Body and Character in Luke & Acts
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Body and Character in Luke and Acts is on the subject of physiognomics, which is the study of the relationship between the physical and the moral. Philosophers, astrologers, and physicians practiced physiognomics in the late antiquity, while philosopher Pythagoras was the beginner of physiognomy. There are kinds of physiognomic analysis: anatomical method, which looks at facial features; zoological method, which is the appearance between the person and features of various kinds of animals; and ethnographical or racial method, which deals with the zoological method to human races and peoples.
Psychophysiology references the connection “between outer appearances and inner character and between internal organs and human behavior as gifts bestowed by God; God knows the correspondence between body and spirit because he created it.” Jews and Christians recognized physiognomics in their writings but objected to the practices in antiquity.
Luke uses the anatomical and zoological method to identify characters in reference to some location for symbolic meaning in the same way as he references to animals and physical features with definite stereotypes. In Lukes narrative he uses negative features of a fox, the viper, and the wolf. He also uses numbers for symbolic meaning in the story of the Bent Women.
In the story of the Bent Women, Luke connects her bodys handicap as “a spirit that had crippled her,” which connects the physical and spiritual in physiognomic conditions. This Jewish bent woman is confirmed by Jesus as the daughter of Abraham and a “women of courage” who is accepted into the family of God. The story of Zacchaeus entails the interpretation of his short physical feature and his negative role as a tax collector, the debate over his conversion, and the healing Jesus brought to his house.