The Colossian Hymn in Context: An Exegesis in Light of Jewish and Greco-Roman Hymnic and Epistolary ConventionsMohr Siebeck, 2007 - 295 pages 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. |
Contents
The Colossian Hymn and the Study of Ancient Hymnody | 1 |
Hymns and Their Development in Second Temple Judaism | 41 |
Praise of the Divine in the GrecoRoman World | 111 |
Ancient Hymns and Their Characteristics | 124 |
The Homeric Hymns | 134 |
F Testimonies to Asclepius | 141 |
H Isis Aretalogies | 147 |
Hymns and Philosophical Speculation on Creation | 155 |
E Reconstruction of the Original | 190 |
F Poetry or Prose | 196 |
Content Analysis | 203 |
J Conclusions | 229 |
The Colossian Hymn in the Context of the Epistle | 231 |
A Philosophical Paraenetic Letter | 242 |
Rhetorical Function of the Colossian Hymn in Epistolary Context | 255 |
E Conclusions | 269 |
J The Orphic Hymns | 164 |
1520 | 170 |
1520 | 176 |
Common terms and phrases
addition antiquity aretalogies argued Ben Sira biblical biblical poetry chapter Christ Christology Colossian hymn composition contents Deichgräber deity discussion divine Early Christianity emphasis Enoch epideictic epistle epistolary example exhortation explains function Furley and Bremer genre God's Greco-Roman handbooks Hebrew Hellenistic Hodayot Homeric Hymns hymnic hymnody hymns of praise Ibid idea identified Isis Jewish Judaism letter literary liturgical Logos Lord metra N. T. Wright noted observed Orphic Hymns parallelism passage Paul Paul's Philo Philo of Alexandria philosophical phrase Pindar poetic poetry prayers Press progymnasmata prose hymns provides psalms Quintilian Qumran redactional role scholars second strophe Second Temple songs of praise speech Stettler strophe style suggests Testament texts themes Theology things tradition verse Wisdom writes Zeus αὐτοῦ δὲ δι εἰς εἴτε ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς καὶ καὶ τὰ ὅς ἐστιν ὅτι ἐν αὐτῷ πρωτότοκος τὰ πάντα τὸ τοῦ τῶν