Anachronistic, Queer Pauline Bodies amidst the Appeal of Appalment – Jeremy Punt, Stellenbosch University
Abstract
Bodies and embodiment hardly make a dent in Pauline reception history, as corporeality either fails to register as significant among interpreters or is simply absent from the Pauline letters. Pauline bodies, in so far as they are deemed to exist at all, have been posited as inconsequential at best and worrisome and best eschewed, at worst. Deliberately forcing unlikely, anachronistic and queer juxtapositions, allows the emergence of bodies other than Paul’s, and in particular the grotesque and indecent bodies of persona non grata of ancient times and the modern world. The purpose and result both are the thoroughgoing queering of bodies, of monstrosities, of temporalities and of Pauline texts and interpretation.
Key words: Corporeality, Pauline interpretation, queering