Paul's Visual Piety: The Metamorphosis of the Beholder

327 Pages·2013·27.762 MB·English

by  J. M. F. Heath

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ALSO PUBLISHED BY J. M. F. Heath is Lecturer in New Testament at
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Durham University.
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This book is at the interface between Visual Studies and Biblical Studies. For several decades,
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scholars of visuality have been uncovering the significance of everyday visual practices, in the
Roman Christianity and Roman Stoicism
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sense of learnt habits of viewing and the assumptions that underpin them. They have shown
A Comparative Study of Ancient Morality
that these play a key role in forming and maintaining relationships in religious devotion and H
Runar M. Thorsteinsson
in social life. The ‘Visual Studies’ movement brought issues such as these to the attention of
also available in paperback
most humanities disciplines by the end of the twentieth century, but until very recently made
little impact on Biblical Studies.
Cosmology and Self in the Apostle Paul
The Material Spirit
The explanation for this ‘disciplinary blind-spot’ lies partly in the reception of St Paul, who
Troels Engberg-Pedersen
became Augustine’s inspiration for Platonizing denigration of the material world, and PAUL’S VISUAL PIETY
also available in paperback
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Luther’s for faith through ‘scripture alone’. In the hands of more radical Reformers, the ‘word’
was soon vehemently opposed to the ‘image’, an emphasis that was further fostered in the A
Contrasting Images of the Book of Revelation
philologically-inclined university faculties where Biblical Studies developed. Yet Paul’s piety
in Late Medieval and Early Modern Art
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A Case Study in Visual Exegesis is visual as well as verbal, even aside from his mystical visions. He envisages a contemplative The Metamorphosis of the Beholder
focus on certain this-worldly sights as an integral part of believers’ metamorphosis into
Natasha F. H. O’Hear L
Christ-likeness. This theme runs through Romans, but finds its most concise expression in
oxford religion and theology monographs
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his correspondence with the Corinthians: ‘We all, with unveiled face, beholding in a mirror S
the glory of the Lord, are being metamorphosed into the same image, from glory to glory,

as from the Lord, the Spirit’ (2 Cor 3:18). Richly ambiguous and allegorical as this is, Paul V
shortly afterward defines an earthly site where this transformative, sacred gaze occurs. He
insists that not mere death, but the death of Jesus is made manifest in his suffering apostolic I
flesh. Rightly perceived, this becomes a holy spectacle for the sacred gaze, working life in S
those who behold in faith, but undoing those who see but do not perceive. U
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Jacket image: Interior of the Church of Sainte-Radegonde in Saint-Félix. Photograph © Anna-Marie
Krahn. In the foreground, a statue of a saint apparently gazes at a cross, behind which other saints are depicted
in stained glass windows. The sunlight poring through the glass casts a polychrome reflection on the opposite
wall of the otherwise shadowy church, re-presenting the saints in colour behind the contemplative statue.

