Cleansed Lepers, Cleansed Hearts: Purity and Healing in Luke-Acts

270 Pages·2015·0.98 MB·English

by  Pamela Shellberg

Social dimensions of “cleansing”
S
h
metaphors in Luke–Acts—
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Pamela Shellberg shows that Luke’s use of the language of “clean” and “unclean” has particular e
first-century medical connotations that make it especially powerful for expressing his under- rg
standing of the universal salvation prophesied by Isaiah and by Jesus. Shellberg traces how the
stories of Jesus’ cleansing of leprous bodies in the Gospel became the pattern for the divine cleans-
ing of Gentile hearts throughout Acts, and one of Luke’s primary expressions of the means of
God’s salvation and favor through the dissolving of distinctions between Jew and Gentile.
Praise for Cleansed Lepers, Cleansed Hearts
“In her new book, Cleansed Lepers, Cleansed Hearts, Pamela Shellberg offers an innovative
approach to the study of Luke–Acts. Using ancient medical texts, she contextualizes ancient
understandings of leprosy and relates them to Luke’s ideas about clean and unclean and the inclu-
sion of Gentiles into the emerging church. This approach establishes new links between Luke
and Acts and further contextualizes both in the first-century Greco-Roman world. Besides an
innovative approach, Shellberg offers an engaging style that demonstrates confidence and erudi-
Cleansed Lepers, Cleansed Hearts
tion. Cleansed Lepers, Cleansed Hearts is a valuable contribution to the field, and it is a must-read
for anyone interested in Luke–Acts and questions of Gentile inclusion in the early church.”
Kevin Sullivan | Illinois Wesleyan University C
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e
“Dr. Shellberg’s thesis, with its careful linking of leprosy, acceptability, and cleansing in Luke– a Purity and Healing in Luke–Acts
Acts, breaks new ground in the discussion of the formation of early Christian identity. This n
book is a must-read for everyone interested in the process whereby early Christian communities s
e
reshaped their identities to proclaim the inclusion of Gentiles through God’s divine power and
d
prerogative.”

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Gwen Sayler | Wartburg Theological Seminary    e
p
“Pay attention to this emerging scholar and impassioned teacher! Pamela Shellberg writes with e
confidence and joy, plus she has something worthwhile to say. Adroitly bringing together the r
s
exegete’s skills, the poet’s imagination, and the theologian’s inquisitiveness, she opens up—beau- ,

tifully, insightfully—how Luke, in confronting the division between Jew and Gentile, uses the C
cleansing of the leprosy-afflicted body to signal God’s boundary-bursting redefinition of holiness le
and ever-expansive love for all creation.” a
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Marvin M. Ellison | Union Theological Seminary
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Pamela Shellberg has taught New Testament at Bangor Theological
e
Seminary in Bangor, Maine. She holds a PhD in religious studies from
a
Marquette University. She is currently the scholar-in-residence at
r
The BTS Center, mission successor to Bangor Theological Seminary, t
s
developing educational programs to equip and support clergy and
laypeople for twenty-first-century ministries.
Pamela Shellberg
Religion / New Testament
e m e r g i n g s c h o l a r s
Additional Praise for Cleansed Lepers,
Cleansed Hearts
“Beautifully written and rich in theological significance, Shellberg’s
work explores the seldom investigated cleansing theme from Luke-
Acts, which served to authorize the legitimacy of mission to the
Gentiles as an expression of divine power and prerogative for their
authentic inclusion as God’s acceptable people.”
Craig L. Nessan
Wartburg Theological Seminary
“Clearly argued and well-written, Cleansed Lepers, Cleansed Hearts
offers insights that will be helpful to preachers and pastors as well as
teachersandstudentsofLuke-Acts. PamelaShellberg’sinsightsabout
lepra and cleansing in Luke-Acts can help any of us who are faced
with the challenge to interpret texts about Jesus’ miraculous healings
correctly and make meaningful connections between these stories
and notions of acceptability and inclusion in our faith communities
today.”
Amy E. Richter
St. Anne’s Episcopal Church, Annapolis, Maryland
“Shellberg’s work offers an important contribution to the study of
Luke’s perspective on the inclusion of Gentiles in God’s kingdom.
Her detailed investigation of the concepts of lepra and katharizō in
various contexts of the evangelist’s milieu is, by itself, a valuable
resource for students of the gospels. Here, it facilitates an insightful
and convincing proposal of how Luke construes and integrates these
realities to serve a crucial dimension of his narrative rhetoric across
his two-volume work.”
Karl Kuhn
Lakeland College
“In this careful study, grounded in her dissertation research, Dr.
Pamela Shellberg reinterprets the notions of leprosy, clean, and
unclean in Luke-Acts. She applies this to a major turning point for
Christianity’sspreadinActs,theconversionoftheGentileCornelius.
By studying the Lukan term lepra in the Septuagint and ancient
medical texts, she differentiates its meaning from contemporary
understandings of leprosy. I highly recommend this fresh study.”
William S. Kurz, SJ
Marquette University
Cleansed Lepers, Cleansed Hearts

Cleansed Lepers,
Cleansed Hearts
Purity and Healing in Luke-Acts
Pamela Shellberg
Fortress Press
Minneapolis
CLEANSED LEPERS, CLEANSED HEARTS
Purity and Healing in Luke-Acts
Copyright © 2015 Fortress Press. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations
in critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any
manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Visit
http://www.augsburgfortress.org/copyrights/ or write to Permissions, Augsburg
Fortress, Box 1209, Minneapolis, MN 55440.
Unless otherwise noted, English translations of the New Testament texts will be
taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, © 1989 by the
Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ
in the U.S.A.; English translations of the Septuagint will be taken from Albert
Pietersma and Benjamin G. Wright, eds.,A New English Translation of the
Septuagint(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007).
Cover design: Alisha Lofgren
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Print ISBN: 978-1-4514-8524-0
eBook ISBN: 978-1-4514-9431-0
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences — Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z329.48-1984.
Manufactured in the U.S.
This book was produced using PressBooks.com, and PDF rendering was done by
PrinceXML.
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
1. Introduction 1
2. Leprain Ancient Contexts 29
3. DektosandKatharizō 95
4. KatharizōTexts in Luke-Acts 149
5. Reading the Peter-Cornelius Story Again 197
“Their Hearts were Cleansed by Faith”
Bibliography 219
Index of Authors 245
Index of Scripture Passages 249

Acknowledgments
InthisverymomentIfeelalittlebitlikeAbram,standingoutsidethe
tent of my book and hearing God whisper in my ear, “Look toward
heavenandcountthestars,ifyouareabletocountthem”(Gen.15:5).
A universe of space and time has expanded around this project so
that I stand with it now under a vast sky of stars, constellations of
friends and family who span the horizon from California to Maine
and whose love and support have kept the measure of many of my
seasons. The psalmist writes that God has numbered the stars and
given to all of them their names (Ps. 147:4). This is a beautiful
thought to me, and I rest in it as I give thanks for all those who are
numbered in my starry skies of Dubuque and Chicago, Milwaukee
and Madison, Portland and Bangor—your names are known,
imprinted in this page and on my heart.
I want to express my deep gratitude to Dr. Kevin Sullivan for
his unfailing support and steadfast commitment to me and to the
completionofthiswork.IamgratefulforthefacultyintheTheology
Department, for the excellent education I received and for the
faculty’s largesse in extending to me so many opportunities for
growth. I want to thank especially the members of my dissertation
board, Dr. Sharon Pace, Dr. Michael Duffey, and Fr. William Kurz,
for the time and careful attention given to ideas I present here. I
ix