The Colossian Hymn in Context
An Exegesis in Light of Jewish and Greco-Roman Hymnic and Epistolary Conventions
by Matthew E. Gordley
Paperback (Published)
(March 2007)
ISBN: 9783161492556
9.09 x 6.06 inches
Price: $99.00
On back order
The suggestion that the New Testament contains citations of early Christological hymns has long been a controversial issue in New Testament scholarship. As a way of advancing this facet of New Testament research, Matthew E. Gordley examines the Colossian hymn (Col 1:15-20) in light of its cultural and epistolary contexts. As a result of a broad comparative analysis, he claims that Col 1:15-20 is a citation of a prose-hymn which represents a fusion of Jewish and Greco-Roman conventions for praising an exalted figure. A review of hymns in the literature of Second Temple Judaism demonstrates that the Colossian hymn owes a number of features to Jewish modes of praise. Likewise, a review of hymns in the broader Greco-Roman world demonstrates that the Colossian hymn is equally indebted to conventions used for praising the divine in the Greco-Roman tradition. In light of these hymnic traditions of antiquity, the analysis of the form and content of the Colossian hymn shows how the passage fits well into a Greco-Roman context, and indicates that it is best understood as a quasi-philosophical prose-hymn cited in the context of a paraenetic letter. Finally, in view of ancient epistolary and rhetorical theory and practice, an analysis of the role of the hymn in Colossians suggests that the hymn serves a number of significant rhetorical functions throughout the remainder of the letter.
- By (author) Matthew E Gordley
Other Titles in this Series
Literature or Liturgy?
Early Christian Hymns and Prayers in their Literary and Liturgical Context in Antiquity
Volume 363
The Tongues of Angels
The Concept of Angelic Languages in Classical Jewish and Christian Texts
Volume 287
Die Theologie der Liebe Gottes in den johanneischen Schriften
Zur Semantik der Liebe und zum Motivkreis des Dualismus
Volume 197
The Birth and Death of the PreMarkan Passion Narrative
A History of Form Criticism's Most Assured Result
Volume 608
Das unschuldige Blut im Matthausevangelium
Zur geschichtstheologischen Deutung des Todes Jesu
Volume 578
Virtue Ethics in the Letter to Titus
An Interdisciplinary Study. Kontexte und Normen neutestamentlicher Ethik / Contexts and Norms of New Testament Ethics. Volume XII
Volume 560
Emotion, Narration und Ethik
Zur ethischen Relevanz antizipatorischer Emotionen in Parabeln des Matthaus-Evangeliums. Kontexte und Normen neutestamentlicher Ethik / Contexts and Norms of New Testament Ethics. Band XI
Volume 498
The Historical Jesus’ Death as ‘Forgiveness of Sins’
A Comparative Study of Paul and Matthew
Volume 467
Framing Social Criticism in the Jesus Movement
The Ideological Project in the Sayings Gospel Q
Volume 374
Annihilation or Renewal?
The Meaning and Function of New Creation in the Book of Revelation
Volume 307
Das paulinische Eikon-Konzept
Semantische Analysen zur Sapientia Salomonis, zu Philo und den Paulusbriefen
Volume 250
Paul’s Territoriality and Mission Strategy
Searching for the Geographical Awareness Paradigm Behind Romans
Volume 266
Knowledge and Religious Authority in the Pseudo-Clementines
Situating the 'Recognitions' in Fourth Century Syria
Volume 213
Christusbeziehung und Christuserkenntnis im Johannesevangelium
Die narrative Entwicklung der Jüngerinnen und Jünger und ihre hermeneutischen Voraussetzungen im vierten Evangelium
Die Wundererzählungen im Markusevangelium
Eine narratologische Analyse zur Erschließung eines soteriologischen Erzählprinzips
Angels Associated with Israel in the Dead Sea Scrolls
Angelology and Sectarian Identity at Qumran
Volume 509
Aspekte der Seelsorge in den paulinischen Gemeinden
Eine exegetische Untersuchung anhand des 1. Thessalonicherbriefes
Volume 443
The Divine Voice in Paul’s Letters
The Use of Scripture as Theopoiesis and Paul’s Characterization of God
Similar Books
Athanasius of Alexandria, Epistula ad episcopos Aegypti et Libyae
Old Slavonic Version and English Translation
Volume 261
Cyril of Alexandria’s Christological Exegesis
Explorations of Partitive Exegesis in the Dialogues on the Trinity
Volume 70
Epiphanies of the Divine in the Septuagint and the New Testament
Fifth International Symposium of the Corpus Judaeo-Hellenisticum Novi Testamenti (CJHNT), 14-17 May 2015, Nottingham
Extracanonical Traditions and the Holy Land
Texts, Rituals, and Material Culture in Late Antique Palestine
Paradise Lost in Transmission
The Return to Eden in the Apocalypse of Peter within Its Ethiopic and Early Christian Contexts
Punning in Odd or Elegant Constructions in Jeremiah
The Convergence of Linguistics, Rhetoric, and Textuality in the Hebrew Text of Jeremiah
Shame in the Worlds of the Hebrew Bible and Akkadian Texts
A Linguistic Study and Its Implications
Volume 33
Tabernacle, Table, Ark, and Text
Richard of Saint Victor on the Interpretation of Scripture
Volume 67
The Anglo-Norman Bible’s Books of Kings, a Critical Edition
(BL Royal 1 C III, fols 234r-274v)
Volume 37
The Body
Lived, Cultured, Adorned: Essays on Dress and the Body in the Bible and Ancient Near East in Honor of Nili S. Fox
The Compositional History of the Book of Kings
An Analysis of the Evaluative Frameworks in 1 Kings 14–2 Kings 25
The Discourse of Rites
Shaping and Reshaping the (Counter-)Priestly Rituals Conducted Outside the Tabernacle
The Therapeutae as the Best Paradigm for the Contemplative Life
A Contextual Reading of Philo of Alexandria's De Vita Contemplativa