Cleansed Lepers, Cleansed Hearts: Purity and Healing in Luke-Acts

by Pamela Shellberg

Overview

Illnesses are perceived and understood differently across cultures and over time. Traditional interpretations of New Testament texts frame the affliction lepra (leprosy) as addressed either by ritual cleansing or miraculous healing. But as Pamela Shellberg shows, these interpretations are limited because they shift modern ideas of leprosy to a first-century context without regard for how the ancients themselves thought about lepra. Reading ancient medical texts, Shellberg describes how Luke might have perceived lepra and used the language of clean and unclean and demonstrates how Lukes first-century understandings shaped his report of Peters dream in Acts 10 as a warrant for Gentile inclusion.

For Luke, cleansing was how the favor of God announced by Isaiah was extended to Gentiles, and the stories of Jesus cleansing of leprous bodies in the Gospel are the pattern for the divine cleansing of Gentile hearts in Acts. Shellberg illuminates Lukes understanding of cleansing as one of his primary expressions of the means of Gods salvation and favor, breaking down and breaking through the distinctions between Jew and Gentile. Shellbergs conclusions take up the value of Lukes emphasis on the divine prerogative to declare things clean for discussions of inclusion and social distinction today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781451485240
Publisher:	1517 Media
Publication date:	02/01/2015
Series:	Emerging Scholars
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Pamela Shellberg has taught New Testament at Bangor Theological Seminary in Bangor, Maine. She holds a PhD in religious studies from Marquette University. She is currently the scholar-in-residence at TheBTS Center, mission successor to Bangor Theological Seminary, developing educational programs to equip and support clergy and laypeople for twenty-first-century ministries.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

1 Introduction 1

2 Lepra in Ancient Contexts 29

3 Dektos and Katharizo 95

4 Katharizo Texts in Luke-Acts 149

5 Reading the Peter-Cornelius Story Again "Their Hearts were Cleansed by Faith" 197

Bibliography 219

Index of Authors 245

Index of Scripture Passages 249