Dr Tommy Wasserman: Earth Accuses Earth: Tracing What Jesus Wrote on the Ground

Lecture title: Earth Accuses Earth: Tracing What Jesus Wrote on the Ground

Date: Monday 9 March 2009, 2.00pm

Venue: Martin Hall, School of Divinity, Edinburgh

Lecture abstracts

The story of the woman taken in adultery (John 7:53–8:11) has enjoyed a long, complex history. Well-known in the Latin West, in the East the story was neglected but not forgotten.

Incorporated within late antique and early medieval Gospel manuscripts, depicted in Christian art, East and West, and included within the developing liturgies of Rome and Constantinople, the passage has fascinated interpreters for centuries, despite irregularities in its transmission.

Throughout this long history, one narrative detail has been of particular interest: the content and significance of Jesus’ writing.

As this lecture will show, this enigmatic detail has been discussed in sermons, elaborated in manuscripts, and depicted in magnificent illuminations.

Jesus’ writing has inspired interpreters at least since the fourth century, when Ambrose of Milan first mentioned it.

Dr Tommy Wasserman is Lecturer of New Testament and Academic Dean of Örebro School of Theology (Sweden).