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ISBN 978-0-19-966414-6
1
J. M. F. HEATH
9 780199 664146
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PAUL S VISUAL PIETY
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Paul s Visual Piety
The Metamorphosis of the Beholder
J. M. F. HEATH
1
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Acknowledgements
ThisbookoriginatedasaPhDthesis,andcorrespondinglyincursdebtsfrom
many who laboured generously to guide, support, scrutinize, and correct.
I am grateful to my supervisors, Markus Bockmuehl, under whom the
project began; William Horbury, who bore the lion’s share of shepherding
it through to completion; and Simon Gathercole, whose intervention during
his term as acting supervisor was invaluable. My examiners, John Barclay
and Jaś Elsner, challenged the thesis with salutary insight that compelled me
to sharpen and expand the draft for publication. Jaś Elsner, Paul Foster, and
Francis Watson have each been munificent beyond the call of duty in
devoting time to reading and criticizing subsequent versions, as well as
providing support in other ways. Finally, the anonymous readers for Oxford
University Press furnished me with points of critique that contributed
significantly to improving the shape and content of the final version. At
times I did retain my own original against guidance, thus none of those just
mentioned is responsible for the failings in the present manuscript. The
Delegates of the Press did require me to change my introduction against my
judgement, but I sincerely hope that the present replacement text will
vindicate their judgement rather than mine. The editorial assistant, Lizzie
Robottom, has been a model of patience and efficiency; I could not have
wished for better. Angela Warner stepped in at the last minute to help with
compiling the indices, and executed this wearisome task with generous
cheerfulness and efficiency.
Forfundingduringtheearlystagesofthisproject,IamindebtedfirstlytoSt
John’s College, Cambridge, for a Benefactors’ Scholarship, which covered all
my costs in the first year of the PhD, then to the Arts and Humanities
Research Council, for fully funding the last two years of the course.
A Baden-Württemberg Stipendiumand anawardfrom theKurt HahnTrust
helpedmespendfourteenmonthsinGermany,learningthelanguage,study-
ing at the Karl-Ruprecht Universität in Heidelberg, and ultimately acquiring
welcomelinkswiththeGeorg-AugustUniversitätinGöttingen,whereRainer
Hirsch-Luipold’sRatioReligionisProjektprovidedanexcitingopportunityfor
sharing research interests in a wider academic forum on the continent. In
preparing the book manuscript for publication, a grant from the Faculty
Research Funds at the University of Durham provided timely alleviation of
theburdenofthecostofimages.
Otherblessingscontributingtothepreparationofabookaremany,alastoo
manytoitemize.ThelibrarystaffatthevariouslibrariesIhaveusedhavebeen
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vi Acknowledgements
patient and helpful beyond measure; Peta Dunstan of the Divinity Faculty
Library in Cambridge, for example, procured an obscure but important
Finnish volume for me, which no one else could trace. Walter Leitmeier
graciouslyhelpedwithlast-minutephotography,despiteourhavingnodirect
acquaintance.Finally,IwouldliketothankRev.Fr.CliveHillman,whotaught
mesomuchattheverybeginning,whichmadeitpossibletothinkofwriting
thisatall.
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Contents
ListofFigures viii
ListofAbbreviations ix
NotetotheReader xiii
PartOne
FormativeVisuality 3
1. ADisciplinaryBlindSpotanditsOrigins 13
2. VariousVisuals:VisualCulture,VisualPractice,VisualPiety 38
PartTwo
Hellenistic,Jewish,orBoth? 65
3. Greco-RomanVisualPractices 71
4. JewishVisualPractices 105
PartThree
Luther’sFaithandPaul’sSight:Romans1:17
and2Corinthians3:18 145
5. TheEpistletotheRomans 150
6. SensePerceptionandTransformativeJudgement:2Corinthians
2:14–7:4 175
7. ‘BeholdinginaMirrorwearebeingMetamorphosed’
(2Corinthians3:18) 215
8. MetamorphosisoftheServant’sBeholder:Isaiah52–3and2
Corinthians4:7–18 226
9. FromJewtoGentileinPaul’sVisualPiety 240
SynagogaetEcclesia 252
Bibliography 257
IndexofAuthorNames 289
IndexofGreekandLatinTerms 294
IndexofSubjects 295
IndexofSources 298
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List of Figures
Figure1. DustjacketofPopeBenedictXVI,StPaul(Ignatius,2009),
showingCaravaggio,TheConversionofStPaul(detail) 4
Figure2. DustjacketofJ.D.G.Dunn,TheTheologyofPaultheApostle
(Eerdmans,1998),showingRembrandt,StPaulathisWriting-Desk 5
Figure3. Caravaggio,TheConversionofStPaulinsituintheCerasi
Chapel,SantaMariadelPopolo,Rome 7
Figure4. Rembrandt,StPaulathisWriting-Deskinsituinthe
GermanischesNationalmuseum,Nuremberg 8
Figure5. Text-altarpiecefromtheSpitalkirche,Dinkstabühl 23
Figure6. Cranach,WittenbergAltar:TheLastSupperandScenes
fromthelifeofMartinLuther;Stadtkirche,Wittenberg 25
Figure7. HeadofChristbyWarnerSallman 43
Figure8. ‘GenealogyofImages’byW.J.T.Mitchell 49
Figure9. MosaicpanelofJewishSymbols,HammathTiberias 205
Figure10. MosaicpanelofJewishSymbols,BethShe’anA 205
Figure11. SynagogaetEcclesia,TheNewAllianceWindow,Bourges
Cathedral 253
Figure12. ApollounveilsastatueofIsis.Dedicationpagefrom
AlexandervonHumboldt,IdeenzueinerGeographie
derPflanzen(Tübingen,1807) 255
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List of Abbreviations
AB AnchorBible
ABRL AnchorBibleReferenceLibrary
AGJU ArbeitenzurGeschichtedesantikenJudentumsunddesUrchristentums
AnBib Analectabiblica
ANF TheAnteNiceneFathers
ANRW AufstiegundNiedergangderrömischenWelt:GeschichteundKulturRoms
imSpiegelderneuerenForschung.EditedbyH.TemporiniandW.Haase.
Berlin,1972–
ANSP AnnalidellaScuolaNormaleSuperioredePisa,ClassediLettereeFilosofa
ASNU Actaseminariineotestamenticiupsaliensis
ATANT AbhandlungenzurTheologiedesAltenundNeuenTestaments
BECNT BakerExegeticalCommentaryontheNewTestament
BETL Bibliothecaephemeridumtheologicarumlovaniensium
BHT BeiträgezurHistorischenTheologie
Bib Biblica
BJS BrownJudaicStudies
BNTC Black’sNewTestamentCommentaries
BWANT BeiträgezumWissenschaftvomAltenundNeuenTestament
BZ BiblischeZeitschrift
CBET ContributionstoBiblicalExegesisandTheology
CBNTS ConiectaneaBiblicaNewTestamentSeries
CBQ CatholicBiblicalQuarterly
CBQMS CatholicBiblicalQuarterlyMonographSeries
CBR CurrentsinBiblicalResearch
CCSL CorpusChristianorum:SeriesLatina.Turnhout,1953–
CH ChurchHistory
CHHP TheCambridgeHistoryofHellenisticPhilosophy.EditedbyK.Algraetal.
Cambridge,1999
CP ClassicalPhilology
DK Diels,H.andKranz,W.(eds.),1964,DieFragmentederVorsokratiker.
Zurich/Berlin,1964
DOP DumbartonOaksPapers
EPRO Étudespréliminairesauxreligionsorientalesdansl’empireromain