STAGING OF THE BODY OF CHRIST IN EARLY CHRISTIAN ANTIQUITY

The body of Christ, despite the many images that try to pretend otherwise, remains completely unknown. The Gospels tell us well the actions of Christ, but do not tell us anything about the way Christ used his body. Christianity thus knew a paradoxical situation. While many religions had to invent the body of imagined gods, Christianity could, in principle, start from a living body. The representation of this body which, whatever its nature, which had long to be discussed, had had a human form, was to be invented at a time when the anthropomorphic representations of the traditional gods were questioned and subject to discussion.