Barbara Baert

Reimund Bieringer

Karlijn Demasure

To Touch or Not to Touch? Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Noli me tangere is based on studies which were originally written for an interdisciplinary conference entitled Noli me tangere. Word - Image - Context. The book contains eight contributions by internationally recognized specialists in the areas of philosophy (Marc De Kesel), exegesis (Esther de Boer, Erika Mohri, Turid Karlsen Seim and Reimund Bieringer), art history (Lisa Marie Rafanelli and Victor Schmidt) and literary studies (Hedwig Schwall). The collection is unique in its focus on the Noli me tangere and in its interdisciplinary nature. The narrowness of its subject, namely the prohibition of touch by the risen Christ addressed to Mary Magdalene is counterbalanced by the broadness of methodologies and approaches which are used to treat the subject. The book mirrors the many ways in which interpreters have wrestled with the topics of touch and its prohibition in the interpretation of noli me tangere in John 20:17.

Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Noli Me Tangere

To Touch Or Not to Touch?

Noli me tangere' in Interdisciplinary Perspective: Textual, Iconographic and Contemporary Interpretations' is a collection of 23 essays by an international group of contributors on one of the Bible's most influential iconic expressions. The prohibition expressed by the risen Jesus in John 20,17 has influenced Western culture in its Latin rendering as Noli me tangere. As such it became well-known in the visual arts and in literature. The Noli me tangere influenced philosophy and theology, theoretical discussion and practical action. This book's interdisciplinary character is reflected in the fact that it is subdivided into three parts which are of more or less equal length (see I. The Biblical Text and Its Textual Interpretation; II. The Biblical Text and Its Iconographic Interpretation; and III. The Biblical Text and Its Contemporary Interpretation). In its inter- and intra-disciplinary breadth this book could be seen as a window, a mirror and an icon. As a window, it opens up a perspective on the rich cultural and academic Wirkungsgeschichte the words of the Johannine Jesus in John 20:17, in particular in their Latin translation as Noli me tangere, have had. 0In this way it also documents a phase in the study of the subject. As a mirror, this book challenges the academic disciplines and in particular the scholars themselves by confronting them with their own social and historical location and the way this influences their own research. As an icon, this collection points beyond itself and reminds us that scholarship is not an island, but that in ever so implicit and indirect ways it is part of the human dream for a better world. This book is a witness to the ongoing ways in which the 'Noli me tangere' in its Johannine context and beyond continues to create new meaning.

Karlijn Demasure

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