Joseph of Arimathea: A Study in Reception History examines the extensive afterlives of the man who played a fleeting but major role in three pivotal scenes in the passion of Jesus Christ: his request to Pilate, the descent from the cross, and the burial of Jesus' corpse. Characterised in subtly different ways by each Evangelist, these 'Josephs' were expanded, expounded, translated, harmonised, and extended by literary sources and developed thematically by the artistic traditions of the Renaissance. In the Medieval Period, Joseph arrived in the British Isles, becoming an iconic figure for English nationalists (via Glastonbury) and for British Imperialists (via Blake's Jerusalem). A discussion of twentieth-century development rounds out what this minor character has accomplished, thanks to a set of developable aspects (including wealth, boldness/passivity, and mysterious origins and end) in the New Testament portrayal and the opportunities to expand them greatly afforded by later cultural developments within Christianity.
