‘A young man's brow and an old man's beard’: The rise and fall of Joseph of Arimathea in English Reformation thought

Although the accounts of Joseph of Arimathea's mission to England have their origins in the medieval era, it was during the early modern period that they began to provide a polemical purpose. The English had for centuries used Joseph as proofpositive that their Church had been founded in aposto...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Cunningham, Jack P. 1964- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Published: Sage 2009
In: Theology
Year: 2009, Volume: 112, Issue: 868, Pages: 251-259
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:Although the accounts of Joseph of Arimathea's mission to England have their origins in the medieval era, it was during the early modern period that they began to provide a polemical purpose. The English had for centuries used Joseph as proofpositive that their Church had been founded in apostolic times. In the Reformation this usefulness only increased as Joseph could now be used to demonstrate that the English Church had been founded independently of Rome. What emerged was something of a theological oddity. This article discusses how the British Reformed writers used exactly the type of myths that the Reformation had set its face against, and how ultimately these legends fell from grace.
ISSN:2044-2696
Contains:Enthalten in: Theology
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1177/0040571X0911200403