Joseph of Arimathea -A Study in Reception History (Biblical Refigurations)

Biblical Refigurations
Joseph of Arimathea: A Study in Reception history examines the extensive and convoluted afterlives of a minor biblical character who nevertheless plays a major role in three pivotal scenes in the passion of Jesus Christ: the request to pilate for the body, the descent from the cross, and the burial of Jesus’ corpse. Characterized in subtly different ways by each of the four Evangelists, these sparse biblical Josephs were expanded, expounded, translated, harmonized, and extended by early literary sources and developed thematically by the artistic traditions of the Renaissance.