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.
