Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

corpus-paul - Iconography of Paul with sword

corpus-paul AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Corpus-Paul

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Krist Krist" <monsieurK AT hotmail.com>
  • To: corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
  • Subject: Iconography of Paul with sword
  • Date: Thu, 1 Mar 2001 13:10:34 -0500


I am not a specialist in Biblical studies, but an art historian studying a
corpus of wall paintings including some representations of the Apostles
with their traditional attributes (Andrew with a cross, Bartholomew with a
knife...). Paul's attribute is a sword, the instrument of his martyrdom.
But I am wondering if this iconography cannot be also interpreted as an
allusion to his words in several Epistles, comparing the Word of God to a
sword and enticing Christians to assume the arms of faith, etc. It should
be said that these paintings were created in an anti-heretical context,
namely in the 15th century Western Alps, where many heterodox communities
dwelled, which condoned mostly the return to a litteral approach to the
Gospel and non-violence. Therefore my question is, have Paul's words in
his Epistles (mostly Rom. and Eph.) been utilized by the official Church
as a justification for violence / persecution towards heterodox
communities? Does anyone have any info on this topic?
Thanks in advance.

[Moderator's note: This post arrived without signature. Members are reminded
that all posts are to be signed with the author's full name and, if possible,
some indication of institutional affiliation and/or social location}
>From pmh15 AT cam.ac.uk Thu Mar 01 16:52:07 2001
Return-Path: <pmh15 AT cam.ac.uk>
Received: from orange.csi.cam.ac.uk ([131.111.8.77]) by franklin.oit.unc.edu
with SMTP (Lyris List Manager SOLARIS/SPARC version 4.0); Thu, 01 Mar 2001
16:51:53 -0500
Received: from p-head.tyndale.cam.ac.uk ([193.60.91.11])
by orange.csi.cam.ac.uk with smtp (Exim 3.22 #1)
id 14YazC-0002L4-00
for corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu; Thu, 01 Mar 2001 21:51:47 +0000
X-Sender: pmh15 AT pop.hermes.cam.ac.uk
Message-Id: <v01510103b6c4722d77ad@[193.60.91.11]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
From: pmh15 AT cam.ac.uk (Peter M. Head)
Subject: Paul's Interpreters
Date: Thu, 01 Mar 2001 21:51:47 +0000


On October 30th last year I initiated some interesting and helpful
discussion with the following message:
>I am planning a series of eight lectures on the history of the study of
>Paul. I think I should probably select eight key figures (one for each
>lecture) and would then plan to fit in one or two others around each main
>figure. As far as I can tell there are probably five non-negotiables:
>Luther, Baur, Schweitzer, Bultmann, Sanders.
>
>For the other three I am tempted to use Marcion, Augustine and Kasemann.
>
>I am wondering whether anyone might have some suggestions/alternatives.
>
>Peter
>

Well, I have now done seven out of the eight lectures and the handouts can
be seen by going to the following location:

http://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/Tyndale/staff/Head/staff.htm

admiring the scholarly photograph

and then following the link under "Lecture Materials".


I am sorry that it is not a very slick web site. It is my first attempt! At
the moment it is only handouts rather than full lecture notes (and reading
assignments). And I have not put in loads of pictures. But there is a fair
bit of information presented which may be useful to others. The keen
students seem to have enjoyed it!

The handout from the eighth lecture should be uploaded after next Thursday
(once I figure out how to present the contemporary situation in one go!).

Please feel free to point out inadequacies and things I should have
mentioned. Additional bibliography (real books) would be welcome. I have
only a few links to other sites as well. If I have time and anyone notices
I might be able to improve things at a later date.

Cheers

Peter


Dr. Peter M. Head
Tyndale House
36 Selwyn Gardens
Cambridge CB3 9BA
Tel: 01223 566607
Fax: 01223 566608
email: pmh15 AT cam.ac.uk






Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page