The Beaten Body of Christ

Abstract

The text is taken from 1Peter, a letter probably written to a group of Christians in Asia Minor in the latter part of the 1st century. The passage in 1Pet 2:18–25 is an admonition to slaves to obey their masters despite cruel treatment in the form of beatings of their bodies. In support of this demand the writer draws on a presentation of Christ who endured unjust suffering. The text is analysed with perspectives from Foucault and a feminist critique of him by Elizabeth Grosz that relate “knowledge, power and bodies”. On the surface the text appears to support the slave system, which renders slaves as “bodies without boundaries”, i.e., without power to protect their bodies. However, the slaves are compared to Christ and his beaten body, and this discourse of comparison may not only support their suffering, but also represent a creation of an “inner body” as a symbol of healing.