Review of Rosemary Canavan 'Clothing the Body of Christ at Colossae: A Visual Construction of Identity' Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2/334, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2012. Pp. xii + 247. Paper. €69.00. ISBN 9783161517167.

Abstract

In this dissertation done at Flinders University in South Australia, Canavan uses the term "visual exegesis" to describe the approach of connecting text and image. She sets out to interpret Col 3:1-17 in dialogue with the material culture of the first century CE and proposes that the imagery of clothing the body in those verses "parallels and critiques a systematic visual construction of identity in the cities of the Lycus Valley" (6). In other words, the author of Colossians "clothes" the body of Christ in deliberate contrast to the images of the body depicted in the dominant Roman culture. The book is arranged in four parts.