Baker Academic

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Jesus the Shape-Shifter?

Never a dull moment in this line of work.

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/03/13/shape-shifting-jesus-described-in-ancient-egyptian-text/

-anthony

6 comments:

  1. Nothing about Jesus' hair or beard, though. Still, I bet this makes Stephen Prothero happy.

    Eric

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    1. §73 : ‘sometimes his hair is straight and black, sometimes it is curly’
      cf. M595 : ‘sometimes his hair is curly, sometimes it is long’
      §114 : ‘his hair is black, coming down to his shoulders like bunches of grapes’
      Those ‘bunches of grapes’ are explained as a possible ‘Greek scribal error or Coptic mistranslation’ for ‘curly, like curls’ (βοτρυοειδής/βοστρυχοειδής).

      Delete
  2. Origen ALSO thought that Jesus was a shape-shifter? The article quotes Contra Celsum to state that "to those who saw him [Jesus] he did not appear alike to all."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 2.66: commentary on the resurrected Jesus, knitting together several texts from Paul, especially 1 Cor.

      6:77: responding to Celsus' apparent complaint that, as a divine figure, Jesus was not as physically attractive (and manly?) as he should have been, by commenting on the malleable nature of matter, on the uncomely Suffering Servant, and on the transfiguration.

      Eric

      Delete
  3. Some of the apocryphal acts--of Peter, Thomas, and John--make similar statements about Jesus' mercurial appearance. As did Origen: Contra Celsum 2.64 and 6.77. See Robin Jensen's Face to Face, the relevant passages of which are, alas, not all available on Google books.

    Eric

    ReplyDelete