Circumcision of Jesus
The circumcision of Jesus is an event from the life of
The event is celebrated as the Feast of the Circumcision in the Eastern Orthodox Church on 1 January in whichever calendar is used, and is also celebrated on the same day by many Anglicans. It is celebrated by Roman Catholics as the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus, in recent years on 3 January as an Optional Memorial, though it was for long celebrated on 1 January, as some other churches still do. A number of relics claiming to be the Holy Prepuce, the foreskin of Jesus, have surfaced.
Biblical accounts
Luke's account of Jesus's circumcision is extremely short, particularly compared to Paul the Apostle's much fuller description of his own circumcision in the third chapter of his Epistle to the Philippians. This led theologians Friedrich Schleiermacher and David Strauss to speculate that the author of the Gospel of Luke might have assumed the circumcision to be historical fact, or might have been relating it as recalled by someone else.[2]
In addition to the canonical account in the Gospel of Luke, the
Depictions in art
The
One of the earliest depictions to survive is a miniature in an important
The scene gradually became increasingly common in the art of the Western church, and increasingly rare in Orthodox art. Various themes in theological
An influential book by
Having borrowed the large architectural setting in the Temple of the Presentation, later scenes may show the high priest alone holding the baby, as he or a
Other late medieval and Renaissance depictions of circumcision in general show antipathy towards Judaism; caricatures show the procedure as being grotesquely cruel and the mohel as a threatening figure; Martin Luther's anti-Judaic treatise of 1543, On the Jews and Their Lies, devotes many pages to circumcision.[12] Some late-medieval German depictions depict the Circumcision of Christ in a similar vein, with the baby not held by his parents and the officiating Jewish officials given stereotypic features. In at least one manuscript miniature women are shown performing the rite, which has been interpreted as a misogynistic trope, with circumcision represented as a form of emasculation.[13]
By the 15th century the scene was often prominent in large
A smaller composition in a horizontal format originated with the
The scene was often included in Protestant art, where this included narrative scenes. It appears on baptismal fonts because of the connection made by theologians with baptism. A painting (1661,
Poems on the subject included John Milton's Upon the Circumcision and his contemporary Richard Crashaw's Our Lord in His Circumcision to His Father, which both expounded the traditional symbolism.[21]
Theological beliefs and celebrations
The circumcision of Jesus has traditionally been seen, as explained in the popular 14th-century work the Golden Legend, as the first time the blood of Christ was shed, and thus the beginning of the process of the redemption of man, and a demonstration that Christ was fully human, and of his obedience to Biblical law.[22] Medieval and Renaissance theologians repeatedly stressed this, also drawing attention to the suffering of Jesus as a demonstration of his humanity and a foreshadowing of his Passion.[23] These themes were continued by Protestant theologians like Jeremy Taylor, who in a treatise of 1657 argued that Jesus's circumcision proved his human nature while fulfilling the law of Moses. Taylor also notes that had Jesus been uncircumcised, it would have made Jews substantially less receptive to his Evangelism.[24]
The "Feast of the Circumcision of our Lord" is a
The
It finds no place in the present Roman Calendar of the new form of the Roman Rite, replaced on 1 January by the
Relics
At various points in history,
Most of the Holy Prepuces were lost or destroyed during the
Other philosophers contended that with the Ascension of Jesus, all of his body parts – even those no longer attached – ascended as well. One, Leo Allatius, reportedly went so far as to contend that the foreskin became the rings of Saturn; however, this reference is unverifiable.[33]
Gallery
canonical gospels |
Portals: Christianity Bible |
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Scene from a German painted wood altarpiece
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Altarpiece with scenes from the Life of the Virgin, German, 1510
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Tintoretto, from the cycle in the Scuola Grande di San Rocco
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Die Beschneidung Christi, Rubens, 1605
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The Circumcision of Christ by Albrecht Dürer
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Mid-18th-century Russian icon
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A detail from The Circumcision of Christ by Friedrich Herlin
See also
Notes
- ^ 21
- ^ "The contrast however between the fullness of detail with which this point is elaborated and coloured in the life of the Baptist, and the barrenness with which it is stated in reference to Jesus, is striking, and may justify an agreement with the remark of Schleiermacher, that here, at least, the author of the first chapter is no longer the originator." - Strauss, 217
- ^ "The Lost Books of the Bible," New York: Bell Publishing Company, 1979
- ^ Pritz, pp. 108–109.
