Uncircumcision in Early Christian Art
Apart from Adam and Eve, all the figures depicted nude in early Christian art are Jewish men, notably Daniel in the lions' den, Jonah at rest under the gourd plant, and Jesus in the scene of his baptism. Notwithstanding biblical authority to the contrary, they are consistently depicted as uncir...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Johns Hopkins Univ. Press
[2018]
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| In: |
Journal of early Christian studies
Year: 2018, Volume: 26, Issue: 4, Pages: 601-629 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Church
/ Art
/ Biblical person
/ Penis
/ Circumcision (Man)
|
| IxTheo Classification: | CE Christian art HA Bible KAB Church history 30-500; early Christianity |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | Apart from Adam and Eve, all the figures depicted nude in early Christian art are Jewish men, notably Daniel in the lions' den, Jonah at rest under the gourd plant, and Jesus in the scene of his baptism. Notwithstanding biblical authority to the contrary, they are consistently depicted as uncircumcised. This "error" may be attributed to ignorance, inadvertence, or an unreflective mimicry of readily available models, but this paper argues that such visual uncircumcision had, instead, a principled basis. In particular, it conformed to negative theological, social, and aesthetic attitudes towards the Jewish ritual and, more generally, towards Jews. |
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| ISSN: | 1086-3184 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of early Christian studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1353/earl.2018.0053 |