Dressing down criminals, deviants and other undesirabless
HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies
| Field | Value | |
| Title | Dressing down criminals, deviants and other undesirabless | |
| Creator | Neufeld, Dietmar | |
| Description | Fear of just censure and the sense of shame it produced kept Roman citizens from doing wrong (Cic. Rep. 5.6). Invective functioned socially as a strategy of social sanction. One amongst a number of commonly identified topics of accusation in the Roman tradition of ridicule was unusual appearance, clothing or demeanour. Not surprisingly, John the Baptist emerges from the desert attired distinctly, demoniacs come out of the tombs so fierce that no one would pass by them (Mt 8:28), a man with an unclean spirit lives amongst the tombs and, even though adorned with fetters and chains, cannot be controlled (Mk 5:15–20). Herod pretentiously puts on the royal robes and is eaten by worms and dies (Ac 12:21). A woman uninvited enters a rich man’s dinner party with an alabaster flask of perfume and anoints the feet of Jesus (Lk 7:38). Clearly, in each case, unusual appearance, clothing, and demeanour suggest a lapse from the appropriate, socially acceptable style of deportment and clothing. Oddities in dress and demeanour were equated with oddities in behaviour and provided a powerful rhetorical means of excluding undesirables from society. | |
| Publisher | AOSIS | |
| Date | 2014-11-20 | |
| Identifier | 10.4102/hts.v70i1.2698 | |
| Source | HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies; Vol 70, No 1 (2014); 8 pages 2072-8050 0259-9422 | |
| Language | eng | |
| Relation |
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:
https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/2698/5361
https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/2698/5362
https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/2698/5363
https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/2698/5214
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