To Touch or Not to Touch?: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Noli me tangere

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

literature 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.