- ^ Schiller, 89
- ^ Schiller, 88–89, and plate 225
- ^ a b Schiller, 89; Penny, 116
- ^ Schiller, 89; Schreckenberg, 78–79
- ^ a b Schiller, 89; Penny, 107, 117–118
- ^ Kendrick, 11–15
- ^ Image of Isaac's circumcision, Regensburg c1300, Regensburg Pentateuch, Israel Museum, Jerusalem; Cod. 180/52, fol. 81b. This image is discussed at length by Eva Frojmovic in pp. 228–238 of Framing the Family: Narrative and Representation in the Medieval and Early Modern Periods, Rosalynn Voaden (ed), 2005, Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies. She says she knows of only one other medieval Jewish image of the subject.
- ^ Glick, 91-92; 98–102
- ^ Schreckenberg illustrates four examples on pp. 143–146, two from manuscripts of c. 1400 (performed by a woman) and c. 1440, and two panels from altarpieces of c. 1450 and 1519. See also Abramson and Hannon, pp. 98, 102–108; Penny, 117.
- ^ Penny, 117
- ^ Penny, 119; Bartolomeo Veneto's Circoncision' and Bellini's La Circoncision are two of them
- ^ Penny, 118–119
- ^ Penny, 118. The Marziale altarpiece is the subject of Penny's very comprehensive catalogue entry on pp. 104–121; National Gallery page on Marziale Circumcision
- ^ Rembrandt from NGA Washington
- ^ Schiller, 90
- Molanus
- ^ Milton text, Bartleby.com
- ^ Penny, 116-117
- ^ Glick, 93-96
- ^ "But so mysterious were all the actions of Jesus, that this one [his circumcision] served many ends. For 1. It gave demonstration of the verity of human nature. 2. So he began to fulfill the law. 3. And took from himself the scandal of uncircumcision, which would eternally have prejudiced the Jews against his entertainment and communion. 4. And then he took upon him that name, which declared him to be the Savior of the world; which as it was consummate in the blood of the cross, so it was inaugurated in the blood of circumcision: for "when eight days were accomplished for circumcising of the Child, his name was called Jesus." - Taylor, 51
- ^ In the northern European calculation, which abstracts from the day from which the count begins, the interval was of seven days.
- NIV)
- ^ Catholic Encyclopedia: Feast of the Circumcision
- ^ Greek Orthodox Archdiocese calendar of Holy Days Archived February 13, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Calendar of the Church Year, according to the Episcopal Church
- ^ Glick, 96, says that "there were at least a dozen or so available for veneration".
- ^ Glick, 96
- ^ a b "Fore Shame", David Farley, Slate.com, Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2006
- ISBN 2503514707. Archived from the originalon 2013-11-21.
References
- Abramson, Henry; Hannon, Carrie. "Depicting the Ambiguous Wound: Circumcision in Medieval Art". In Mark, Elizabeth Wyner. The Covenant of Circumcision: New Perspectives on an Ancient Jewish Rite, 2003, Lebanon, New Hampshire, Brandeis University Press, ISBN 1-58465-307-8.
- ISBN 0-19-881050-4
- Glick, Leonard. Marked in Your Flesh: Circumcision from Ancient Judea to Modern America, OUP America, 2005
- Kendrick, Laura. Chaucerian play: comedy and control in the Canterbury tales, 1988, University of California Press,
- ISBN 1-85709-908-7
- Pritz, Ray. Nazarene Jewish Christianity, 1992, The Magnes Press, Jerusalem, ISBN 965-223-798-1
- Schiller, Gertud. Iconography of Christian Art, Vol. I, 1971 (English trans from German), Lund Humphries, London, ISBN 0-85331-270-2
- Schreckenburg, Heinz, The Jews in Christian Art, 1996, Continuum, New York, ISBN 0-8264-0936-9
- Strauss, David Friedrich. The Life of Jesus: Critically Examined, Chapman and Brothers, London, 1846.
- Taylor, Jeremy. The Whole works; with an essay biographical and critical, Volume 1 (1657). Frederick Westley and A.H. Davis, London, 1835.
Further reading
- Baxter, Roger (1823). . Meditations For Every Day In The Year. New York: Benziger Brothers. pp. 101–107.
- Leo Steinberg, The Sexuality of Christ in Renaissance Art and in Modern Oblivion, 1996 (2nd edition), University of Chicago Press