Resurrection and the Senses
John 20:11-31
The First Resurrection Appearance (John 20:14-18)
MARY MAGDALENE IN THE GARDEN
What did Jesus say to Mary
Magdalene? (Jn 20:17)
• ‘Do not hold onto me’ (NRSV)
• ‘Touch me not’ (KJV)
• ‘Stop clinging to me’ (NAS)
• Mē mou haptou (Greek)
• Noli me tangere (Latin)
Palla, ca.
1520,
Antwerp,
Museum
Mayer van
den Bergh
Carolignian, 11th century
Titian, Noli me tangere,
ca. 1514
National Gallery, London
The Second Resurrection Appearance (John 20:19-23)
DISCIPLES IN THE CLOSED ROOM
Duccio, Appearance behind Locked Doors, 1308
The Third Resurrection Appearance (John 20:24-29)
‘DOUBTING’ THOMAS
Magdalene and Thomas
(Lower left/centre)
Western German, late 14th
century,
Köln Wallraf-Richartz-Museum –
Fondation Corboud
Duccio,
Doubting
Thomas,
1308-11
Caravaggio, The Incredulity of St Thomas,
1601-02, Sanssouci, Potsdam
Needlework by Marianne von Watteville, ca. 1750. Collection of Moravian
Archives, Herrnhut, Germany.
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee;
Let the water and the blood,
From Thy wounded side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure;
Save from wrath and make me pure.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM7gt_cSxjw
One of the soldiers pierced his side with his
spear, and there came out at once blood and
water.
And one who has seen has testified and his
testimony is true and he knows that he speaks
the truth, so that even/also you might believe.
(John 19:34-35)
Further Reading
• B. Baert, ‘Noli me tangere. Six Exercises in Image Theory
and Iconophilia’,
http://www.imageandnarrative.be/inarchive/iconoclasm
/baert.htm
• Aquinas on why the Christ rose with scars:
http://www.newadvent.org/summa/4054.htm (this
reference thanks to Taylor Marshall)
• M. O’Rourke Boyle, Senses of Touch: Human Dignity and
Deformity from Michaelangelo to Calvin (googlebooks
preview here)
• S. Schneiders, ‘Touching the Risen Jesus: Mary
Magdalene and Thomas,’ http://www.ctsaonline.org/pdf/60/013_035.pdf