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.
Matthew E. Gordley, Born 1972; 2000 M.Div., Alliance Theological Seminary; 2006 PhD in Theology, University of Notre Dame; currently associate professor of New Testament and associate dean of academics in the School of Divinity at Regent University (Virginia).
- By (author) Matthew E Gordley
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