In the Pauline letters a new rhetorical aspect of body is presented with the imagery of being clothed with a person, with Christ or a new a [ nqrwpo" (Gal 3:27; Rom 13:14; Col 3:10; Eph 4:24). While body and clothing imagery was well-known in the ancient Mediterranean world, the picture of putting on a person is new with these passages. Clothing has implications for movement and identification, but there is also interweaving between body, mind and clothing related to how humans present

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... s, how they interact socially, how they are empowered morally and politically, and how they produce rhetorical and political discourse. This essay offers a socio-rhetorical interpretation of the texts that speak of being clothed with a person, considering the implications for those who become so clothed. This clothing refashions bodies with new religious, social and political roles. Refashioned bodies become agents of social change. The new clothing makes new persons and a new social reality. Interpretation Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy; For the apparel oft proclaims the man, And they in France of the best rank and station Are of a most select and generous clef in that. (Polonius, Hamlet Act 1 Scene 3) Thinking about perceptions of body as they are used in the Bible leads, inevitably, to reflecting on clothing and the idea of clothing. Clothing is a powerful image throughout biblical literature and in human society generally. 1 At the most obvious level, clothing covers and conceals the body, protecting it from exposure to the elements and the view of other persons. But the significance of clothing extends much further since garments not only cover and conceal, but also function to display the body in particular ways and with many meanings. The ways in which bodies are clothed have far-reaching and sometimes dramatic implications for identity, for movement, for relationships with others, for behaviour, for economic, social and spiritual status, for sexual roles, and for religious, ideological and political discourse. Clothing is part of how people are presented to the world, of how they relate socially, and of how they are empowered morally and politically. Clothing is a feature of the body shapes and actions that are offered for view and that differentiate people from one another. Clothing is thus tied to recognition. Humans are 1 For general information about clothing and the imagery of clothing in the Bible see Edwards, DR 1992. Dress and Ornamentation. Pages 232-238 in vol.