up Appearances? Dress, Stature and Physiognomy in the Gospels
Conclusion: Behold the Man: Solving the Puzzle of Jesus' Missing Appearance
Appendix: Towards Re-Imagining Christ in the Silence
Bibliography
Index
